Improbable late rally lifts Belle Vernon to 9-6 victory
Jim Downey | Herald-Standard
Connellsville catcher Ethan Shultz holds the tag at the plate after a collision with New Brighton’s Bobby Budacki in the bottom of the second inning in Saturday’s American Legion Baseball Region 6 Tournament at Hutchinson Field.
Connellsville's Aiden Newmeyer releases a pitch in the bottom of the second inning in Saturday's American Legion Baseball Region 6 Tournament against New Brighton at Hutchinson Field.
HOPWOOD — Belle Vernon’s chances of winning Saturday’s American Legion Baseball Region 6 Tournament opening game went from doubtful, to maybe, to possible, and ended with improbable and remarkable.
Belle Vernon entered the top of the seventh inning trailing 6-0 and hitless, but exited with a 9-6 lead over Blackhawk after sending 15 batters to the plate.
Blackhawk loaded the bases against Morgan Suss in the top of the seventh, but Suss left all three runners stranded with a pop fly to shortstop on his 105th pitch to preserve the 9-6 win.
Belle Vernon advanced in the winner’s bracket against Charleroi.
Belle Vernon coach Jim Wessel said he’s only been part of one such rally in his career.
“Back when these kids were in Little League 10-year-olds at Bullskin, we came back from nine down. We ended up losing in extra innings,” said Jim Wessel.
Belle Vernon had to play their way into the regional tournament after a 1-6 start.
“These kids are familiar with adversity. We started at 1-6. We’ve been playing playoff ball since we were 1-6,” said Jim Wessel. “We got better throughout the year.
“We knew (Blackhawk) from high school. They beat us 13-3.”
Belle Vernon was still looking for its first hit after Zach Jackson and AJ Wardropper walked and Suss struck out to start the seventh inning.
Mitchell Vuick finally broke up the no-hitter with a single to load the bases.
Then, the bottom fell out for Blackhawk.
Martin Marion’s ground ball was mishandled for Belle Vernon’s first run. Jaxson Borek greeted Stephen Knallay with a two-run single after the ball bounced weirdly off the grass cut with the infield dirt and over third base.
Cameron Seabol kept the rally alive with a run-scoring single. Dante DeFelices singled and Jake Wessel walked to load the bases.
Jackson’s broken bat single scored two runs. The final run came home when Vuick was walked with the base loaded.
As for the rally, Wessel said, “We talked about it every inning. Get baserunners, be patient, take pitches. In the seventh, we told them be patient and we got some breaks.”
As it turns out, a missed sign likely changed the inning.
“When it was 6-4, I wanted to bunt, but the batter missed the bunt sign. The missed sign worked out for us,” said a smiling Jim Wessel.
Blackhawk’s Josh Reed retired the first nine batters he faced and pitched to the minimum 15 batters with the help of a double play in the top of the fourth inning when he walked Jake Wessel to open the fourth inning.
Carter Davis picked up where Reed left off. He walked the first batter he faced, Jaxson Bozek, but struck out the final two to end the inning.
Blackhawk scored three runs in the bottom of the first and fifth innings. The first three were off starter Wardropper and the last three were scored on Suss.
“Mason was a good change of pace. He threw them off a little,” said Jim Wessel.
Hopewell 5, Uniontown 3 — In a sense of deja vu all over again in the last of the four games on opening day, Hopewell scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to rally for a victory against the host team.
Hopewell loaded the bases with one out against Christian Thomas with a single, hit batter and walk.
Lucas Arington’s single scored two runs. Greg Barlion’s ground ball forced Barlion at second, but the throw to first was wide to allow a run to score. Landon Fox ripped a double down the left field line to score Barlion.
Fox scored on another throwing error.
Uniontown led 1-0 on Tristan McCoy’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Fox effectively shut down the Uniontown offense, scattering three hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out nine. Fox met his pitch count after striking out Patrick Cavanagh to start the seventh inning.
“This game is a microcosm of our year. You put the ball in play and good things happen for us, but we didn’t,” said Uniontown manager Brad Yohman, adding, “Landon Fox is a great pitcher. At the end of the day, we didn’t hit his fastball.”
David Medich came in relief and was greeted with a single from Thomas. He struck out CJ Gesk, but Ty Sankovich kept the inning alive with a single.
Carson D’Amico’s bad-bounce single into right field scored Thomas and Frank Kula walked for the fourth time to load the bases.
Braeden O’Brien’s ground ball to short was booted, allowing Sankovich to score. Medich, however, was able to get McCoy swinging to end the game.
Medich threw 32 pitches, of which 29 were big, sweeping curveballs.
“We have to figure out how to score runs to survive,” said Yohman.
Uniontown played Connellsville in the loser’s bracket in an elimination game.
“If you can’t get excited for tomorrow (against Connellsville) to bounce back,” said Yohman. “Brian (Sankovich) will have them ready.”
New Brighton 7, Connellsville 0 — New Brighton scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and didn’t look back to open the Region 6 tournament with a victory.
Connellsville starter Matthew Firestone wasn’t able to get out of the first inning with New Brighton combining three hits, an error, a passed ball and a couple wild pitches for a 4-0 lead.
Connellsville had prime chance to score in its first at-bat, but squandered the opportunity.
“We lost the game in the top of the first inning. We had opportunity in the first inning and it killed us,” said Connellsville manager Brian Sankovich. “All facets of our game weren’t good.”
Connellsville had at least one runner on base in each inning.
Aiden Newmeyer entered the first inning with no outs and finished out the game. He allowed one inherited runner to score and gave up single runs in the bottom of the second and sixth innings.
“Aiden held them down,” said Sankovich. “Aiden is a competitor. He gave us a chance to win the game.”
Sankovich felt his squad would rebound in the loser’s bracket, not knowing at the time they’d be facing rival Uniontown.
“This is a veteran team. We know what’s at hand,” said Sankovich. “I have no doubt the kids will show up and play hard.”