Northwest Christian comes through in clutch to win 3A baseball title over American Leadership Gilbert North
Phoenix Northwest Christian coach Bobby Howry, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, knows how to get the ball in the hands of his ace in the end.
Getting through a best-of-three semifinal series against Chandler Valley Christian, Northwest Christian was able to get senior Dale Fry on the mound to start the 3A state championship game Monday.
The right-hander delivered with a complete-game, two-hit performance in Northwest Christian's 2-1 victory over American Leadership Gilbert North at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
"He was a definite No. 1 for us," Howry said. "He pitched well last year and showed what he can do tonight.
"But our sophomore class was pretty special this year."
Howry ran out six sophomores on the field. The higher the stakes, the better they played.
On Monday night, sophomore Cole Martin came through in the bottom of the sixth with a single that scored sophomore Cole Muscari from second with two outs.
That was all Fry needed to finish the top of the seventh. He gave up a single to Hayden Clegg to start the inning,
Fry struck out a batter, got a fielder's choice and got the final batter to hit a soft liner to the second baseman to end it and set off a celebration. It was the school's third state baseball title since 2015 and fourth overall.
"We kind of set it up from the beginning, like, hey, throw Dale in game one, instead of save him," Howry said. "Some teams do that. We were like, 'Let's throw him.' We had more than one guy win.
"We were able to set it up for him to come back for the championship. So nobody had to overthrow."
Fry's previous start was last Tuesday, when he pitched Northwest Christian (28-4) to a 5-3 win over Valley Christian to start the best-of-three semifinal and threw 102 pitches. The Crusaders lost the second game, before moving forward to the final with a 9-4 win with the offense coming through Saturday against Valley Christian.
That gave Fry six days rest before pitching again.
"I trusted my teammates and we got the win," Fry said. "The number one thing is that we gave it to God. It's something that we prayed about. It's a great group of guys."
ALA Gilbert North (24-8) struck first in the opening inning after the Eagles led the game with a walk and a single. A sacrifice bunt advanced the runners and Spencer Nielson drove in the run with a ground out.
After that, Fry did not give up another hit until Clegg's single in the seventh.
Martin felt that one more run would be enough for his pitcher to finish the job.
"The first pitch was in the dirt, and after that I was in swing mode," Martin said. "He gave me a fastball on the inner half and I did what I could with it. I hit the ball hard and found a hole, drove in a run. It was awesome."
Martin's hit broke a 1-1 tie and spoiled a great outing from senior starter Dawson Morris, who was lifted with runners on second and third in the sixth. Nielson got the final out to keep Northwest Christian from scoring more.
"I have the most confidence in Dale," Martin said. "He always gets it done. He was in a zone tonight."
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Clutch pitching, hitting leads Northwest Christian to 3A title
