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Ardrey Kell pitcher Ryan Butler didn't look like the most valuable player of the N.C. 4A baseball championship when the game started.
Raleigh Sanderson shortstop Kyle Wigmore was just a few inches away from hitting Butler's third pitch of the game for a home run down the left field line.
“I threw a change-up,” Butler said after a four-hit shutout and a 1-0 win. “He got onto it. When it went foul, I just said, ‘It's a long strike and you've got to get in there and battle.'”
Butler's a 6-foot-2 junior who has pitched in two N.C. 4A Western Regional championship series. So he knows about pressure. He spent Friday night getting ready.
While the rest of his teammates were polishing off several extra large Domino's pizzas, Butler went back to the hotel and turned out the lights around 9 p.m. He wouldn't normally go to bed until midnight.
He slept until 8:30 Saturday morning, and when he woke up, he stuck his iPod headphones in his ears and listened to rap to get ready.
“I needed a good night's sleep,” Butler said. “And I got up focused, and all I could think about was the game. That's all I wanted to think about.”
After the first inning, Butler got a little better. But his pitch count was high and Sanderson had a runner reach at least second base in the first six innings. Each time he got in trouble, though, Butler was able to force a fly out or a double-play ball, something to keep his shutout going.
“Butler's been that way all year,” Knights right fielder Zico Pasuit said. “He's probably the scariest pitcher I've ever played for. He starts getting behind, 2-0 and 3-0 (balls to strikes) and then he works his way back. I hated him at the beginning of the year for that, and then I got used to it. You start to shut up and trust him.”
Sure enough, Butler followed Pasuit's script.
Of the final 11 batters he faced, Butler retired nine, including the final three. He ended up giving up four hits and striking out three. And not many kids are going to throw a shutout in a state championship game.
“Ryan's been big for us for two years,” Ardrey Kell coach Hal Bagwell said. “He's the one we want in that situation. He's big, man. We got out of a lot of trouble and that's a credit to him bearing down and locating his pitches.”
After the game, Butler said he could pitch eight more innings, he felt so fresh (perhaps it was all that sleep). He also said he could split his MVP trophy up about nine ways to include his teammates.
“These guys are unbelievable,” he said. “That's the best defense I've ever played with. They won the game for me.”
Actually, they all won it for each other.
