It may have been adrenaline.

Or possibly guts.

Or just pure heart.

Whatever it was for the Lawrence Raiders’ Scott Heitshusen on Sunday in the Al Ice Memorial Woodbat Classic, it came in big doses.

Pitching seven strong innings for a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Diamond Kings in the championship game was impressive

Even more impressive was that Heitshusen did it an hour after going four innings – and 48 pitches – in a 10-0, run-ruled revenge-game victory over Blue Valley West at Hoglund Ballpark.

“That was absolutely big-time for us,” Raiders coach Troy Wingert said. “With five games in this tournament, we were a little depleted on the mound, and we definitely needed Scott to eat a lot of innings. Just didn’t know he was going to go all 11 that we had today.”

Heitshusen nearly went unscathed for the day, but with one out remaining in the title game, a Diamond Kings RBI single stopped his bid for a scoreless day.

There’s no secret behind the pitching style of the only right-handed pitcher on the Raiders pitching staff – simply find the strike zone.

“I just go out there and try to do the best I can with filling up the zone and just throwing strikes and let my players work behind me,” Heitshusen said. “Obviously, when we do that we’re pretty successful.”

Whenever Heitshusen couldn’t pick up a strikeout – having seven in each game – the play of the defense was just as spectacular. The most impressive play in the championship game came at a crucial moment – by a player who provided plenty of them the entire tournament.

In the bottom of the third, with two outs and runners on second and third, Kyle Cross made a diving play to his right before firing across the diamond to Lorenzo Ricketts to maintain a 1-0 lead.

“They don’t call it the hot corner for no reason,” Wingert said. “He had a couple of hot shots hit at him, but he’s a good ballplayer. He takes care of himself real nicely over there.”

When it came to run support, Tyler Knight and Brett Lisher took care of things.

Knight stuck it to Blue Valley after seeing Heitshusen intentionally walked to load the bases ahead of him. He in turn drove in three with a double.

Lisher hit a pair of two-run doubles – one in each game – to give Heitshusen breathing room.

“Lish comes through in big, clutch situations,” Heitshusen said. “He’s always there, always at the plate when it matters the most and always comes through with a big hit.”

Coming through in the clutch is nothing new to Heitshusen and Lisher, who led Free State High to the Class 6A state championship this year.

“It just kind of happens,” said Lisher, asked about rising to the occasion. “It’s really kind of a team thing. Once everything starts rolling, it just kind of goes with us. We come out and play the same every day. You can’t play up and down in baseball, you’ve just got to play straight all the way through.”

The victory keeps the championship trophy in Lawrence for the first time since 1999 – which was shared by the Raiders and the Lawrence Outlaws due to a rainout.

“That’s pretty meaningful,” Wingert said. “I know that the Ice family really cares about this tournament, obviously, because it is dedicated to Al. I believe they are very happy that we won it, and I’m glad that it was this group, because they definitely deserved it.”

The Ice family also has to be proud to see Travis Ice named to the all-tournament team, joined by fellow Raiders Travis Blankenship, Heitshusen and Lisher.