By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Never assume. Everyone knows how that word breaks down, and it’s usually true. Bedford North Lawrence second baseman Reece Goodgame, the centerpiece of a stay-engaged play that defined a quality Senior Day triumph, is headed for the Air Force following graduation. Like the military warriors, he’s already trained to anticipate the worst and adapt on the fly.
With the defense on high alert, with two pitchers shutting down all threats, the Stars celebrated their two seniors with a 4-0 victory over Northview on Saturday. Cam Gates was one of the offensive stars with two hits, including a two-run blast for huge insurance runs, as BNL honored its departing graduates with one of its better overall performances.
Maddox Garrison was another key contributor with five relief innings with five strikeouts. More importantly, he needed only 62 pitches to navigate through the outing, walking none as a testament to efficiency on the mound. His infield made three outstanding snags behind him, including the Goodgame grab that cannot be overstated.
Glancing at the box score, the second out of the fourth inning might get lost in the paperwork. But when Northview’s Mac Sheese stroked a ground ball to Cutler Chastain at first, Goodgame could have gone into spectator mode. He did not. When the ball bounced off Chastain’s glove, Goodgame was already in full sprint to back up the play – which was his duty. So without breaking stride, he scooped the ball and won the race to the base for the out, avoiding a possible three-way collision during the convergence at the bag.
That out proved huge when the next Northview batter cracked a single. Instead of traffic stress on the bases while protecting s 2-0 lead, Garrison calmly got the next batter on a fly ball to BNL senior J.J. Lirot in left field.
“I just going over there to back it up,” Goodgame said. “I was just hoping I didn’t get bulldozed.”
“If he’s not going 100 percent all the time, like he does, that play doesn’t happen,” BNL coach Steven McNabb said. “It says a lot about how he’s played all year.”
That hustle also factored into all the BNL runs. In the first, after two walks, Cam Gates darted from second as Northview pitcher Derek Morrison whirled to pick him off. The throw was errant, allowing Gates to scamper all the way home. In the third, the Stars added another when Garrison beat out an hard-hit infield single to the deep hole at shortstop as Grady Dalton scored for a 2-0 advantage.
Then came the big swing. With two outs, Goodgame reached on an error, and three pitches later Gates bombed his home run to left field.
BNL’s infield stayed busy. Shortstop Jett Alvey, with a runner on second, made an alert catch (after the ball caromed of the leg of Garrison) of a smash by Northview’s Jackson Pierce and threw him out to save a run. Alvey also made a sharp short-hop catch of a liner to record an out in the seventh.
”It was a really nice win against a team that will probably win their 3A sectional,” McNabb said. “So it’s a great way to bounce back, great way for our seniors to go out on.
”Pitching is the name of the game, and we got seven good innings from Cutler and Maddox. It’s good to see Maddox take that next step. He’s a pitching machine, as far as strikes. Once he develops, he will be a really nice piece for us.”
The Knights (14-8) finished with six hits, as leadoff hitter Dom Barnhart and Mason Walters had two each. Chastain fanned six in two innings of prep work for next week’s Class 4A sectional. Gates went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
For Goodgame and Lirot, the future is now scripted. Lirot will enroll at Lincoln Tech for trade school.
”Both of them are very unique, very special, we’re very thankful for what they’ve done for us,” McNabb said. “The decisions they’ve made just say so much about them.”
“It’s good to go out on a win,” Lirot said. “I’m just grateful for the guys. It wouldn’t have happened without them. Freshman year, all the seniors said it goes by in the blink of an eye. You don’t believe it until you’ve been there.”
”It feels good to win,” Goodgame added. “We got the job done. Now we have bigger things to do.”
BNL (12-9) will close the regular season with a Memorial Day trip to Loogootee, then prepare to face Silver Creek in the first round of the sectional at BNL on Wednesday.
