Mighty Malinsky
Smithfield-Fairchance starter leads team to 3-1 playoff victory
Not even the weather could slow down Smithfield-Fairchance’s Matt Malinsky in Thursday’s game against Uniontown in the semifinals of the Fayette County American Legion Baseball league playoffs at German-Masontown Park.
Malinsky kept Uniontown’s bats in check while pitching his team to a 3-1 victory, and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
Game 2 was played Friday night at Hutchinson Field in Hopwood. The result was not available at press time, but a recap will be available online at www.heraldstandard.com under the sports tab.
If Game 3 is needed, it will be played on Saturday at German-Masontown Park with the first pitch set for 5 p.m.
Malinsky earned the victory after pitching a seven-inning complete game. He yielded one earned run on two hits with four strikeouts and four walks apiece. Malinsky threw 99 pitches (59 strikes).
“He wanted the distance and did a really nice job,” said Smithfield-Fairchance coach Tony Watson in reference to Malinsky’s outing. “We had a slight delay in the bottom of the third inning due to lightning. We resumed after half-an-hour and were able to get the game in, which is important this time of the year because you are rushed to get all the games in by a certain date.
“It was good to squeeze it in, and we were happy to take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three. I think winning at home took some of the pressure off the guys. They definitely want to get the job done in Game 2 and not have to worry about Game 3, but if there is a Game 3, we will be at our home field.”
American Legion Baseball has adopted a pitch-count rule, and although Malinsky has to wait several days before he can step on the mound again, Watson is confident he will have someone step up for the team.
“It is always a juggling act this time of year, especially when you are playing three consecutive days,” Watson said. “We have had some younger guys step up and give us some innings.”
Belle Vernon (15-2-1) has already advanced to the league championship, which also secured a spot in the Region 6 Tournament. The winner of the Smithfield-Fairchance (11-5) and Uniontown (12-7) series will qualify for the regional championship.
“Last year, our legion team folded just after the season started, so this is new for us, but the kids have been buying into what we are telling them,” Watson said. “They keep stepping up and we look forward to playing.”
Uniontown opened the scoring in the top of the third inning when Parker Hoff walked, advanced to second and third on sacrifice bunts from Aiden Milsom and Evan Lion before scoring on Shane Kelly’s line drive to left field for a 1-0 lead.
Smithfield-Fairchance scored its runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on three-consecutive singles and a walk with the bases loaded. The home team took advantage of one error that led to two runs for a 3-1 advantage.
A.J. Watson, Malinsky and Ben Lilley singled to load the bases with nobody out prior to Kenyon Sutton drawing a free pass that sent Watson home to tie the game at 1-1.
Malinsky scored on an error and Lilley raced home on Nico Edwards’ sacrifice flyout to right field for a two-run cushion. Edwards and Kaiden Brady also had base hits.
“I was pleased with how the game went, but I hope we can get a few more timely hits moving forward,” Tony Watson said.
Nick Crouch took the hard-luck loss for Uniontown, as he yielded three runs (two earned) on five hits. Crouch struck out five and walked two in 5 ⅔ innings.
Uniontown’s Sevi Vecchiolla led off the top of the fourth frame with a line drive to left field. He advanced to second on an error following his hit, and third on Mike Smith’s sacrifice bunt, but was left at third base when Malinsky forced a flyout to left field to end the threat.