“There are going to be a lot more tears today,” said Eldridge. “This is a dream.”
For Eldridge — a likely first-round pick in July’s MLB draft who scouts have dubbed “the American Ohtani” and who Coach Pudge Gjormand called “the best high school baseball player in the country” — Saturday afternoon was about what everyone else did for Madison (23-5).
Forget that he came in with three innings remaining in a freshly tied ballgame and retired the final nine batters for Westfield (20-8), six on strikeouts. Eight Warhawks finished with either a walk, hit or RBI. Senior Mac Lewis had web gems at shortstop. Senior Jason Cassidy tallied three hits.
And senior Eli Novario, who had been the team’s most clutch hitter all year, had one more stroke of magic in him, as he roped a go-ahead RBI triple to left field in the top of the seventh. It was Madison’s fourth last-inning, game-winning hit in its five postseason victories.
“It’s a big tribute to Coach Pudge,” said Novario, who was 0 for 3 entering the at-bat. “Jason [Cassidy is] up there, he’s 3 for 3, and he bunts him to get a guy on second for me. It’s unbelievable the faith he has in every player. And you can’t be nervous when Coach Pudge is standing there with all that faith in you.”
Westfield and Madison, Concorde District foes, had split their four previous contests, three of which had been decided by one run. Each had underperformed last season and returned with a top-100 prospect in its lineup, the Warhawks rostering Eldridge and the Bulldogs enlisting senior outfielder Jonny Farmelo, who went 2 for 4 and scored the tying run in the top of the fifth Saturday.
Though Madison jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second thanks to a sacrifice fly from Eldridge, a double by Cassidy and a two-out error that allowed two runs to score, Westfield scored one run in the third, two more in the fourth on junior Matthew Jenks’s double, and another in the fifth.
But Madison, when it needed to, turned to the ace in its pocket.
“We were in so many games where everyone thought we were done,” Eldridge said. “That’s how our season has been. I wouldn’t expect this to be any different.”