From good to great

After Tuesday evening’s game — a 6-5 nine-inning stunner over top-seeded Allegany — the Huskies can now cement this as a great season.

In order to have a great season, players have to step up in big moments. Northern got that from everybody on Tuesday, ranging from sophomore Robert Deatelhauser’s unforgettable 5.1 innings of shutout relief to senior Easton Rhoten’s game-saving catch in deep center in the bottom of the eighth to sophomore Luke Ross’ go-ahead 2-out RBI knock in the top of the ninth. Whether they were underclassmen or upperclassmen, the Huskies delivered.

They also did this against an Allegany team that returned a huge chunk of its roster from last year’s state-semifinal squad — the same Allegany team who had beaten Northern 21-0 and 15-10 in the two regular-season matchups.

It was also a kind of win that serves as a milestone moment in both the short and long term.

For the short term, these seniors could not have asked for a better way to close out their battles against area competition. Their freshman season get canceled, most of them were on junior varsity during their sophomore year and they fell in the West Region I semifinal their junior year. That long road led this group to this moment of triumph.

For the long term, it was a game that showed the future is also bright as a handful of underclassmen made play after play. This had been a trend all year but culminated in the group’s most complete effort on Tuesday.

Everyone’s contributions have led the Huskies to what is now a 17-4 record and a berth to the 1A State Quarterfinals. By every metric, it’s a great season.

The only question left is how great will it become?

While Northern is coming off a win over an Allegany team that had possible state title aspirations, the Snow Hill Eagles will provide a hefty challenge in Friday’s state quarterfinal. The No. 6 seeded Eagles will have their top arms available, including D1 commit Cole Swift (Radford) should they choose to go with him.

The Huskies, despite burning through some great pitching performances in their first two playoff games, will have a few quality options for the matchup on the mound. One upside to this is that if Northern can get past Snow Hill, it will have everybody available for the semifinal matchup.

Northern is no stranger to appearing as a “final eight” team in baseball. Before the format changed to having “state quarterfinalists” all re-seeded, the Huskies had rattled off several sectional championships to make it to the regional finals as one of the remaining eight teams. In their first experience with the new format in 2021, the Huskies punched their ticket all the way to the state semifinals.

Also, as of now, the weather seems to be perfect with a forecasted high near 70 degrees and only a 5% chance of precipitation. The setting will be ideal for playoff baseball.

Will the great season become something even more? We’ll find out when Northern hosts Snow Hill at 4 p.m. on Friday.