Fairfield, IA- The baseball history between Burlington Notre Dame and Sigourney varied dramatically as these two programs entered last night’s Class 1A Substate 6 championship. Yet, history did not favor the experienced as Sigourney took the game, 4-2.
(Photo Credit to “The News-Review” on Facebook)
Notre Dame was searching for their 9th appearance in the Class 1A state tournament with a state championship in 1982 under their belts. Sigourney had just won their first district championship last Saturday and was looking to further their history making ways.
The similarities between the two teams were also drastic. Both had high caliber offenses with a pitching staff that could also win a game. Both teams brought in experience with Notre Dame boasting eight seniors and Sigourney returning eight from the year before.
The stage was set for an epic and the two teams delivered on the defensive side of things.
Caden Clarahan started on the mound for Sigourney and with the help of his brother, Chase, behind the plate throwing out Spencer Brent trying to take second base, tabbed an unconventional 1-2-3 inning.
The bottom half of the inning saw Sigourney’s offense start with a thunderous Jake Moore leadoff double. Caden Clarahan also gave the ball a ride to deep center, but Landry Haberichter stole an extra base hit before Jaxon Sadler calmed down to end the first.
The Nikes then had their turn to get runners in scoring position after Eli Oleson was hit by a pitch, Isiah Crow singled, and Maddox Diewold bunted them up a base. Nevertheless, Clarahan induced a pop out and no runs crossed home.
Sadler notched four strikeouts over the next two innings with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings.
The struggling offense of Notre Dame did not stop them from getting runners on base in the 3rd inning as their patience led to Lucas Johnson, Haberichter, and Oleson all working walks and loading the bases. A well hit ball to left field by Dylan Kipp was caught, ending the potential scoring threat.
The 4th inning was quiet for the Nike offense, not so much for Sigourney. Back-to-back singles for Reid Molyneux and Isaac Bruns and a two-out single by Lincoln Power loaded the bases in their own attempt to score. Sadler shut it down with his 7th and final “K” of the day.
After four innings of scoreless ball, Notre Dame finally broke the seal. Haberichter was plucked on an 0-2 pitch. Spencer Brent worked a walk and Caden Schwenker moved them over with a sacrifice bunt, leading to a sacrifice fly for Oleson. Nikes led 1 to 0.
Caden Schwenker took over duties on the mound in the bottom of the 5th and much like how Sadler started, Brady Clark slapped a leadoff single. The top of the order proved no issue with a fielder’s choice and a strikeout leaving two outs with a runner on second base for Sigourney.
That’s when Caden Clarahan, who led the team with a 0.552 batting average, hit the ball hard off the glove of Diewold for an RBI single. Trouble continued when Carson O’Rourke, running for Clarahan, crashed into Diewold’s glove on a Molyneux grounder causing the ball to skip away for a single.
The ruling on the field was all runners were safe due to the simultaneous nature of the play, but the umpires gathered to talk about the play. Despite the plea for an interference call that would have ended the inning, the conference yielded that all runners were safe.
A call that Notre Dame head coach Chris Chiprez agreed with during his postgame interview.
However, the dismay at the time did not help Schwenker as he left a pitch for Bruns to belt over the right field fence for a three-run home run. Sigourney now led 4 to 1.
In an incredible short burst of offense, Sigourney had gotten to one of the best pitchers in Class 1A. A decision that appeared to be the right move at the time.
“We just wanted to go with Schwenker” said coach Chiprez. “You know, he’s been our guy all year long, you know. And you know, we believe in him, we still do believe in him and just, you know, they timed him up and hit him hard.”
The Nikes still had two innings to strike back, and a Crow walk led to him making the trip around the bases on a couple of passed balls, leading to him eventually scoring and cutting the lead down to 4 to 2.
An important play from the inning was the final out. Haberichter cracked a deep fly ball to left-center field where the senior, Reid Molyneux, who had lost a chance to play football and wrestle due to rehab for a torn ACL, made a miraculous leaping catch to save an extra base hit.
Schwenker would put the Sigourney offense down in order in the bottom of the 6th inning to keep the deficit at two. Notre Dame was now down to their final three outs of the 2024 season and Chase Clarahan entered the game in relief.
The Nikes had been in a similar situation a year ago with a 3 to 1 deficit in the 8th inning against Moravia for the district championship. They found some magic and went on to win 4-3.
A Spencer Brent groundout started the inning. Schwenker walked. Oleson tallied the second hit of the game for Notre Dame with a single. Unfortunately, they would not travel any further on the base path as a strikeout and groundout resulted in the 4-2 final.
The Nikes left 10 runners on base as coach Chiprez gave credit to Sigourney but acknowledged that plays were missed,
“You know Sigourney’s a good team. You know, they battled us. I felt like we beat ourselves, to be honest with you. You know, I felt like Sigourney gave us opportunities and we didn’t capitalize on those. You know, generally we’re a good team as far as capitalizing on mistakes. We didn’t do that tonight. We had runners at second and third with less than two outs. We couldn’t get the job done and we didn’t make any plays in the field. So, I mean that’s what it boils down to in games like this you got to take advantage of every opportunity and if you don’t, you’re going to get beat.”
Sadler was the Coach Bennett Player of the Game for his four innings of scoreless work, allowing only four hits, one walk, while striking out seven.
He was one of eight seniors on the squad, a group that won 95 games in their five years and were a part of two trips to Carroll’s Merchant Field. A group that will be greatly missed.
“They’re great baseball players” reported coach Chiprez. “They have a great work ethic. They’re great in the classroom, but above all else, I think they’re great men, you know, and they’re great role models and great leaders for the underclassmen. And I think these guys set the tone for the underclassmen and for in for the even the junior high program. You know, I know a lot of those guys look up to the seniors, so I couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of them, you know for what they’ve done for the program over the years.”
Despite the sudden end to the season, coach Chiprez was able to name a couple of fun moments from the year, including wins over Burlington and North Scott, but, overall, struggled to find a specific moment,
“Just hanging out with the guys and being around the guys, that’s, that’s what gave me joy and gave the coaching staff joy, you know, just to watch the seniors lead and basically run the program themselves. I mean they were that good as leaders so, you know, it’s this one’s going to sting for a while, but you know, at the end of the day, you know, they should be proud of what they’ve accomplished this year.”
Notre Dame finished an incredible season with a 28-4 record, SEISC-South champs, and district 11 champs. It’s hard not to be proud of those accomplishments.
KILJ would like to thank all of our postseason sponsors for allowing us to cover all of our local teams!
