LH wins Section 2-AAA title
FARMINGTON – Tom Landman didn’t mind the post-game shower. Why would he?
Moments after being on the receiving end of a cooler half-full of ice water, the Laurel Highlands coach was presented with a dry, brand spanking new T-shirt, which emphatically let everyone know the Mustangs are back.
Laurel Highlands held on for an 8-6 Section 2-AAA victory over Uniontown at Wharton Park Wednesday, with the win giving the Mustangs their first outright section title since 1992.
“We’re very fortunate for this and very appreciative of this honor,” Landman said. “Our section has been a very tough one from top to bottom.”
The Mustangs (16-2, 12-2) finished Section 2-AAA play one game ahead of Yough, the only team to beat them this season.
The outright section title, coupled with the fact that Laurel Highlands has lost just two games, could translate into a first-round bye when the WPIAL releases its playoff pairings Friday.
“We’re hoping for one of the top seeds, but I don’t want to look too far ahead,” Landman said.
At 19-0 overall and 12-0 in Section 3-AAA, West Allegheny is the WPIAL’s lone unbeaten team and almost a sure lock for Class AAA’s No. 1 seed. But after that, the Mustangs have the best overall mark of any Class AAA team and the best record of any section champion.
On Wednesday, Laurel Highlands led 7-1 before Uniontown scored three times in the bottom of the fifth inning and twice more in the sixth to make it a one-run game.
The Mustangs added an insurance run in their final at bat, and left-hander J.C. Myers struck out Uniontown’s Jason Guthrie on his 138th pitch to end the game.
Landman then received the ceremonial drenching usually given to managers or coaches whose teams have just won or clinched titles. Moments after his players tipped the water cooler, Landman was handed a Laurel Highlands Section 2-AAA Champions T-shirt, which proudly proclaimed, “We’re Back!”
Coming into Wednesday’s game, LH knew it could finish no worse than tied for the section title.
Myers (5-1) cruised through the first four innings, allowing just one run on two hits. At one point, he retired seven straight hitters and 10 of 11 overall. Myers went over the 100-pitch mark during a 34-pitch fifth inning, just a day after working the final 1 and 1/3 innings of Laurel Highlands’ 14-4 win over Kittanning.
“J.C. is a senior and he’s won a lot of big games for us the past couple years,” Landman said. “This game was his to win or lose. He threw a lot of pitches, but we talked to him between innings and checked him out and he went out and pitched an excellent seventh inning.”
Uniontown (6-11, 5-9) saw its modest two-game winning streak snapped. Sophomore Rusty Phillips (0-2) suffered the loss, allowing four runs (two earned) over 2 and 2/3 innings on just three hits.
Cory Sawka came on in relief and finished out the final 4 and 1/3 innings, allowing four runs as well, with three being earned.
“For just his second varsity start, I thought Phillips did a really nice job,” said Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky. “And Cory hasn’t pitched that much this season, but he came in and gave us a chance to win.”
Laurel Highlands took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Nick Erminio singled with one out and stole second. Erminio later scored with two outs when Kevin Gmiter’s grounder was mishandled.
Guthrie’s ground-rule double brought home Ryne Turner in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 1.
Two more LH runs scored in the second inning when Myers led off the frame with a triple and scored on Carmen Congelio’s sacrifice fly. Billy Work then reached on an error with two outs and scored on an errant throw after Mike Pegg had grounded an infield single.
The Mustangs made it 4-1 and chased Phillips in the top of the third inning after loading the bases without a hit. Phillips walked Gmiter, hit Randy Rankin and issued a free pass to Myers to load the bases.
Kezmarsky called on Sawka, who got Congelio to line out to short right field for the second out, before hitting Jake Barnhart with a pitch to make it 4-1.
After Myers and Congelio drew one-out walks in the top of the fifth inning, Barnhart doubled in both runners. Work then brought home Barnhart with a single to centerfield to make it 7-1.
Uniontown scored all three of its runs in the fifth inning on a two-out single by Sawka. With the bases loaded, Sawka singled into right-centerfield to bring home Brandon Rumbaugh and Turner. Nick Apicella went to third on the throw home, and continued around to score when Sawka headed to second and drew an errant throw.
The Red Raiders pulled to within a run an inning later when Cory Over scored on an infield error and Steve Overly singled and eventually came around to score when Myers was charged with a balk.
But Uniontown perhaps ran itself out of a bigger inning when Rumbaugh was thrown out at third base with Turner batting with two outs. Turner was ahead in the count 2-0, and Myers’ next pitch got under the glove of LH catcher Zach Dascenzo and bounced a few feet behind the catcher.
Dascenzo alertly retrieved the ball and threw down to Mike Newhouse at third base, and the throw easily beat Rumbaugh to the bag after Rumbaugh hesitated at the start of the play.
“I’m proud of the kids,” Kezmarsky said. “The kids didn’t quit; they kept battling back. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t bounce our way today. We played our first seven games on the road this season, and the kids lost a pair of heart-breaking games the past two weeks. But the kids played hard the whole season.”