Paull 4-hits Shaler in 4-0 Uniontown win
Holly Tonini
Uniontown catcher Zach Uhazie (left) and winning pitcher Luke Paull celebrate their 4-0 win over Shaler in Tuesday’s Region 6 American Legion Tournament elimination game at Shaler’s Matulevic Field.
Uniontown's Luke Wallace reaches to the throw as Shaler's Noah Hernandez hustles down the line during Tuesday's Region 6 American Legion Tournament elimination game at Shaler's Matulevic Field.
Holly Tonini
Uniontown’s Ted Sova leaps to catch the ball as Shaler’s Austin Martz (22) races to first base during Tuesday’s Region 6 American Legion Tournament elimination game at Shaler’s Matulevic Field.
Uniontown's Luke Paull pitched a complete game Tuesday, shutting out Shaler, 4-0, to stay alive in the Region 6 American Legion Tournament at Shaler's Mateluvic Field.
SHALER TWP. — Luke Paull’s baseball dreams are very vivid, but his dream-come-true pitching performance Tuesday is likely to give Shaler players nightmares.
Paull scattered four singles and struck out eight in a complete game shutout to lead Uniontown to a 4-0 win over Shaler in the Region 6 American Legion baseball tournament at Shaler’s Matulevic Field.
“Ever since I was little, I have dreamed it was the ninth inning and the bases were loaded and it always ends with me getting a big strikeout or my defense makes a great play behind me,” Paull said.
Either way, he and his team come out on top, just like it did Tuesday. Because of it, Uniontown lives to play another day — today — two wins from the American Legion state tournament.
Uniontown (29-3) takes on Blackhawk at noon and a win there will set up a winner-take-all championship game at 3 p.m. against Hopewell. Shaler (15-6-1) is done for the season.
“Luke Paull is a gamer,” Uniontown manager Brad Yohman said. “He is always up to the challenge. I told him before the game that if he could live low in the strike zone, he would be very effective. Not only was he effective, but he was very efficient, as well. He threw only 110 pitches in nine innings and I’d say two-thirds of them were strikes.”
“He controlled his pitches very well today,” said catcher Zach Uhazie. “He struggled with his curve a little bit, but by the end of the game, he was throwing that where he wanted it, too. And he knew he had good defense behind him today, as well. When he needed a ground ball, he got it.”
Like in the fourth inning, which was really his only tough inning of the game. Shaler opened the inning with back-to-back singles and Paull’s errant throw on a bunt loaded the bases with no outs. He got a lazy fly ball to center field, then got a ground ball for a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
“I think that was the only jam he was in the whole game,” said Shaler manager Bruce Budzik said. “He was hitting his spots and kept us off balance the whole game. After that fourth inning, he just took control of the game.”
Paull seemed to get stronger as the game progressed. He got five of his eight strikeouts in the last four innings and struck out the side in the eighth.
“What Luke did was simplified baseball,” Yohman said. “If you throw strikes and keep the ball down in the zone, kids will have to take their cuts at it. He had no walks, so it was an extremely efficient performance.”
Uniontown didn’t have a ton of offense, but managed to put four runs across on nine hits. Ted Sova was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Luke Wallace in the fourth before Uhazie drove in Luke Boyle and Sova with a single to center. Paull’s two-out double set the table for Wallace’s RBI single to right an inning later.
That was all the offense Paull would need.
Uniontown has been battling its way through the loser’s bracket ever since blowing a 7-2 lead Saturday in an 8-7 loss to the same Shaler team it beat Tuesday.
“I give all the credit to the kids,” Yohman said. “They took a tough loss Saturday and turned it into a real positive.”