Heartland Lighting/DC Electric bound for state
By Eric Taylor
Leader sports editor
After a 12-year absence, the Bellevue West baseball program is returning to the state tournament.
Heartland Lighting/DC Electric earned a postseason spot by defeating Elkhorn 14-8 during the Area 3 Tournament Sunday night at Elkhorn’s Legion Field.
The win guaranteed the West Senior American Legion team a spot in one of the two Class A state tournaments. It marks the first time since 1998 that a West team, spring or summer, will be playing in a state tournament.
“I’m just so happy for our kids,” Heartland/DC coach Calvin Tanton said. “They’re excited and they’re seeing all their hard work pay off.
“This is a big win for this program and they grasp that.”
For departing seniors like Des Roberts and Kody Honeycutt, it was one final opportunity to cash in on a state berth after losing district title games in each of the past two spring seasons.
“We just wanted a shot to get to state,” Honeycutt said. “This means a lot to all of us.”
Roberts, who has been the anchor of the West stuff this spring and summer, got the ball in the biggest game of his career and didn’t disappoint.
He was spotted a 12-0 lead after three innings and although he had a little hiccup by giving up seven runs in the fourth, he settled down to throw 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine along the way.
“It was an emotional game for me,” Roberts said. “Knowing we were one game away from state drove me on the mound.”
Tanton said Roberts’ presence on the mound exudes confidence throughout the dugout.
“Des has twice won district games in the spring so he’s 3-0 for us in big games,” Tanton said. “When Des is on the mound, you could tell he really wanted it.”
Heartland/DC scored a single run in the first the put up six in the second and five more in the third. Joe Babic had a two-run blast in the second inning to propel the big inning.
After giving up seven runs in the third, thoughts of what happened Thursday night may have started to creep into the minds of the Heartland/DC players.
They led Elkhorn 6-0 going into the bottom of the eighth inning before surrendering seven unanswered runs in a crushing defeat.
“It was a tough loss, but it wasn’t something we could dwell on,” Roberts said. “We weren’t going to let our season end by letting this one get away.”
Heartland/DC got a couple of insurance runs in the seventh, one on an RBI triple from Roberts and the second on Elkhorn’s sixth error of the game.
Honeycutt ended the game with four RBIs while Roberts added a pair of hits and drove in three.
Heartland/DC, which entered the tourney as the fifth-seed, reached double figures in four of its first games and piled up 60 runs and 74 hits entering Monday’s championship round.
“A lot of those runs came from the kids hustling,” Tanton said. “They really responded this weekend.”
Tourney recap:
Heartland/DC 14, North 1 – Heartland/DC built a big lead early and cruised in the opening game.
Lucas Webb had six RBIs, falling a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. John Babic added five hits, including a pair of doubles, to the offensive onslaught.
Roberts left with a big lead after three innings as Ben Hiser pitched four solid innings for the victory.
Elkhorn 7, Heartland/DC 6 – Elkhorn scored four in the eighth and three in the ninth, ending the game on a pair of Heartland/DC errors on the same play.
West put up five runs in the top of the seventh to build its lead. Webb had a two-run single while Honeycut and Babic also had RBIs. Babic finished the game with two driven in.
Heartland/DC 16, Millard Sox Gold 5 – A 16-hit attack carried Heartland/DC in the elimination contest.
Roberts drove in four runs with John Babic registering three hits. Honeycutt, Zach Dibble and Webb each had two hits with Webb driving in three.
Colton Goodspeed went four innings for the win while Hiser tossed the final three in relief.
Heartland/DC 10, North 6 – Heartland/DC snapped a 6-all tie with four runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Roberts had a two-run double to give Heartland the lead and Honeycutt followed with a two-run shot to boost the lead to four.
Honeycutt went 2 1/3 innings in relief to pick up the win and finished the game with four RBIs.
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