Conley comes through in pressure spot, lifting NR to another district title

CASTALIA – Dereck Uitto had full confidence in Luke Conley.The New Riegel coach turned to the freshman in the most stressful moment in Saturday's Division VII district final against St. Mary Central Catholic.With the bases loaded, Conley came on and got the final two outs, lifting the top-seeded Blue Jackets to the 2-1 win at Lions Park."It's unbelievable. Luke has been my manager the last three years and now he's a freshman," Uitto said. "I turned to him and asked him if he was ready to go in. He said some things I probably shouldn't repeat, but he was ready. We did it earlier in the year when we beat Riverdale."I brought him in bases loaded with two outs then, but it was a similar situation. He didn't blink."New Riegel improved to 14-11 and will face Leipsic (15-10) at 2 p.m. Wednesday in a regional semifinal at Carter Park in Bowling Green."Honestly, I don't even know what I was thinking," Conley said. "I was just going to throw strikes and I had to trust I would get help behind me. Lot of nerves."After a quick first out on the mound from Alec Hohman, Leo Will reached on a fly for SMCC (17-9) to left that wasn't caught. Four-pitch walks to Benny Byington and Rylan Wikel loaded the bases.That is when New Riegel went to Conley.Senior Blake Finneran looked to take advantage of a fresh arm, but Conley induced a popup on the infield.Conley then struck out senior Sam Lawrence, giving the Blue Jackets a heroic finish."I had no idea those two kids were seniors," Conley said. "I played like I was playing against other freshmen or playing wiffleball with my friends at the park."The Panthers making a run at it and making things difficult for New Riegel was no surprise to Uitto."We knew it wasn't going to be an easy seventh inning," Uitto said. "We played them in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division for years. (SMCC coach) Ryan (Myers) is a really good coach. We knew he'd have them ready. That's how you'd expect a district final to end."Maybe not bases loaded and all that, but with the other team going down fighting."New Riegel broke a 1-1 game with a pair of two-out runs in the top of the fifth inning.Clayton Gabel doubled to the wall before a bunt single by Derek Tiell gave the Blue Jackets an immediate chance.SMCC starting pitcher Toby Gibson got a strikeout before a bunt by Quinn Allison was fielded by Gibson.Indecisiveness and an attempt to get a lead runner allowed Allison to reach safely.Gibson got a second strikeout of the inning, but Blake Moes poked a single into the outfield to score two and put New Riegel up 3-1."Hats off to Blake," Uitto said. "He went through a little stretch where he wasn't hitting at all. Being a junior and playing on this stage before, his confidence showed up. He had two strikes on him and stayed on the pitch."SMCC answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning.Byington reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Finneran's single.The Blue Jackets lost 7-1 to SMCC on April 20 in Sandusky.Gibson also pitched that game for the Panthers."I looked at some of his stats and he's solid," said Uitto of the tall, lanky left-handed pitcher for SMCC. "I know he pitched well against Calvert. I know he came in and closed out St. Paul. We told the kids he lived middle to middle out. He threw some nice fastballs, but we told them to stay on the baseball."He doesn't walk anybody. He's real good with his command."New Riegel will turn its attention to a Leipsic team that beat Edgerton 10-0 in a district final Saturday."I coached in the Blanchard Valley Conference for a long time and (Leipsic coach) Darren (Henry) was the guy I was probably closest with," Uitto said. "Leipsic is very well-coached. Leipsic is always solid. They don't make many errors. They bunt when they have to bunt. They throw strikes."We actually scrimmaged them before the season and they blew our doors off. We'll see how far we've come since the middle of March."It is the second district title in a row for the Blue Jackets.Uitto is a New Riegel graduate that is proud to be giving back to the school and community that made him who he is today."It's been absolutely incredible," Uitto said. "I think this is Year 18 and I never had a district title before last year. One was amazing, so I guess I'd say two is almost unbelievable."For these kids, it's awesome."