St. John Neumann takes down Canterbury in regional final, winning 4-2

OB Osceola was gassed. Facing a heat index around 100 degrees on a turf that felt like 120 degrees, Osceola was laboring through a left leg cramp that surfaced in the bottom half of the fifth inning during his warmup. Despite that, the Florida State signee only had one option: to power through it.

Osceola threw 6 1/3 innings against the Cougars, allowing one earned run with nine strikeouts in a 4-2 win in Game 3 of the Class 1A-Region 3 final, marking Neumann’s first return to the Final Four since 2023. “It was all heart today,” Osceola said. “From the at-bats, to every pitch, to the fellas staying together after losing a close one (last year), it was all heart at the end of the day.

I had some cramps here and there, but I battled. We have the best training staff, the best team to keep me there mentally and come out on top. ” Neumann (20-13) rebounded after getting clobbered in Game 2 earlier in the day, where Ashby Piatt threw five innings of one run ball, striking out 10 to help Canterbury win 13-1 in five innings, after the Cougars (26-5) were blown out the day before in Game 1, 15-3.

“Two months ago, we were in a bad spot,” St. John Neumann coach Charlie Maurer said. “They crawled out of it, and I’m proud of the guys.