Fastballs and a broken bat: Grant's no-hitter leads Center Grove to regional title

GREENWOOD — Center Grove pitcher Gannon Grant felt good during pregame warmups ahead of Saturday's Class 4A regional championship game against Richmond, then he did something that made him feel like his fastball had a little more life than usual.

In the bottom of the first inning, Grant threw a fastball inside to Red Devils shortstop Weston Jones. The pitch jammed Jones, shattering his composite bat into two pieces. The ball rolled foul down the first base line and the barrel of the bat tumbled toward Grant.

"That's probably my first time," Grant said of breaking an alloy bat. "In summer ball I've broken some wooden bats, but I've never seen an (Louisville Slugger) Atlas break. It was kind of cool, like 'Shoot, am I throwing harder today?'"

Grant's fastball sat between 92 and 94 miles per hour, touching 95 at its peak and the Red Devils hitters could not catch up to the heat. Grant rounded out his three-pitch mix with a tight slider and changeup, racking up 13 strikeouts over six no-hit innings, leading the Trojans to a 12-0 victory. Grant was an error and a hit batter away from a perfect game.

Center Grove advances to face Evansville North in the semistate semifinals.

"A no-hitter in the tournament doesn't happen very often," Center Grove coach Keith Hatfield said. "It's really easy for somebody to stick their bat out and hit a blooper or something, but (Grant) battled. He battled through heat, he battled through long innings. That was probably the biggest thing, those first three innings took forever. In this heat to stay composed and stay hydrated in the dugout, staying energetic, it's real easy to relax after (leading) 6-0 in two innings. I thought his mental focus was really, really good today."

Game time temperatures were in the high 80s with the sun beaming off the turf field bumping temperatures into the 90s. The Trojans bats started equally as hot, scoring two runs in the first inning and three runs in the second. Drake McClurg led off the game with a double. McClurg and Liam Delp scored on errors. Delp added a two-run double in the second. Grant helped his cause with a solo home run to center field in the fourth. McClurg, Delp, Grady Grant and Jackson Burnett had two hits each.

After the first-inning error, Grant retired the next 14 batters in a row.