Westlake ended a three-decade drought Saturday against a top-seeded and highly touted perennial power.
The No. 2 Rams started fast with runs in each of the first three innings and cruised past the reigning champion Panthers, 7-2, behind a complete-game pitching performance by junior righty Mason Conrad.
Westlake’s title marked its first since 1996, its only other finals appearance.
Conrad struck out four batters and allowed just two runs on three hits and one walk in seven innings.
Brody Anderson, a quarterback on the football field in the fall, helped set the tone early.
The junior right fielder doubled on the third pitch of the game, advanced on sacrifice bunt by senior center fielder Grayden Ross and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior third baseman Hadley Hardesty.
Westlake put a pair of runners on base early in the second inning as well with a walk and a hit batter, and Anderson brought both home on a two-out single to triple the lead.
Ross led off the third with a single and eventually scored on an RBI single by senior shortstop Cooper Cryer.
Sterlington got onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the third as senior first baseman Tomarion “Tre” Burch drew a walk and junior third baseman Devyn Downs doubled home his multisport teammate and later scored on an error.
But Conrad and company wouldn’t allow the Panthers many more opportunities onto the bases the rest of the way.
An inning-ending double play from Hardesty to senior first baseman Sawyer Vidrine led into back-to-back 1-2-3 innings and just a lone sixth-inning single over the final four-plus innings.
The Rams meanwhile added insurance runs in the fifth with walks by senior second baseman Payton Kile and Hardesy and a two-out, two-RBI single by Cryer and sixth with an error and eventual RBI sacrifice bunt by Kile.
Anderson and Cryer provided the team’s multi-hit games, and Downs did so for the Panthers.
Westlake won Thursday’s opened, 5-3, behind Hardesty’s and Vidrine’s pitching efforts and a five-run fourth inning.
Sterlington swung back emphatically, 18-7, on Friday with Downs and freshman righty Anderson Waalk on the mound and home runs from Downs, Burch and freshman left fielder Austin Hill.
But the resilient Rams got the last laugh in Game 3 to claim the Division-III Non-Select crown.
