Derrick Webb, Managing Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — Ron Free shared a moment that he’ll never forget with assistant coach Brad Valentine on Sunday evening.
With Southeastern’s entire roster celebrating near the pitcher’s mound, Free and Valentine, both sporting ear-to-ear smiles alongside tears of joy, embraced just outside of the dugout.
It was a hug that took five years to form.
Five years that included wins, losses, jubilation, heartbreak and everything in between.
When you’re staring at the bottom of a mountain looking up, the journey looks hard and arduous. But when you’re standing at the mountain top, thinking of all the paths that led to that point, you realize just how far you’ve climbed.
Free’s Panthers had just polished off a 2-1 win over Waterford in a Division VI district championship game at VA Memorial Stadium — clinching the program’s first-ever district title.
That five-year wait was so, so worth it.
“This group just never quits,” Free said. “We’ve had a good year but it’s also been a tough year, too. We’ve given up games that we shouldn’t have. We got things rolling here at the end of the season. I’m proud of them. When I started here, six years ago, we won one game. I see a lot of the other players that have been here and there a part of this, too. This is an expectation now.”
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
On Saturday, in a semifinal win over Symmes Valley, Southeastern starting pitcher Carson McWhorter showed how special he can be. Just 24 hours later, it was his partner in crime’s turn.
Senior Joey Pfeifer tossed an absolute gem, keeping the Wildcats off-balance and continuing to hang zeroes on the board.
He went the distance, surrendering a run — unearned — on just three hits while whiffing seven.
“Joey is a senior and he was right tonight,” Free said. “He threw the ball extremely well. When you have two aces in your arsenal, you can get through some games in the tournament. Now Carson is available on Wednesday. I think we’ll give Eastern all they want.”
After three scoreless innings, the Panthers (15-10) finally broke the scoring seal in the top of the fourth.
Pfeifer began the frame with a double, which was followed by an RBI single into left field from McWhorter, making it 1-0.
Southeastern added to that lead in the fifth.
Gage Cheadle logged a one-out double before advancing 90 feet on a groundout. He’d then score on a passed ball for a 2-0 tally.
“We’re going backside and we’re having better at-bats,” Free said. “We’ve done some little things in practice to make ourselves better and we have to keep doing that if we want to keep going.”
PHOTOS: Images from Southeastern’s district championship win over Waterford
Those two runs, quite frankly, are all Pfeifer needed to pound then nails in the coffin. But in the bottom of the seventh, Waterford (16-11) started to rally.
With one out, Zavier Heiss reached on error before scoring on an RBI double off Braun Doak’s bat, cutting the Panthers’ lead in half.
But following a sensational play from Cheadle at shortstop for the inning’s second out — a throw he made from his knees — Pfeifer needed five pitches to strike out the next hitter, sending the Panthers into their first-ever Sweet 16.
“There’s always an inning where there’s a surge and you’ve got to survive that,” Free said. “We did that on Saturday, giving up six runs. But we were up by nine. You’re always going to get that surge, you just don’t know when it’s going to be. The good thing about a surge is that we’ve got two good pitchers on the mound and that’s a game changer.”
Statistically, Pfeifer also helped out offensively with a 2-for-3 effort alongside a double and a run scored. Cheadle followed, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run while McWhorter finished 1-for-2 with an RBI.
While Waterford’s season comes to a close, the Panthers look towards uncharted waters in a Division VI regional semifinal at 6 p.m., Wednesday at Lancaster’s Beavers Field.
There, they’ll take on Eastern Meigs, who beat Huntington by a 9-6 final to advance.
“We just have to play our game,” Free said. “Get runners on, move them over and get them in. That’s our recipe for success. When you bunt the ball, move the runners and drive them in, you’re going to win a lot of ball games.”
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