Islanders win Class A baseball title
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BY TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star
It was Wednesday afternoon, in the moments after Grand Island had knocked off Millard North and reached the title game, that junior Luke Farrar finally believed it was possible that the Islanders could capture the state baseball title.
“We knew then that we could play with anybody,” he said.
The timing couldn’t have been better for the Islanders, who as the No. 8 seed, captured a historic state title on Friday at Haymarket Park.
Extended to a second championship game by Millard West, the Islanders bounced back with a 7-6 victory as Nebraska recruit Kash Kalkowski came on to record the final five outs and earn the save.
“You can call it a Cinderella story if you want,” Kalkowski said, “but we won.”
Until Grand Island (20-14) opened this year’s state tournament with three straight wins, no team outside the Omaha area had reached the championship game since Lincoln Northeast in 1989.
The last state champion from outside the Omaha area was Wakefield. The small community in northeast Nebraska won the Class B title in 1980.
“I don’t know how we did this,” Kalkowski added. “We won the championship in districts, and from there, we did it one game at a time.”
The Islanders began the season 6-10, but once the lineup got healthy, Grand Island began to look like the contender they were expected to be at the beginning of the season.
In districts, Grand Island caught a break in earning the right to host as a No. 2 seed. The Islanders upset top-ranked Millard North 4-3 in the final.
Once at state, its good fortune continued. Last Saturday, Grand Island was able to squeeze out a win over top-seeded Creighton Prep before steady rains pushed the rest of the opening day schedule to Monday.
The extra day off, and another day off Thursday, made it possible for Grand Island to streamline its pitching.
Eric Schwieger, Friday’s winning pitcher, combined with Kalkowski to go 6-0 in postseason play. Schwieger pitched into the sixth, when Millard West scored four times to cut into what was a comfortable 7-2 lead.
With the tying run on third, Farrar preserved the lead by charging from right-center to make a running catch in left-center against the Wildcats’ Shaun Hoover to end the sixth.
“I just kept running, hoping I would get there,” Farrar said.
It was on to the seventh, where with the tying run at second, Farrar hauled in the final out of the game. Kalkowski tossed his glove high into the air and then sunk to the bottom of a purple-clad dog pile.
“Unbelievable,” he said.
The Wildcats (31-7) looked on dejected. After playing 26 innings in a span of 23 hours, Millard West added a fifth runner-up finish. The Wildcats faced similar fates in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2007.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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