Twice as nice: 3 sets of brothers help Northridge repeat Shrine title
NEWARK ― After lefthander Abe Hardin pitched a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts in the semifinal win Saturday, twin brother Bo did him one better Thursday night in the championship game.
The righthander twirled a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts as Northridge Hands and Feet Movement, which won the Licking County Shrine Varsity title last year as Hill Land Management, repeated with an impressive 9-1 victory against Heath Ford Electric at Mound City Little League Park.
"They do a lot of the heavy lifting on the mound for us, and feed off each other and push each other," said dad and head coach Jonathan Hardin, whose team finished 21-5. "Bo was kind of chasing the stats of his older brother, Titus, who struck out 112 a couple of years ago on our 12u team that was maybe the best I've ever been a part of. They won the Memorial Day tournament and beat a couple of North Newark's best teams, and Bo and Abe played up on it as 10-year-olds. I think Bo finished with just over 100, so he was just a little short."
"Brotherly love" has taken on new meaning for this Northridge club, as twin first-year players Connor and Luke Downing were also a part of it, as well as Bentley and Corbin Creager, who played with the Hardins and speedy leadoff man Zayne Esteph on last year's title crew.
"My brother and I have done it all together," Bo Hardin said. "This is a memory that will last forever. It's crazy we were able to do it, with the way the beginning of our season went. I thought it was going to be a rough season, but we came together as a team."
It looked to be a pitcher's duel Thursday as Ford's Kayson Chandler, who struck out eight over five innings, matched Bo Hardin early on. And the Heath entry took a 1-0 lead into the fourth inning when Gavyn DiBlasio was hit by a pitch, stole second and continued to third on a throwing error, then scored on a wild pitch.
But the Northridge team used its speed to go up 2-1 in the fourth, as Bo Hardin had an infield hit, stole second and scored on a Ford throwing error. Abe Hardin continued to third on the error, then pushed Hands and Feet ahead for good when Finn Higgins beat out an infield single.
With two out in the fifth, they suddenly broke things open. Esteph had an infield hit and forced a quick throw to third on Corbin Creager's infield single, racing home on the error. Bo and Abe Hardin delivered RBI hits as Hands and Feet built a commanding 6-1 lead.
Two more Ford miscues led to three insurance runs in the sixth as Northridge cruised to the win. They also tagged two runners out at the plate trying to score on wild pitches.
"Aggressive baserunning and protecting the plate. That's what we've done all season," Coach Hardin said.
Esteph tripled and singled with a pair of stolen bases, while Bo Hardin also had two steals and two hits and Higgins contributed two singles.
"Zayne beats out a lot of ground balls," Bo Hardin said. "We love to run wild on the basepaths and force bad throws."
Higgins, 11, played Farm Division baseball last season and got his first Varsity championship taste.
"I watched them last year," he said. "It's being ready to hit, and have fun. I always have confidence, but at the start of this year with this team, not really."
Coach Hardin said this team coined a word, "hitterish" to describe its approach.
"I don't think it's in the dictionary, but it's a hit first mentality," he said. "That's the way we tried to play, and it worked most of the time."
Noah Garnack, who singled in the fourth and stole two bases, and Chandler, who singled in the sixth, had the only hits for Ford Electric (14-4-1).
"We had a little bit of an off night tonight, but this was our last year together, and I can not be prouder," Coach Danny Garnack said during the trophy presentations. "I coached a lot of them for over six years, and the rest of them for four. We had three years in a row of being here (on the final night)."
Ford Electric and the Northridge team went 2-2 against each other the past two seasons. Ford won the first two meetings last year, before Northridge beat them in the Shrine semifinals and on Thursday.
"We had some real dogfights with them the last two years," Garnack said. "That's a great team, and I'm proud of them, too."
Northridge baseball struggled at the varsity level this spring with an extremely young team. But the Vikings look to be turning the corner. Hands and Feet Movement finished only third in its league.
Coach Hardin praised Heath for its baseball tradition and recent state championship.
"We hope to be up there with you some day," he said. "We have some freshmen who are going to have an impact on varsity. And our incoming eighth grade is a really good class."
Hands and Feet Movement became the first Shrine repeat champions since a team threepeated from 1996-98. Tournament director Tyler Vanvelzor challenged them to equal that mark.
"Our youth leagues are really good, We have a lot of talent," Higgins said. "We hope to do this again next year."
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Twice as nice: 3 sets of brothers help Northridge repeat Shrine title
