Grand Island pitching duo comes through

Pitching depth ...  overrated.

That's one conclusion that can be taken from the Class A State Baseball Tournament championship earned by Grand Island.

While the team with the most complete staff often claims the trophy and gold medals at the end of the double-elimination state tournament, the Islanders rode their one-two combination of seniors Kash Kalkowski and Eric Schwieger for most of the postseason.

Except for the 7-5 loss to Millard West in the first game Friday and one batter in the 7-6 championship game win, Kalkowski and Schwieger pitched the entire postseason for the Islanders.

That adds up to 42 innings, six wins and one memorable run to the Islanders' first state title.

"We were on the shoulders of two thoroughbreds," Grand Island coach Rick Kissack said.

Schwieger, coming off two days rest after a complete-game win over Omaha Westside on Tuesday, went 5 1/3 innings to earn the championship game win. He gave up five runs on six hits and fanned five.

He said he was prepared to go as long as he could. And although he was tired after the game, taking part in the once-in-a-lifetime (if you're lucky) state championship celebration made months of rehab for a shoulder injury worth it.

"I'm so happy right now for everybody," Schwieger said. "The team played so well behind me. And we hit the ball well the entire tournament."

When Schwieger tiring, it was time for the Islanders' workhorse to appear. After Dylan Meier pitched to one batter, Kalkowski made his third appearance of the tournament.

He'd pitched complete-game gems against Omaha Creighton Prep and Millard North earlier in the tournament. This time he was called on to preserve a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth with bases loaded against a potent Millard West offense.

While Kalkowski showed signs of having thrown 107 pitches less than 48 hours before, he got the job done.

Kalkowski held onto the lead going into the seventh, where he left the tying run stranded at second.

For Schwieger, it was difficult sitting on the bench with the game out of his control.

"It was pretty painful," he said. "I was getting nervous in the sixth inning, and then in the seventh I knew Kash would get it."

Some detractors might feel that the Islanders caught a break by playing in the only game that wasn't rained out in the first round Saturday. That allowed Kalkowski to be available for his second start earlier than six other teams' aces.

But that also kept him limited to short relief duty on Friday while Millard West was back with its No. 1 and No. 2 starters in the tournament.

While the Kalkowski-Schwieger duo deserves plenty of credit for the unlikely state title, make no mistake -- this was a complete team effort.

The Islander offense kept hitting Nos. 1-9. The defensive play ranged from steady to spectacular.

That all added up to a state title that seemed even a little surprising to the Islanders.

That's understandable. No team outside of the Omaha area had won a state title since Wakefield took Class B in 1980. Heck, no team outside of the Omaha area had made it to the finals since Lincoln Northeast lost a 14-inning battle to Omaha Northwest in 1989.

"If you told me two weeks ago we'd be state champions, I'd have walked away from you," Schwieger said.

But there's no walking away from the fact that the Islanders put together one of the more impressive runs in recent Nebraska high school sports history.

Twice Grand Island has entered the state tournament as the top seed. Those teams went a combined 1-4. That included last year's squad, which had as deep a pitching staff as any team in the state.

Once before the Islanders entered as the eighth seed. They followed the script and went two-and-out.

This time, G.I. came in as the No. 8 seed, tore the script up, tossed it in the blender and hit "puree."

This team scored two runs in the top of the seventh in the district final against Millard North just to qualify for state.

This team brushed off playing in the rain in the first round to beat Omaha Creighton Prep, a team that happened to be ranked 18th in the country and throwing Joe Holtmeyer, who hadn't given up an earned run in 30 innings.

This team beat Omaha Westside, a team that was riding a 17-game win streak.

This team beat Millard North again in the winners'-bracket final to become responsible for three of the Mustangs' seven losses.

This team brushed off the first-game loss to Millard West to win the second in winner-takes-all contest.

Following the trophy and medal presentations and the team pictures, Kissack asked the Omaha World-Herald's Mike Patterson if he would put the Islanders No. 1 in his final rankings.

But Kissack's smile showed that he already knew the answer.

Grand Island is the best team in the state.

There's no other conclusion than that.

Dale Miller is a sports writer for The Independent.