Shawnee dominates Elida

ELIDA - Elida was caught under a Shawnee steamroller.

The Indians had six players with at least two hits, including Keith Hefner and Kyle Strawn both with three RBIs.

And on the mound, Shawnee left-hander Cody Kopilchack fired a one-hitter.

That gave Shawnee a 10-0, five-inning run-rule victory over Elida to capture the Division II baseball sectional championship Saturday at Ed Sandy Field.

Kopilchack struck out nine and walked one. The only hit he yielded was a double to Matt Thompson to lead off the fourth inning. He struck out the side in the second and fifth innings.

Shawnee (22-5) advances to the district tournament to face Maumee in the second game Thursday at Archbold. Elida ends its year 5-19.

"I thought offense, defense, pitching, baserunners, I thought we played a pretty good game," Shawnee coach Chad Spencer said. "I thought Cody did a pretty good job of getting ahead of his hitters, which is critical for any pitcher in any game, let alone a sectional game. ... We chose good pitches to swing at, and when we did swing, we put the ball in play well."

In the second sectional title game of the day, Celina sophomore Darin Waterman tossed a complete-game five-hitter in a run-rule, 11-1 six-inning win over Van Wert.

Celina (10-17) will meet Defiance (23-1) in the district semifinals at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Archbold. Van Wert is 11-14.

In the opener, Shawnee jumped on knuckleball-changeup right-hander Steve Swick in the first inning. Strawn had an RBI single and Tyler Gallant drilled a two-run double to left to give the Indians a 3-0 lead in the first.

Strawn's two-run, walk-off home run to left ended the game at 10-0 in the fifth.

"We faced slower pitchers earlier in the year and we talked about how it's not changing your swing, it's just waiting on the ball longer and seeing the ball in on you farther," Strawn said.

Strawn went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Hefner went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Gallant went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. David Gerard, Garrett Black, Gallant and Codie Roberts all had two hits for Shawnee.

That was more than enough for Kopilchack, who threw 71 pitches, 45 for strikes. Kopilchack threw both his breaking ball and 85 mph fastball for strikes. Of the 17 batters he faced, he threw 14 first-pitch strikes.

"I started to feel good about the third inning," Kopilchack said. "And the wind didn't hurt today. It helped me out."

Elida coach Mark Thompson said, "(Kopilchack) did a really nice job of getting ahead in the count and he had us guessing most of the time and his velocity is enough that we had trouble. I thought he was a lot stronger in the middle innings than he was early. He was effortless."

In the second game, Waterman gave up one run on five hits. He struck out four and walked two. He threw 93 pitches, 58 for strikes.

"I had my stuff and the defense played really well today," Waterman said.

Dustin Woods went 3-for-4 for Celina. John Bonvillian went 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs. Brian Brockly went 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs.

"I don't think we hit double digits (in runs) this year (until Saturday). I know the hits (12) were a season high," Celina coach Drew Braun said. "This is what we expected the whole season out of these guys."