Cries of “Babygirl!” could be heard from the dugout just before the nickname’s owner, Northeast junior Dakota Patton, saw the pitch he wanted.
In a win over Northern on Monday, Patton — a hulking 235-pound third baseman — belted a walk-off homer about 440 feet. But that’s not what the Eagles realistically needed this time, tied with Old Mill in the bottom of the seventh and his teammates looking hopefully his way.
“It’s easy to say, ‘I’m just gonna hit another bomb here. We’re gonna walk it off,’” Northeast coach Adam Bolling said. “But [Patton] looked at me and he said, ‘I’m getting it down.’”
Patton lurched forward and dropped down a bunt. While he didn’t get a hit out of it, he succeeded in pushing Jackson Palmer to third base. Shortly after, Landon Shriver followed Patton’s lead, putting a bunt in play. Palmer, in his first game of the season, slid home into a dusty spray and a 5-4 walk-off win.
“When guys have that service mentality for this team, look out for the Eagles,” Bolling said.
While most top county teams are decorating their spring with double-digit runs and blowouts, the Eagles have regularly ground to slim losses. They lost to Old Mill in extra innings in March, then dropped a 2-1 decision to Chesapeake. That was followed by a 4-3 extra-inning loss to Broadneck.
Baseball hasn’t served as Northeast’s only inspiration, either. It looks back at the basketball team, Bolling said, and the way those Eagles flipped a rough start into a state championship.
“No team has beaten us this year. We beat ourselves,” Bolling said. “If we can turn it around our way, our mentality is it doesn’t matter who’s coming in here. It can be the 1926 Yankees and we’ll be OK.”
Granted, Old Mill has suffered its fair share of close shaves, too. And it was willing to fight.
After building a 3-0 lead through three innings, the Patriots watched it wither in a flash.
“Create chaos,” is how Bolling describes his team’s particular brand of rally. Northeast generated enough small-ball in the bottom of the third to plate two of its three runs, while gladly accepting a free walk home for its third. In the following frame, senior Jack Schreiber sliced a line drive to left field and an error on the throw in let Chase McLaughlin score for a 4-3 lead.
Old Mill players assured each other they just needed some hits. As it turned out, it only really needed one.
In the top of the sixth, Patriots junior Ayden Burton, rushed to a triple before Northeast could recover his hit from right field. A sacrifice fly brought him home and tied the game.
But Northeast wouldn’t let this one get away.
“We used to tend to get off topic, and in these close games, we need to stay locked in,” Shriver said. “If we stay locked in, we can pull these games out.”
Old Mill — 111 001 0 — 4 6 2
Northeast — 003 100 1 — 5 7 0
WP: Blick. LP: Glos
2B: OM — Howard. 3B: OM — Burton