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Porter’s grand slam and Chadwick’s super pitching help Tennessee reach U.S. Final

By Chris Masse 6 min read

Josiah Porter suffered a devastating injury six years ago, leaving him blind in his right eye. Staff ace Jack Rhodes was injured at regionals and was in the hospital with an injured wrist Wednesday night before returning Thursday.

Adversity has hit Nolensville, Tennessee players over the years and throughout its 2022 all-star season.

Every time this gritty, super team has come thundering back and overcome it all. So, maybe it was fitting that Porter delivered the biggest blow in his league’s biggest game and helped send Nolensville to the U.S. Championship.

Porter hit a go-ahead, first inning grand slam and Drew Chadwick threw a masterful complete game six-hitter as Tennessee defeated Texas, 7-1 and earned a spot in Saturday’s national final against Honolulu, Hawaii. Every part of the Tennessee machine perfectly hummed as this Nolensville became the first of its four qualifiers since 2013 to reach the world’s Final 4.

"It feels amazing," Chadwick said after striking out six and going 1 for 2 with a run. "It’s kind of hard to believe that in the whole world we’re one of the best four teams. It’s awesome."

"These guys have accomplished so much," Tennessee manager Randy Huth said. "You can’t be anything but proud of them."

Texas took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Porter changed the game’s trajectory with one powerful swing. After Rhodes, Bo Daniel and Wright Martin hit consecutive one-out singles, Porter came up with the bases loaded.

Facing a 2-1 count, Porter blasted a long drive to center field which hit off the Howard J. Lamade statue just beyond the center field fence and put Tennessee ahead, 4-1. It’s remarkable that Porter is playing and what he did in that first inning seemed ripped from a Hollywood script.

"It felt amazing. I looked up at my dad and he was so happy and had a smile on my face and it also put a smile on mine and everyone watching back home," Porter said. "I knew it was a great thing to do and we got the win."

Porter has provided a big spark at the bottom of Tennessee’s lineup throughout the summer. He hit an RBI double in his first Series at-bat nine days ago and has been relentless in the batting cage. So impressive was Porter there that Huth and the coaches decided to move him a spot in the order for last night’s game.

What a move it was. Porter was just looking to make contact, but he did a lot more. In addition to giving Tennessee the lead a day after it suffered its first Series defeat, Porter also gave his team a huge spark and the Southeast champions cruised from there.

"Josiah has been crushing the ball in batting practice. He’s hurting baseballs in batting practice, so we moved him up one spot. He’s been hitting everything," Huth said. "Even though he can only see out of one eye, that one eye is seeing beach balls right now. It’s pretty impressive. Because of what he’s been doing in batting practice and working so hard we moved him up a spot and look at what happened."

"After that (grand slam) I was going crazy in my mind. I was like, ‘I’m going to shut down this game,’" Chadwick said. "Even if we don’t score again, we’re still going to win because I’m going to shut it down and that’s what I did."

Indeed.

Texas produced three first inning hits, but Chadwick held it to that same total over the last five innings. He never again let a runner reach third base and pounded the strike zone, walking none. Chadwick threw 57 of 85 pitches for strikes and stymied an offense which had produced eight runs and 11 hits in Wednesday’s victory against Pennsylvania.

As usual, Chadwick had plenty of help. Tennessee prides itself on strong defense and that facet was as strong as a body builder last night. Time after time, the team made big, timely plays with shortstop William Satinoff doing his latest Ozzie Smith impersonation and making a diving stop before throwing out a runner at first from his knees.

Satinoff also started one of the night’s biggest plays in the top of the first. After Jacob Zurek and Kaiden Shelton opened the game with a double and RBI single, respectively, Manny Castillo hit a rocket up the middle.

Coming off the bat it looked like a single, but Satinoff made a difficult stop, flipped to second baseman Nash Carter who then made a quick turn and throw to produce a rally-killing double play. Porter brought the thunder, but that play was when the storm clouds really started building for Texas.

"We hit the ball really well in the first inning. Manny hit the ball real hard," Texas manager Aaron Cummings said. "If that goes through who knows what happens there. There could be no outs and a couple runs in."

It was not the ending Texas wanted, but what a journey it was. This team became the fourth from Pearland since 2010 to finish among the country’s top four teams. Finishing third this season while going through one of the more difficult states and regions stands out again.

Texas played well again Thursday. A night after making a home run saving catch, left fielder Corey Kahn again robbed a player of a hit, this time running in and taking a single from Nash Carter. Texas also turned a pretty double play and six different players produced hits.

"At the end of the day this has been an amazing run. We got five games here and there are a lot of teams that went home two and out. We got to play on an amazing field five teams," Cummings said. "Somebody told me one time the fraternity of kids who have been here is really small compared to the millions of kids who play Little League every year. There’s not more than 10,000 or so who have been here. It’s quite an accomplishment."

Last night was not about what Texas did wrong, but what Tennessee did right. The Southeast champions tacked on a run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth before Chadwick shut it down in the sixth and clinched the win with his sixth strikeout.

Porter legged out an infield single in the fifth after Chadwick was hit by a pitch and pinch-hitter JF Forni hit an RBI single to make it 5-1. The bench continued producing an inning later as Lane Dever smashed a two-out double and scored on Wright Martin’s RBI single.

It was a classic Tennessee performance. Porter and Chadwick took starring roles, but it was every player again doing something positive which put Tennessee over the top. Eight players had hits and Tennessee played well in all facets.

"That’s just who this team is. They’re gritty. We don’t have a lot of superstars on this team, but we’re a really good team," Huth said. "If you look at the stat sheet you see that every single time there’s a different name at the top of it and somebody who did something special."

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