NEW ALBANY — A surefire triple that just lands foul, a rocket to the outfield that just didn’t get down, a tie-goes-to-the-runner call at first base, a two-run double that could’ve been a three-run homer if the fence was a little smaller.

There were a million little things that went into Seymour’s sectional semifinal game against Jeffersonville on Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Owls, a lot of the 50-50 plays didn’t break their way, and all of those mini moments added up to a heartbreaking result as the Red Devils won 4-3 to end Seymour’s magical season.

Magical might not even be the right word. Everything that happened this season wasn’t a surprise to the coaching staff or players, but the way the Owls won big game after big game had that special feel to it, and when they went to the bottom of the seventh inning down 4-3 on Saturday, there was hope for one last moment.

But Jeffersonville brought in their ace, Brett Denby, to pitch the seventh, and he was able to record three straight outs to end the game.

“They fight, they never give up and I’m proud of them,” head coach Jeremy Richey said of his Owls. “They just got one more big hit than we did today, and it’s unfortunate. We knew coming down here there would be good pitching and we would need some big hits, and we did.”

The Red Devils got on the board first in the second inning when Ethan Durbin was safe at first on a bang-bang play that he was ruled safe on. Dakota Pitman then singled to score Durbin.

Then in the fourth inning, Jaden Hart hit a big two-out RBI double to score Lucas Blanton as Jeff went up 2-0.

Pitcher Logan Bingham rolled through Seymour’s lineup the first time through, retiring all nine Owls through the first three innings.

But the second time through, Seymour started to figure Bingham out. Bret Perry started the fourth inning with a leadoff double, and then Vince Wilson hit a deep fly ball to advance Perry to third. Like Wilson, Charlie Longmeier also hit a deep fly ball to sacrifice fly Perry home and get the Owls on the scoreboard.

“That’s what you expect. When you get somebody that good, you know the first time is going to be tough, and it was,” Richey said. “Once we saw it, we came out and really started to put some things together, and I was really proud of them. That kid can pitch, and coming from 6-foot-7, that’s a tough angle, but they did a nice job.”

Down just 2-1 and momentum on Seymour’s side, Jeffersonville took it right back as Caiden White got his second single in the fifth, and then Jaret Phillips bombed a two-run home run over the center field wall to make it 4-1 Red Devils.

“That home run really hurt,” Richey said. “At 2-1, you felt really good about our possibilities.”

But anyone who has watched the Owls this season knew they wouldn’t go down without a fight. Gavin Leavy came in to relieve Mikey Wright, and Leavy retired three straight in the sixth inning.

In the sixth inning, Jack Pennington hit a shot down the right field line that would’ve had him at third base with no outs, but the ball just landed outside the white line for a foul ball. Instead of a triple, Bingham struck out Pennington on the next pitch.

“That’s baseball and how tough that is,” Richey said. “He’s really down right now because of the last at-bat, but man, that kid has been awesome. His winter was tremendous and hate it for him that it ended that way, and he was so close to having a big play.”

But the Owls kept coming. Perry singled with one out, and then Wilson was hit by a pitch. Longmeier hit another deep fly ball that moved Perry over to third base, and that left runners at the corners with two outs for Leavy.

Leavy took the first pitch and blasted it to center field. If the fence was smaller, it would’ve been a three-run homer to tie the game, but it hit off the wall as Leavy doubled to score Perry and Wilson.

Parker Thompson came in to pitch run for Leavy at second base, and Treyton McCormick singled up the middle. If the ball went anywhere else in the outfield, Richey would’ve sent Thompson home to tie the game at 4, but McCormick’s single was rolling toward Hart in center field, who Richey knew was capable of throwing Thompson out if he sent him, so he held the sophomore up at third base.

With runners at the corners again with two outs, Seymour’s rally ended with a ground ball.

“He’s an Indiana All-Star center fielder, and really anywhere but center field with him running in, if he had to move left or right, we definitely would’ve taken that chance. With him running straight in with the arm that he has got, there was no way we would get Parker in,” Richey said. “We wanted to, and that was really the only ball to the outfield that we weren’t going to take that chance on, and it’s just unfortunate. We left ourselves an opportunity, and we don’t capitalize after that.”

In the top of the seventh, Wilson gunned down a second Red Devil trying to steal a base on the afternoon, and the deficit stayed at one in the bottom of the seventh, but Denby was able to strike out all three batters he faced to secure a spot in the sectional championship for the Red Devils against Floyd Central later today.

“It was 4-3 in the seventh and they bring the Denby kid in, which was a good move for them,” Richey said. “He’s really good, and we couldn’t get anything started in the seventh.”

Jeff had four runs on nine hits, and there were moments it could’ve been more for the Red Devils, but Wright and Leavy both did good jobs on the mound for Seymour.

“They can pitch, and the good news is they’re both coming back, so they’re going to be better next year,” Richey said. “They are going to learn from this, and those guys did a great job.”

The Owls were justifiably upset when the game went final on Saturday. Richey allowed his team to stay in left field with one another as the players took a couple of minutes to hug each other before greeting an applause from the Owl faithful that made the trip to Mount Tabor Field.

Seymour knew it had the talent to win the sectional title this season, and even though they felt like Saturday was a failure, the season was anything but.

The Owls were 23-5 overall, which is the most wins since 1991, and won the Hoosier Hills Conference for the first time, the first conference title for the program since 1991.

“They’ve opened up doors for future Owls. Never winning a Hoosier Hills Conference and now our kids that are coming into our program, they’ve seen it can be done and the confidence that should build,” Richey said. “We’ve got a pretty good group coming back to keep building on this, but they opened up so many doors that felt like they’ve been shut for so long. To come down here, even in a loss, that shows a lot to the younger kids coming up that we’re going to be competitive, and this is the expectation. This is the standard now, and we need to find a way to win a game like this in the sectional.”

The end of the season also marks the end of the road for the seniors.

It was a special senior group for Richey. The seniors were Longmeier, Wilson, McCormick, Aiden Darlage, Skyler Cockerham, Jack VonDielingen, Will Gray, Grayson Key and John Capistran.

“They have meant so much, and our younger guys are better because of them because they showed up and played every day. And they’re a fun group, so we had fun also, but they knew when to get to work, and that’s the legacy they’re going to leave,” Richey said. “Other than the 2023 wins and the conference championship that we’re proud of, they’re just a great group of young men that did everything we asked them to do. It’s hard because you get to this point and you play at the level they play and you lose a game this tight, that’s going to sting for a while. But they’re going to have a lot to be proud of when the sting goes away.”