David Ledbetter tossed perhaps the worst game of his career, but it was his uncanny ability to make right pitch at the right time, combined with the stingy defense and timely hitting of his teammates that put Heritage Christian in rare company to win its second consecutive Class 2A baseball state championship Saturday at Victory Field.

The senior was his own worst enemy as he walked a season-high nine batters, but he bounced back to record six strikeouts as he kept Oracle batters off stride, inducing two double plays while leaving eight runners on base. Heritage Christian put together clutch hitting and stingy defense combined with its pitching that did not allow Delphi to mount a serious challenge.

Ledbetter, who  had two hits scored one run and drove in one run, did not have good command of his pitches early in the game as Delphi did not have its most serious scoring threat until the seventh inning, and then it proved to be too late as Jeff Miley came in to shut down the Oracles bats to give Heritage Christian a 5-1 victory.

With the win, the Golden Eagles become the first back-to-back champs in Class 2A since North Posey accomplished the same feat in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. In fact, Heritage Christian and North Posey are the only back-to-back winners in Class 2A since the ISHAA started the class baseball championship in 1998.

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Ledbetter pitches one-hitter

Tanner Cripe registered the lone hit by Delphi off Ledbetter when he hit the ball high into the air and it eventually fell for a hit after it was lost in the sun. It was about the most success batters would have off the Eagles pitching staff until the seventh.

Heritage Christian head coach Dan Ambrose did not lose confidence in Ledbetter or the entire Golden Eagles team.

"(Ledbetter) threw perhaps the worst one-hitter in the history of the state finals," Ambrose said. "It is the beauty of this game how a player cannot have his best game, but finds a way to make the plays, and he gets help from his teammates."

Ledbetter: You have to play on guts"

Ledbetter said his erratic performance did not bother him. Rather, he  relied on what his coach said to do on the mound when not throwing his best.

"You just have to out there and play on guts," Ledbetter said. "Coach (Ambrose) always tells us how you have to stay up. I went out on the mound and was trying to aim the ball instead of throwing it. I became more effective once I started to just pitch and not aim at the plate."

Senior Scott Kreeger made it 2-0 after he scampered home after a wild pitch in the bottom of the second, scoring and what turned out to be the winning run. Ryan Ledbetter singled to score his brother, David, to make it 1-0 in the first, and the Eagles led 3-0 after a single by senior Cameron McWilliams.

Delphi scored its lone run in the third in what could have been a big inning. Ledbetter walked the first two batters, but Neil Snoeberger hit into a double play and the Oracles managed to score only one run.

In the fourth inning, Delphi had a repeat performance of the previous inning when it left one player on base and two more in the fifth.

Final championship thoughts from Ambrose

Ambrose said his team talked about defending its state title on the first day of practice. Ambrose told his team that they didn't have to defend anything.

"We have a little bit different team and we need to take a different approach than the previous season. We are not playing to defend, but we will play to attack, and it started with that first day of practice.

Ambrose said he told his players that they could either be like Labradors or Rotweillers (dogs) and we wanted to be like the Rottweiler and attack all season long. Our players were ready and up to the task of winning a second straight time.

"We just want to keep building a successful program at Heritage Christian."

Photos to come

Look for a photo slideshow from the game to be available on www.sportschronicle.net later.