Riding the storm out: QND baseball team beats rain, Shelbyville to earn spot in sectional championship game

PLEASANT PLAINS, Ill. — The darkening clouds rolling in from the northeast mimicked the situation the Quincy Notre Dame baseball team faced.

Ominous, very ominous.

“I kept looking over my shoulder and seeing those clouds coming closer and closer to the point you see the line of rain at the right-field fence,” said Jack Linenfelser, the QND junior middle infielder who moved to shortstop in the bottom of the seventh inning.

At the same time, Shelbyville loaded the bases with one out, needing just one run to tie the game.

“My stomach was turning,” Linenfelser said. “It was crazy.”

Dalton Miller didn’t allow it to get out of hand.

The junior first baseman moved to the mound to snuff out the Rams’ rally, striking out the only two batters he faced to preserve a 2-1 victory and the Raiders’ spot in the Class 2A Pleasant Plains Sectional championship game. 

QND (32-2) is scheduled to face either Maroa-Forsyth (28-1) or Gillespie (20-4) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Reiser Field. The sectional champion advances to Monday’s super-sectional at Lincoln Land Community College’s Claude Kracik Field in Springfield.

Before celebrating the fact the Raiders reached this point, especially after last year’s sectional semifinal setback against North Mac, those ominous clouds brought the rain.

A bellywasher commenced moments after Dalton Miller threw the third strike to Shelbyville’s Mason Miller, sending the teams and the fans scrambling for cover.

“Actually, it was perfect,” Linenfelser said. “On the last pitch, he strikes him out and the rain hits. What a great game.”

Miller knew he was pitching to beat the weather as much as the Rams.

“I’m not going to lie,” Miller said. “I probably shouldn’t notice (the storm clouds), but I did. During that final batter, the umpire was yelling at our dugout to go get a foul ball and I’m trying to hurry us on. It’s rolling in here and it’s only a matter of pitches. So, yeah, there was a little awareness of that.”

Moreso, there was confidence and concentration.

Miller wanted to make amends for Monday’s effort when he finished the regional championship victory over Beardstown by getting the final two outs, but not before hitting two batters and allowing a sacrifice fly.

“Honestly, I was thinking don’t do what I did last time,” Miller said. “There was no room for error. I felt good in the bullpen. I felt good in my warmups. I just had confidence in my fastball. If you have confidence when you’re pitching, you’re one up on the batter.”

And he stayed ahead. The Rams’ Ethan Clark worked the count full and fouled out off a pair of pitches before striking out on a Miller fastball. After starting Mason Miller with a ball, the QND right-hander got the Shelbyville right-handed hitter to swing at three straight pitches to end the game.

“You cannot beat that moment,” Miller said. “We got eliminated last year in the same situation. You could not beat the energy with that pitch in that environment and the aura of the whole team. It was incredible.”

It made Miller settle himself before pitching.

“The adrenaline’s pumping, and sometimes you have to take a deep breath,” Miller said. “It’s out through the mouth like we’re taught, and trust yourself. Just trust yourself.”

Although Shelbyville starter Ty Brachbill made things difficult on the QND offense — he allowed three hits and struck out six over six innings — the Raiders were able to capitalize on two crucial situations and get to the plate after one defensive gem.

The first came in the fourth inning when Ben Kasparie led off with a walk, went to third on Tucker Tollerton’s single to right field and scored as Tollerton stole second base and a fielding error resulted in the ball going into center field.

The Rams (29-3) tied the game in the sixth when an error resulted in an unearned run, but they left the bases loaded when Kasparie made a diving, rolling catch on a short fly ball for the final out of the inning.

In the top of the seventh, Jake Schisler and Brady Kindhart drew back-to-back walks to open QND’s half of the frame. Following a pitching change, Linenfelser greeted Clark with a single to left field to drive in Schisler with the go-ahead run.

“The first pitch, I didn’t like the strike,” Linenfelser. “I thought it was a little in, but I had to battle and do my job. I saw the next pitch and found a barrel.”

That was no time to celebrate.

“We have to keep going,” Linenfelser said. “It’s never done until it’s done.”

In this case, it wasn’t done until Miller finished what Tyler Dance started.

“We all trust him because he’s a great pitcher,” Linenfelser said. “He came in and threw strikes.”

Dance did the same thing in keeping the Rams off the board the first five innings. The right-hander worked around allowing two runners on base in each of the first two innings, got out of the fifth when catcher Michael Stupavsky threw out Shelbyville’s Kade Allen trying to steal second base and nearly got through the sixth.

He was lifted after 5 ⅔ innings, allowing one run and six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

“I battled through it, and my defense was making plays behind me,” Dance said. “One-hundred percent, they’ve always got my back.”

So does the bullpen. Tucker Tollerton got the final out of the sixth inning and the first out of the seventh before turning it over to Miller to finish it.

“It’s amazing,” said Dance, who watched the final outs from the dugout. “It’s probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt.”