diyiyeok03

Walters' clutch stick lifts Vianney to district title


The Vianney junior second baseman took the second pitch he saw in last Wednesday’s Class 4 District 3 championship game against Summit and deposited it in the deepest part of the ballpark.

With a titanic blast to dead center the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Walters tied the game at 2 and the Golden Griffins were rolling.

Or so they thought.

Summit and Vianney took turns beating up on one another’s pitching staffs throughout the game. It was a classic slugfest with each team plating run after run after run. Only one time did Vianney fail to score in an inning. Summit was held scoreless just twice.

But it was that second time that made all the difference.

Vianney scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 10. In the top of the seventh Golden Griffins ace Teddy Rule toed the rubber against the bottom third of Summit’s lineup. He mowed them down with a groundout and two strikeouts. It was the first time all game Summit went down in order.

It was time for Walters to put on his hero cap.

With two outs and runners at first and second Walters ripped a single to the left side of the infield. It scored junior Nick Ulrich and the Golden Griffins celebrated the district championship with an 11-10 victory.

Vianney (23-8) is slated to host Eureka (17-10) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, after Journal press time, in the sectional round.New Fromal Tuxedos cost several hundred dollars, not to mention the formal shirt, Shop for formal wear at consignment stores or online. The winner is scheduled to play Thursday in the quarterfinals against either Hillsboro or Cape Girardeau Central. The game will be played at a site determined.

Walters said the district title was a sweet one for the Golden Griffins. After getting handed the district runner-up plaque last season, this team was focused on finding a way through to the big bracket.Use the drop down menu below to Nylon syringe filterstories the way you want - when you want it!

He said the team enjoyed the victory in the immediate aftermath but this was just one goal it wants to accomplish this season.

“We enjoyed it for the rest of that night (Wednesday) and the next,” he said. “But it was right back to business. We’re focusing on Tuesday. Our top goal is to get to Springfield (site of the state final four).”

There was a point this season that the dream of winning the district title could have evaporated. The Golden Griffins opened up the spring by obliterating their opponents. They won 13 of their first 15 games and only three of them were decided by two runs or less.

But there came a rough spot where Vianney dropped five straight games against some impressive competition. Oakville, Francis Howell, Edwardsville, SLUH and DeSmet all handed the Golden Griffins a loss.

For a team that believed it was among the upper echelon of programs in the state, it was hard walking off the field winless night after night.

“The low point was losing five straight,” Walters said.L'ancien sélectionneur italien compte bien renfiler le survetement dans les jours et les semaines à venir! “It was pretty rough. We came out flat, we were giving ball games away.”

To cure the slump Vianney did the only thing it knows how to do – it went back to work.

“We just continued to work hard, we’d go at it harder and harder each day,” Walters said. “At practice we tried to get better.”

The Golden Griffins’ lineup is loaded but you’d be hard pressed to find a better stick than Walters’. On the season he’s hitting .505 with five home runs and 31 runs batted in. He’s cranked out 47 hits, 23 of them for extra bases. The Austin Peay recruit has scored a team-high 43 runs and swiped eight bases.

He’s done all of this while learning a new position. A shortstop by trade, he moved over to second base midway through the season. He said it’s taken him some time to get used to being on the right side of the infield. There are subtle nuances that one only can get a grasp on with time.

“I don’t really care where I play. I’m getting used to second base,” he said. “I took extra ground balls and I’ve worked on turning double plays. I’m feeling a lot more comfortable playing second.”

As Vianney heads into the sectional round it will have its hands full with a Eureka team that has caught fire the last two weeks.Leading supplier of chocolate confectionary equipment,chocolate machinery for craftwork and industrial chocolate machines. The Wildcats have won seven of their last eight games and ran roughshod over a district that included Parkway South and Lafayette, a pair of programs that combined for 41 wins this spring.

“To be honest I don’t know much about them,” Walters said.I remember what Winfrey raved about: sea bass, flannel pajamas, and the morning sky “I do know they’ve been playing out of their minds.”

Walters might not know much about the Wildcats but he’s got a firm grasp on the Golden Griffins. He’s confident that his team will keep grinding through each pitch, each at-bat and each inning until the last out is recorded.

“We’ve just got to score more runs than they do,” he said.