Elmwood pushes the issue, all the way to state semis

Elmwood's style of baseball – to this point, anyway – doesn't have a specific name.The Royals, who will be playing in the Division VI state semifinal today against Hartville Lake Center Christian, like to put pressure on their opponents.Elmwood's batters put the ball in play. If opposing infielders play deep, they bunt.And when they get on base, they steal.It's aggressive. It's fun to watch. And it has also, to this point, been very successful.The Royals had a good regular season, 16-7 overall. But their run to the Division VI final four has been a bit of a surprise. For one thing, the Royals finished in third place behind Liberty-Benton and Van Buren in the BVC standings.On top of that, the Royals had a close call in the district semifinals, needing 10 innings to get past Hopewell-Loudon.So why are the Royals at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium today?The first is their style of play. Elmwood doesn't have a ton of power. In 23 regular season games, it managed just one home run.The Royals force the issue. They had 30 sacrifices and 104 steals. Baseball observers tend to call this "small ball." In the early 1980s, when the Oakland Athletics ran this aggressive approach to a division title under the late manager Billy Martin, the pundits called it "Billy Ball."It's tempting to coin a name for coach Matt Malecha's crew. Royal-ball?But Elmwood also has two excellent starting pitchers in Zack Gross and Landon Snow.The pair combined for 10 victories in the regular season, and have shined in the playoffs. In the regional round in Hamler, Gross and Snow – two of the Royals' 10 seniors – allowed just two hits. Snow threw a seven-inning no-hitter in a semifinal win over Marion Local.That might be the key to Elmwood's postseason success. Because no matter what kind of baseball you play, whether you favor clout or scrappiness, it's hard to win without pitching.Elmwood has it.There's reason to think Elmwood will be considered the underdog in today's state semifinal.When the regular season ended, the Royals were ranked 18th in the final Division VI poll; Hartville Lake Center Christian was second.The Tiger come into today's 1 p.m. Game with a record of 27-4.But Elmwood has thrived the last few weeks. It outscored its opponents in last week's regional – Marion Local and Evergreen –15-1.Today's game will be tough. As Malecha has said several times, when you get to this level, all the teams are good.But Elmwood has proven that it is pretty good, too.Now it gets to show it on the biggest stage. Zach Baker is the sports editor for The Courier.