Solon beats Kuemper, 5-2, for 2A title (video)

DES MOINES - This might have been the hardest Brandon Shulista threw anything all day."I was pretty pumped up," the Solon pitcher said after stabbing a bullet of a comebacker to end Saturday afternoon's Class 2A state championship baseball game. "That line drive really hurt my hand, actually. Just a huge adrenalin rush."Shulista stood there temporarily stunned after the reflex catch gave his school its first state baseball title, 5-2, over Carroll Kuemper at Principal Park. Then in a sudden flash of unbridled emotion, Shulista took off his glove and fired it into the ground.A celebratory dogpile soon ensued near the mound, with Shulista on the very bottom."You try to hold back tears," Solon Coach Keith McSweeney said. "You don't want to be that little girl on the sideline, but it was very emotional, exciting. You know, our kids have not done that in any game leading up to this point. We've been here three times, but never dogpiled. I knew they were going to do it today ... A great sight.""It was pretty hot under there," Shulista said. "But it felt really good."Really good, with maybe a tinge of relief, too. These Spartans (41-2) were heavy favorites here after losing in the state semifinals the previous two years and destroying virtually everyone this regular season.It wasn't an easily captured championship. There was a 4-0 quarterfinal victory over Interstate 35, then a 12-9 rally over Wamac Conference foe Waterloo Columbus in the semifinals.Kuemper (27-10) scored a run in the top of the first against Shulista, but the Spartans picked up a pair each in the first and second innings. That was enough."We had a target on our back," said catcher Shawn Olson, whose RBI single in the first put his team ahead for good, 2-1. "We just really took it one game at a time here, and played as hard as we could."Kuemper was stuck in a way because ace pitcher Chris Halbur threw 11 innings in the Knights' first two state games and had just five left Saturday. State rule says pitchers can only pitch 16 innings in a week.Lefty Hank Aaron Olmstead threw just nine innings all season but got the start and took the loss. Halbur came on in the third and gave up just an unearned run."We kind of talked about that," said Olson. "That they would bring in that lefty for two innings, then bring their ace in for the last five. We prepared for whatever was going to happen."It didn't really matter much considering Shulista's effectiveness. He allowed six hits and one earned run, getting two huge double plays from his defense, including a 6-4-3 job that ended a bases-loaded threat in the fifth.That was the play of the game."A huge momentum swing,"Shulista said. "They easily could have gotten a few more runs. But that ended their rally right there."Here's the disheartening thing for the rest of the state. There are no seniors on this Solon team, meaning they'll all be back next season to try and get a repeat."Yeah, it's going to be fun playing with all these guys again next year," Olson said. "Even more pressure next year."McSweeney thinks his guys will be ready for that."These kids are competitive by nature. Nobody is making them play. They've been playing baseball their whole lives," he said. "Even this year. It's difficult when you start so early. We worked with pitchers and catchers in February. They had a spring league at Perfect Game. Here we are August 1."But I think they're going to see, they're going to feel that all that hard work paid off. I'm not worried about it at all. Those young men are so tight, we have great chemistry. They would not let (a letdown) happen."Here is video of Solon's postgame celebration/dogpile and a short interview with Olson:

Recap: Class 4A and 2A title recap with interviews