Olson outduels Giedd in Fulton Regional final

Collin McGinn provided that margin.

The junior outfielder’s two-out, run-scoring single in the fourth inning was the lone dent in the scoreboard and lifted the Comets to a 1-0 win over the Cougars. It’s the second regional title in three years for Newman (19-11), who will take on Somonauk on Wednesday at the Lena-Winslow Sectional.

“This is something we’ve been working for all season,” Olson said, “but now we’ve got to take it a step further and look forward to that sectional.”

Both pitchers were brilliant. Olson tossed his third no-hitter of the season, with 15 strikeouts and four walks. Giedd wasn’t far behind, allowing one run, four hits and four walks, with nine strikeouts.

“Ryan is a great pitcher,” Giedd said, “and I was just glad I could pitch against him today. It was really fun.”

“Those were two of the best pitchers in the area going at it today,” Eastland coach Weston Burkholder said. “Coach [Dale Hartman] and I on the way over here [Friday] night, we thought it was going to be a one-run game. We just ended up on the short end of the stick this year.”

Michael Ely started Newman on the path to the game’s only run with a leadoff single in the fourth inning. One out later, Olson hit a slow dribbler into right field, but Ely stopped at second base, even as third-base coach Dan Crawford was furiously waving his arms to keep running.

With runners at first and second, Eastland pulled a bit of trickery to eliminate Ely on the basepaths. Giedd faked a pickoff throw to first, and first baseman Chase Wilhelms further sold it by running into foul ground to retrieve the ball, which was still in Giedd’s glove.

Ely bought the move, broke for third base and was easily picked off.

“When we executed that play,” Burkholder said, “I thought we were going to get out of it.”