Nothing worth doing is ever easy. The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk baseball team stopped a 13-year state tournament drought Wednesday with a wild 9-7 win over Central Lee at Mediapolis in the class 2A substate final. It was Central Lee that scored first with an unearned run in the second inning. Mid-Prairie responded by hitting through the order in the top of the third. The Golden Hawks sent nine men to the plate, and chased Hawk ace Jadon Hawk without a hit. They feasted on four walks and two Central Lee errors in the frame to take a 4-1 lead.
Central Lee wasted no time rallying, coming through with a two out, two RBI double from Luke Simmons to pull within 4-3 in the bottom half. Things stayed that way until the fifth, which has been Mid-Prairie’s golden inning during the playoffs, the Hawks have scored 16 times in three games in the fifth. On Wednesday it was three more runs as Brad Tornow doubled to break up the Central Lee no-hitter to start the frame. Karson Grout drove in Tornow and Aidan Rath with an RBI single and Vinny Bowlin came through with an RBI ground out to put Mid-Prairie up 7-3. After the game, Grout, an eighth grader, talked about the at-bat and win. “They walked Aidan (Rath) in front of me, we moved guys into scoring position. I just wanted to hit a line drive up the middle and everything worked out. My first thought was it’s going over his head, it’s base hit they are going to score. When we won I thought ‘We did it'”.
In the top of the sixth, Mid-Prairie added two more insurance runs. After Chris Miller reached on an error to lead off the inning, Keegan Gingerich delivered an RBI triple to bring him in, and Tornow an RBI ground out to make it 9-3. Central Lee would not go quietly, scoring three times in the bottom of the sixth on just one hit to climb within 9-6 going to the seventh. In the final frame, Central Lee scored once, and had the bases loaded when Collin Miller, Mid-Prairie’s freshman closer got Kade Myhre on strikes to finish the game and spark the celebration. Miller spoke about being on that stage and finishing the win “It is probably the scariest thing I have ever done. When he swung at the last strike and we won, I was so happy.”
After the game, Mid-Prairie head coach Andy Greiner talked about the victory and what it means to program. “Thank goodness. It’s been a long time coming. This is a program event that that turns the tables. We have a lot of kids with a lot of experience now that can pass that on. It’s going to boost the program for years to come. I was in the dugout at Principal Park the last time we were up there. In fact, I have been to every state tournament that Mid-Prairie has been a part of and I am really proud to lead this team to state on Monday.”
Kayden Reinier recorded the win for Mid-Prairie going four innings, giving up three hits and three runs while striking out two. Miller recorded a six out save, his fifth time closing a game this year. Grout drove in two to lead Mid-Prairie at the plate. Gingerich, Tornow and Rath each scored twice. With the win, Mid-Prairie advances to their first state tournament since 2007, improving to 15-3. The Golden Hawks will be on the diamond at Principal Park in Des Moines Monday at a time and against an opponent to be determined. Central Lee finishes their season at 11-2.