PREP BASEBALL: New Castle, Decker-Petty overwhelm Wawasee in regional semifinal

Jun. 4—CONVERSE — Aydan Decker-Petty is one of the best high school pitchers in the state of Indiana.

He showed why Saturday afternoon against Wawasee.

The Indiana University commit was virtually unhittable, striking out 16 batters to lead New Castle to a 9-0 win over the Warriors in a Class 3A regional semifinal game at Oak Hill High School. Decker-Petty had a no-hitter through six innings, losing it when Wawasee junior Gavin Malone beat out a throw on a slowly-hit ball to the shortstop to start the seventh.

"He was hitting his locations," said Wawasee coach Joe Salazar of Decker-Petty. "They were giving him that low, outside pitch — they didn't help us a lot when we threw it there, unfortunately. But when you're in a groove and are throwing a lot of strikes, they're going to give you that extra space. We started getting the bat on the ball, but it was too late. We just didn't put the ball in play like we should've."

Starting opposite of Decker-Petty was Wawasee junior Kaleb Salazar. The right-hander was able to navigate around some baserunners in the first inning, but couldn't do so in the second.

After getting the first two batters out in the bottom of the second frame, New Castle (17-5-1) had their next four hitters reach base. Trighton Cummings drew a two-out walk, then Gavin Frazier singled. Both runners then stole third and second base, respectively, giving the Trojans two runners in scoring position.

This brought up Corbin Malott, and the Purdue commit delivered with a two-RBI single into centerfield. After he stole second base, teammate Gavin Rusch drove him in with an RBI single. Rusch was then caught stealing to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third, Kaleb Salazar got the first two batters out again before the next two reached base, prompting Joe Salazar to make a pitching change. Kaleb was replaced by sophomore Cole Turner, who was able to cause Decker-Petty to pop out and end the scoring threat.

"(Kaleb) has been successful against some good teams, shutting them down and hitting his locations," said Joe Salazar on why he started his son on the mound. "He had a little trouble to start (Saturday) and didn't have the accuracy that he usually has. He got a little behind, and when you do that, you have to throw some of those pitches that they can get ahold of."

Wawasee's best chance to score came in the top of the fourth inning. Decker-Petty lost a little bit of his command in that frame, hitting both Kaleb Salazar and senior Lucas Ringler in back-to-back at-bats. Both runners then moved up to third and second base, respectively, after a wild pitch from the Trojan senior.

While the Warriors were able to open the door a little bit, Decker-Petty promptly slammed it shut with strikeouts of Malone and sophomore Hunter Fiedeke to end the frame.

New Castle then blew the game wide open with six runs on six hits in the bottom of the sixth. Two straight hits chased Turner out of the game, which included an RBI double from Decker-Petty.

Turner was replaced on the mound by sophomore Ty Brooks, which didn't stop the hitting for the Trojans. They picked up a pair of two-RBI hits from Malott and Rusch each before an RBI single from Jake Barber capped the scoring for the designated home team.

"They're a good hitting team," Joe Salazar said. "You can tell they are when we bring Ty in and they're hitting the ball all over."

After Malone reached to start the seventh, Decker-Petty got Fiedeke to groundout before striking out juniors Dylan Stump and Jay Duncan to end the game, subsequently ending the season for the Warriors as well.

Wawasee closes the season with a 13-15 record. It was a tough day for everyone in green and gold, but especially for senior Grant Brooks. The team's leader in batting average and ERA didn't play Saturday due to an injury. The Butler commit was left to watch from the dugout as they struggled all day against a Division-I pitcher in Decker-Petty.

"It was tough, but I understand," said Joe Salazar of Grant Brooks not being able to play. "When you have an injury and you don't know everything about it — I respect him for telling me that. It's hard because he's a competitor; it's hard for a competitor to just sit back and watch. It hurt us not having him play.

"He was still here, though, trying to get everyone into the game. That's all you can ask for. He's a great kid."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.