Northside clinches first region title with win over Columbus

Coming into the 2016 season, Northside coach Dee Miller talked a lot to his team about being the first.

While there have been plenty of strong Patriots teams in the past, they had yet to reach the pinnacle of a region championship.

Until Friday.

Northside defeated Columbus — a giant if there ever was one in high school baseball — 4-2 on Friday at home, clinching the Region 1-5A title, its first ever league title.

After the final out of the game, a flyout to center fielder Chantler Valero, the Patriots dogpiled in the center of the infield, fireworks were shot behind the outfield fence and the team was all smiles.

“It feels amazing,” said first baseman Alex Royal, who notched two RBIs and had an impressive diving catch in foul territory near the Columbus dugout with two runners on and no outs in the sixth inning. “We all played hard. I just really wanted this win. That’s it.”

“I say proud, but I don’t know if that word does it justice,” Miller said. “This group has worked hard. We’ve talked about it. That’s been our motto since we got back in the weight room together as a team in August. About being the first, doing things we haven’t done as a program in school history. It’s been long enough, and we want to start raising the bar and doing things we haven’t done in the past.”

This team was the first in large part because of the effort of pitcher Sam Kyte on Friday. In a game that was cold, wet and windy, the senior kept his composure to limit Columbus to eight hits and two runs, neither of which were earned.

He allowed both runs in the second inning after a two-out error spiraled into a two-run inning on a double by Tristan Moran to put the Blue Devils in front 2-0. After that, Kyte was in control.

“He’s done exactly what he’s done all year, and that’s go out and throw strikes, get us back in the dugout and give our offense a chance to hit,” Miller said. “Tonight, the moment was not going to be too big for him, and we knew that.”

“I just kind of knew what I had to do,” Kyte said. “I knew it was a big game. I mentally prepared for it. Just tried to stay ready. … I know what I can do, and I just trust my stuff.”

After falling behind, Northside got two runs in the fourth inning and two in the sixth to go ahead 4-2. Royal knocked a two-RBI single with two outs in the fourth to tie the game, and Seth Shadix broke the tie with a bases-loaded walk. Another run came home on an error with the bases loaded to make it 4-2. Columbus put two runners on in the seventh and had senior leader Cason Greathouse at the plate, but a long fly ball was caught by Valero in center to end it.

At 11-5 in the region, Columbus is still in second place and controls its own destiny for second place. It closes region play with two games against Hardaway on Wednesday and Thursday. The Blue Devils lead Harris County by a half-game and owns the tiebreaker over the Tigers.

Northside finishes region play on Monday at Shaw.

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Northside clinches first region title with win over Columbus."