Gretna East punches ticket to final with shutout against Blair

In their first season, the Griffins earn a trip to their first state finals.

“I’m happy for these guys,” Gretna East coach Darrell Everhart said. “Even in the offseason, we just told them to trust the process and focus on how you play the games and not the outcomes. And we said that for today’s match it will never matter who we play as a team. Just go out there and trust the process and how you play the game.”

Both teams trailed 1-2-3 in the first inning before the second inning started with a leadoff double by Carson Herrmann. Immediately afterwards the first lightning strike struck within eight miles, with the delay beginning at 4:12 p.m

As the storms — which hit both the Class A tournament at Werner Park and the state track and field at Omaha Burke — moved through, rain poured down.

During the delay, the Griffins kept it light and had fun to lighten the mood, and before returning to the field, they also did a motivational exercise.

“As we got ready to get back on the field, we did a motivation check on ‘Let’s get serious and get after it,’” Everhart said.

The turf at Tal Anderson Field emptied and just three minutes before 6 p.m., Curran Boswell singled on the first pitch to put runners on the corners for the Griffins.

Tanner Erdkamp – the Griffins’ walk-off hero in the opening round – loaded the bases on a fielder’s choice.

Then, RBI singles from Colton Nicholson and Ty Cox and a Seth Kraegel walk in between made it 3-0.

“Our guys jumped on it right away and just kept going,” Everhart said.

A 2-run single by Nolan Green blew Gretna East’s lead open to 5-0.

“I just say to the guys coming out there, we’ve got to keep the energy up,” Green said. “They also had a long break. They had to get on the field, pitcher hadn’t pitched in a while, went out there and drove in some runs.

“It was a big boost, glad I could do that for my man Cope (starting pitcher Austin Copeland). Going out there with a five-run lead feels a lot better for you than a three-run lead.

Copeland was pulled after pitching 5 1/3 shutout innings with four strikeouts.

“I just stayed loose during the rain delay, played a good amount of catch, stretched out and was just ready to come back in while staying confident,” Copeland said.

“Cope is a guy we like to get the ball to every time,” Everhart added. “We just share it around the wealth and he’s done a great job of staying focused.”

Chase Neneman closed the door with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 inning and allowed no runners to reach base.

Behind both pitchers, the Griffins’ reliable defense did their part.

“We always talk to our defense before we go on the field,” Everhart said. “We want to tell our defense to pick up your pitcher and help him. Make him feel good. Give them some love. And that’s what they did. They picked him up in positions where necessary.”

Gretna East faces LSU commit Kale Fountain and Norris in the Class B state championship game at Werner Park on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

“I think we’re going to play the type of baseball we’re used to playing,” Everhart said. “You know, we don’t select any player from the other team as better than what we can do, we just go out there and play our style of baseball and the results will be what they are.”

Gretna East (21-7) 050 000 0 – 5 7 0

Blair (13-13) 000 000 0 – 0 3 0

W: Austin Copeland. L: Dylan Swanson. 2B: Hermann, Unger. RBI: Nicholson, Kraegel, Ty. Cox, Green (2).