Vikings advance to Class AAA championship
Evan Sanders
The Vikings’ Cody Reese (right) high-fives teammate Brady Duricko (left) after Reese crossed home plate for the second run of the game during Mount Pleasant’s WPIAL Class AAA semifinal playoff game against Ellwood City Wednesday at Fox Chapel High School.
Evan Sanders
The Vikings celebrate after Mount Pleasant defeated Ellwood City, 2-1, Wednesday in WPIAL Class AAA semifinals at Fox Chapel. Mount Pleasant advances to the Class AA title game next week with the victory.
Mount Pleasant's Brandon McCormick walks off the field after striking out a batter during the Vikings' WPIAL Class AAA semifinal playoff game against Ellwood City Wednesday at Fox Chapel High School.
PITTSBURGH — Maybe Mount Pleasant wasn’t exactly smelling any flowers, but the Vikings are certainly enjoying the journey.
Mount Pleasant posed for a team picture following its 2-1 win over Ellwood City at Fox Chapel High School on Wednesday.
It wasn’t a championship picture, but it did put Mount Pleasant into its first baseball final in 28 years.
“I was 10 years old,” said coach Chris Firmstone.
A traditionally strong baseball area, Mount Pleasant has won only one WPIAL baseball championship, in 1970. But the Vikings are going for their second after Brandon McCormick threw an two-hit masterpiece to beat Ellwood City.
“We talked before the game about him just throwing strikes and having the confidence in his defense behind him,” Firmstone said. “I think he had 60-70 pitches in a seven-inning ball game. That’s amazing.”
McCormick didn’t walk anyone and struck out only two. But, he allowed only three baserunners all game.
“I think they had only one hard-hit ball, the one we cut off in the gap,” Firmstone said. “The defense was huge today. I’ve got to give credit to our shortstop, George Tetteris. He made that backhanded, half dive in the hole and made a heck of a throw, and Mike (Seconsky) picking the ball over here, that’s a huge turning point right there.”
With a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth, Ellwood City’s Max Keally led off with the aforementioned single into the gap and Rick Pitrilli followed with a long single to the left field foul pole.
With runners on first and second, Ellwood City cleanup hitter Mitch Fraser sacrificed the two runners with a bunt. A ground out scored one run, and with two outs and the tying run on third, Tetteris went deep into the hole at shortstop to field a sharp grounder. He set his back foot and made the long throw, which was scooped at first by Secosky for the final out of the inning.
At the time, it appeared as if it had merely kept a brief lead.
In the end, it saved the WPIAL Class AAA semifinal.
“Since there was a guy on third in a low-scoring game, where every run counts, yeah, I knew it would be a big play,” said Tetteris.
It was the defensive play of the game. The runner-up was made by Mount Pleasant left fielder Noah Lynch in the sixth inning.
With one out, Lynch sprinted into foul territory for a pop up. But the wind blew the ball back into play. Lynch corrected his overrun and reached back to stab the difficult catch for the second out of what would become a four-pitch, 1-2-3 inning by McCormick.
“That’s huge when a pitcher can go out there and throw less than a six-pitch inning,” said Firmstone. “That’s big for his confidence. It keeps our pitch count down so we don’t have to go diving into the bullpen.”
After the quick sixth inning, the bullpen wasn’t even a thought for Mount Pleasant as McCormick went out and set Ellwood City down 1-2-3 to clinch the win.
“This is a huge high for us,” Firmstone said after the pictures were snapped. “I don’t think we’ve been to the championship game since 1989. That was the last time we were in the WPIAL finals.”
It was a well-pitched and well-defended game on both sides of the diamond Wednesday. Each team made only one error, but Ellwood City’s error occurred with two outs in the third and opened the gates for both Mount Pleasant runs.
In the third, Tetteris reached base on the third baseman’s error and immediately stole second. He scored on Cody Reese’s double that fell out of the diving right fielder’s glove. Reese scored the second run on Jason Beranek’s single.
Beranek, the Mount Pleasant ace, will pitch in the WPIAL Championship game either May 30 or 31 at Wild Things Park in Washington.
The third seed coming into the playoffs, Mount Pleasant will play top-seeded Riverside, who defeated Brownsville, 5-4. Mount Pleasant tied Brownsville for first place in Section 3. The teams split their two games this season.
“This is just exciting for the whole team, the whole school, the whole community,” Firmstone said. “I’m hoping we get a big turnout at the Wild Things Stadium. This is a ride we’re happy to be on.”