As the final pitch from Arizona State baseball commit Rohan Lettow connected with Ryker Waite’s bat, a smile went across the face of second baseman Cooper Brass’s face as he fielded the softly hit ground ball and tossed it to first base.
As the ball landed in Zach Wadas’s glove, the final out clinched a second consecutive state baseball championship for the Hamilton Huskies, a 3-1 victory over the Queen Creek Bulldogs
The Huskies quest back to the top of Arizona high school baseball had been an up and down path that only saw only two losses in non tournament play, both of which were competitive losses to district rivals Casteel and Basha.
Entering the season, the Huskies were considered the team to beat in Arizona with a loaded lineup that saw all nine starters committed to playing college baseball. With the talent and experience the Huskies had returning, Hamilton entered the season ranked sixth nationally by Maxpreps.
Early in the season, Hamilton struggled at times with losses to Orange Lutheran from California and to in-state challengers O’Connor and Mountain Ridge.
Needing a boost entering the postseason, the senior class of the Huskies flipped the switch as their experience would be key to another championship run.
Lettow was one of the senior’s whose switch flipped and his dominance on the mound was the key to a Husky victory in the championship game but also throughout the entire postseason.
In 20 and 2/3rd’s innings against Mountain Ridge, Sunnyslope, and Queen Creek, Lettow conceded two runs total for a 0.85 ERA and 3-0 record in the playoffs.
Throughout the game, timely hitting kept the Husky offense rolling at the plate and one of the biggest contributors was future UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
Cholowsky scored the game’s first run after reaching base on a single and scoring off a Queen Creek error in the bottom of the first inning.
After failing to get much going offensively, the Huskies scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth off an RBI triple from junior catcher Liam Wilson and a single from senior first baseman Zach Wadas extended the Hamilton lead to 3-0.
With the Bulldogs desperately needing a big play, senior pitcher Nate Gray lined a hard hit ball into center field that landed behind the outfielder’s glove and gave Queen Creek life with the Bulldogs down 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
After Gray got out of a two out jam which stranded two Huskies on base, the Bulldogs went back to the plate in the seventh inning looking for any way to try and steal the game out of Hamilton’s hands.
Freshman Tait Reynolds started the Bulldogs attempt at a rally with a single into left field, shortly after Reynolds advanced to second base on a passed ball. With one out, Cayden Cooper drew a patient walk to put the pressure on Lettow on the mound.
As the Bulldogs seemingly had caught on to what Lettow was throwing, the infielders of the Huskies went to Rohan on the mound and gave him words of encouragement.
“You got this, time to shut this down! It’s our time” rang out from the scrum of Husky players.
Just eight pitches after that meeting, the Huskies clinched another state title. With this one just as dominant as the ones that came before it.
Hamilton rolled through the postseason outscoring opponents 38-7 and didn’t lose a game throughout the double elimination tournament.
Postgame, head coach Mike Woods reflected on the senior class and why this championship was just as meaningful as the eight that came before it.
“You have guys who hadn’t experienced this feeling and guys who have been here, every team is a new team with new guys who work to get to this point” said a jubilant Woods.
The Huskies graduate 11 seniors, with four guys who won three championships during their varsity careers and eight players who’ll be continuing baseball at the college level.
Cholowsky will enter the MLB draft with hopes of being taken in the first round and Lettow will continue his career at Arizona State.
Brass will play at New Mexico with Jeter Mauzey heading to New Mexico State.
Carson Johnson and Will Shelor will both attend the University of Arizona and play for the Wildcats
Ryan Kucherak is committed to LSU and both Wadas and Josh Tiedemann will play for TCU.
