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After being seven-time runner up, Wildcats prove defense and pitching win state titles

By Omaha World Herald, 05/19/19, 6:00AM CDT

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Pitching and defense.

Those were the first three words that Millard West coach Steve Frey said to me after every one of the Wildcats’ state-tournament wins. His team had its moments at the plate, but that pitching was rock solid and the defense was first rate.

That’s why Millard West won its first Class A championship.

The Wildcats’ dominating pitching performance will go down as the best in state tournament history. Frey’s squad won its first four games by shutout and gave up just one run in 39 innings.

Making it more impressive was the fact one game went nine innings and another 11.

One more thing about that one-for-the-ages pitching effort. Because of a rainout on the first day of the tourney, Millard West played five straight days — a true test of pitching depth, especially in the pitch-count era.

But Frey also knew that his pitchers weren’t doing it alone. The Wildcats’ defense committed only three errors in the tournament and continually frustrated opponents by flashing the leather.

Two of those errors were made by third baseman Tristan Gomes, who made up for it by turning in the top defensive play of the entire tournament. In the championship against Millard South, his first-inning web gem cut down a run at the plate and put Millard West on the path to victory.

The key game for the Wildcats during their championship run was their first-round, 1-0 win over Omaha Creighton Prep. The first inning set the tone for the tourney when the Junior Jays had a runner on third base with none out and couldn’t score.

Millard West pulled an even better Houdini act in the first inning of the championship. The Patriots came up empty after loading the bases with none out, in large part because of Gomes’ gloved flip to catcher Jackson Meier.

For the record, that Class A final goes down as one of the best high school games I’ve ever covered. Great pitching and defense on both sides and enough drama to keep the big crowd at Sherman Field on the edge of their seats for 11 innings.

After the game, one Millard West player was so overcome by emotion that he could barely speak. The weight of being part of a program that had finished as the runner-up seven times without one title finally had been lifted.

The great irony is that Frank Ryan, the man who led Millard West to 18 state tournament appearances and six second-place finishes, was in the other dugout Friday — he is now an assistant at Millard South.

With Millard West graduating 11 seniors, there’s a strong chance the Patriots will be the team to beat next year. They had just two seniors on the roster and are coming off consecutive runner-up finishes at state.

I remember asking Frey about the Wildcats’ state title frustration a few years ago. He said he wasn’t too worried because he was confident the school would capture that elusive first championship someday.

For Millard West, that day was Friday. And you couldn’t ask for a more deserving champion.