by Bill Turner
Northside completed its unbelievable season of dreams Saturday afternoon in the Spring Jubilee at Radford as the Vikings dispatched Tunstall 4-0 in the Group AA baseball final.
It was the first-ever state baseball title for Northside, the regular season and tournament runner up in the Blue Ridge District.
“It’s unbelievable,” an emotional Northside head coach Ed Culicerto said outside the Viking dugout after the win. “I’m at a loss for words.”
This was truly a case of a team coming together and rising from the ashes. Only four days earlier, Northside trailed in the state quarterfinal 11-3 and were down to their last six outs. The Vikings pulled the comeback of the season in that one with a nine-run sixth inning to defeat Cave Spring 12-11.
Friday, the Vikings broke a 3-3 tie to defeat York 6-4, setting up the title match against Tunstall, a school that had won the state title four times and been in the final on six occasions.
Northside went with lefty Todd Dunbar on the mound to hopefully throttle the potent Trojan bats. Dunbar, who had been roughed up in his last start against Cave Spring, came through like a seasoned ace.
Dunbar had great command of his pitches, leading with his fastball, then mixing in a vicious curve ball that had the Trojan batters waving helplessly at the nasty hooks through the first six innings.
“I was hitting my spot,” Dunbar noted as the Vikings celebrated behind him. ” My fastball was moving really well. That set up the off-speed pitches.”
Northside scratched out a run in the first and two more in the second to open an early 3-0 lead against Tunstall left-handed fireballer Shawn Clowers. The Vikings added a run in the fourth after Tyler Fisher doubled to center and Adam Hardister followed with a double off the right field wall. Fisher was 4-for-4 and scored twice to lead the Northside attack.
Tunstall loaded the bases in the fifth, but Dunbar coaxed a weak fly to second to end the threat. Culicerto went to the bullpen in the seventh and brought in Hardister, despite Dunbar being on cruise-control.
“We were watching Dunbar’s pitch count,” Culicerto pointed out. “I was going to take him out after the fifth, but Todd demanded the ball in the sixth, so I gave in.
He reached 108 pitches after six and I made sure not to hurt his arm.”
Tunstall had runners on first and second in the top of the seventh before a bang-bang play put the game away for Northside. With one out, Hardister coaxed a slow bouncer to Viking second baseman Sam Carruthers, who fired to shortstop Parker Linden, barely getting the Tunstall runner at second. As the lead Tunstall runner rounded third, Linden pegged a strike to Northside third baseman Logan Stanley. Stanley chased the runner down the third base line for the rundown, and applied the tag for the final out. A mob scene ensued as the Vikings celebrated.
“We had great players and coaches,” an excited Culicerto noted. “Baseball is a crazy game, but we played like champs.”
When asked if he thought he’d be standing here after the eight-run deficit Northside faced four days earlier, Culicerto simply shook his head, adding, “I’d be lying to you if I said yes.”