Senior Josh Vanattas smile said just about everything you needed to know after Humboldts 5-4 win at home over Jayhawk-Linn in the 3A regional championship game Thursday night.
The starting pitcher and leader for the Cubs was just a freshman when Humboldt last made the state tournament and Vanatta didnt even go.
But Thursday night, as his teammates yelled and hollered and hugged each other after clinching that elusive state bid on the final out of the seventh inning, Vanatta knew all too well what he and his team had accomplished.
Its a great feeling, Vanatta said. Last year we were within one run and we let it slip away. The past two years weve had to deal with being runners-up and now were going to state. Its unbelievable.
Vanatta had pitched a full seven innings in the semifinal matchup with Fredonia earlier that day. The Cubs won that one 5-1 and in the sixth inning of the championship game, head coach Mike Miller had zero doubt who to turn to when the Jay-hawks tied it up at three.
All along with the way that Josh threw that first game, we knew he had pitches left, Miller said. Being a senior, we also knew he wanted the baseball. So we gave it to him. He made it interesting but he did a great job finishing it out.
Vanatta earned the win in his 1.1 innings pitched, allowing one unearned run on three walks with a strikeout.
Sophomore Cooper Jaro started the game and earned the no-decision despite throwing a scoreless first four innings before allowing a run in the fifth and the two in the top of the sixth to let the Jayhawks back in the game.
He ended up with a line of three runs on 13 hits and a walk with one strikeout.
I stuck with Cooper one batter too long, Miller said. He pitched one heck of a game. He hasnt thrown live for two weeks because hes had some elbow soreness so weve kind of held him back. But he threw a great game for us. He kept us in it.
The Cubs took an early 1-0 lead in the first on a single from junior Dagen Goodner.
Two innings later in the bottom of the fourth, sophomore Josh Hull drove in his first of two runs in the game to push the Cubs lead to 2-0.
Hull struck again after the Jayhawks tied it up at three on a hard grounder to the shortstop to score senior Wyatt Seufert and put the Cubs back on top.
He was huge, Miller said of Hull. All year long weve been trying to get something out of our (designated hitter). We tried different guys but Josh has been hitting really well in practice. It just hasnt translated to the game yet but we knew what he could do. It was just great to get some big hits from an unsuspecting guy.
Hull ended the day with two hits and two RBIs and was one of four Cubs with two hits in the game.
