Masterful performance denies Elder 13th state title

Elder fans wanted to see a 13th state baseball title added to the mantle at 3900 Vincent Ave this week, but instead they were witness to a dominant performance by St. Edward’s Stetson Allie.

A pregame view of Huntington Park in Columbus

Allie, who is projected to be a top ten draft pick in the Major League Baseball draft—which starts tomorrow, struck out 16 Panthers batters in six innings of work. The St. Edward Eagles beat Elder 8-3.

Allie, on the mound

“That was quite a performance,” said his father, and head coach, Danny Allie. “He got his rhythm going there about the second inning. He was starting to get a little feel for his pitches. He was inconsistent early, but when you’ve got that adrenaline going you’ve got the tendency to overthrow. Once he got his rhythm going and got a feel for that slider he kinda settled in and it was pretty impressive.”

Elder’s head coach Mark Thompson agreed. “That’s the most dominating performance I’ve seen since I’ve been coaching high school baseball,” he said.

Elder’s Selby Chidemo was a bright spot for the Panthers on an otherwise bleak day offensively. The senior had two hits, scored one run and stole three bases. “I’m very proud of our players,” he said. “We started off slow and they had that one big inning that was too much for us to come back on. I feel like we should have stepped up more in the beginning, but that’s the way baseball goes.”

In Allie’s six innings he only gave up five hits and three runs, all in a sixth inning rally posted by the Panthers. He was aided by two four-run innings from his teammates, and even added an RBI single to aid his own cause. “My delivery was clean and everything was in the zone,” he added.

Elder fans are known for their passion and desire to see their team come out on top. Since 1940 the Panthers have won a baseball state title in every decade. Elder has a dozen baseball titles, and the school has amassed 25 total state titles, the last being last week’s volleyball title. “We’re proud of our tradition here at Elder. We wanted to get No. 13 this year,” Thompson said. “We battled, we battled. That’s been our trademark all year. Proud of our kids.”

And Elder fans can rest a little easier knowing that they saw a future major league ball player put on a showcase on this Sunday afternoon.

St. Edward celebrates their second state title in three years

And for these two Catholic schools the word dynasty is used a lot. No school has been better at capturing baseball championships than Elder, but recently it’s been St. Edward who has the crown of top dog. “Two out of four years we were here and I got two rings. Not many people can say that,” Stetson Allie told me. “It’s pretty nice.”