Westminster Wins Sixth Straight District Title

The baseball players held up six fingers as they posed for photos behind home plate Wednesday at Shaw Park.

That symbolized the sixth consecutive district title for the Wildcats, who defeated MICDS 5-3 in the Class 3 District 5 title game.

Westminster will host the Class 3 District 6 champion Tuesday in the Class 3 sectionals.

"It doesn't get old at all," said Wildcat senior Alec Campbell, who has been a part of the last three district champions. "You saw how we were out there. We are always confident that we can do it but at the same time it is a surprise and a thrill every time."

The Wildcats earned their title with a 3-2 semifinal win over  Tuesday afternoon  and the tight win over the second-seeded Rams Wednesday.

"This certainly never gets old," Westminster coach Rich Van Gilst said. "The first one we won was close but the other four were not. It is fun to go out there and battle and we were fortunate enough to win today. I felt this was a district in which three teams were very capable of winning and we benefitted from two of them (MICDS beat John Burroughs 2-1 in eight innings in a Tuesday night semifinal) playing each other. This is a tough district to get out of and I think any of the three teams had a chance to go a long way."

Van Gilst hopes his team can do just that starting with the sectional game Tuesday.

Westminter scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings and led 3-0 behind senior southpaw Colin Henry.

MICDS cut the lead to one with two out hits by Adam Putnam and Christo Meier in the fifth inning and tied it on a long home run by freshman Trey Baur in the sixth inning.

Henry and Ryan Allee walked in the bottom of the sixth inning. Conner Einertson was at the plate with two outs and hit a ball sharply in the hole between first and second. Ram second baseman Jack Rouse made a diving stop to prevent the ball from going into the outfield but he then got up and threw wildly to first base as Henry and Allee both scored.

'It was a great play by Jack but he rushed it a little and the ball got away," MICDS coach Pete Jans said. "That is the game of baseball. Sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't and we did not today."

Campbell replaced Henry to start the seventh and things got interesting as Rouse singled and Joe Strege drew a walk to open the inning for the Rams. Westminster pitching coach Andy Benes came out to talk to Campbell.

"I had pitched in a district championship game before but I had never closed one," Campbell said. "I was a little nervous and he (Benes) just told me to settle down and throw my pitches. Fortunately, I was able to get the last three out."

The loss ended a special season for MICDS, which finished undefeated in the ABC Conference.

"It was a great season," Jans said. "We battled today and got the big home run from the freshman and emotions were high. But we couldn't get it done at the end. In high school baseball only one team is happy at the end of the season."

Van Gilst hopes it will be the Wildcats in Class 3 as they continue their quest for a state title Tuesday.

Download the movie