Central Bucks South used a nine-run sixth to turn a 6-2 deficit into an 11-6 win over North Allegheny in Tuesday’s PIAA 6A state semifinal.
#1-2 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 11, #7-3 NORTH ALLEGHENY 6
Teams that make mistakes usually don’t have long lives in the baseball postseason.
But teams that continually find ways to overcome those mistakes can go a long way.
Central Bucks South played its worst game of its historic postseason run on Tuesday, but down to its last six outs, it found a way to persevere once again. The Titans scored nine runs in the bottom of the sixth to rally past North Allegheny 11-6 in a PIAA Class 6A semifinal played at Greene Township Park near Chambersburg.
“It’s hard to put into words, honestly,” said senior Jake Trachtenberg, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a double in the sixth inning. “It’s unbelievable. That was a huge inning for us. Not one player hung their heads. We were all confident. We just continue to go forward.”
The Titans, now 19-7 on the season, earned a Friday date with an old friend in the final game of the 2019 baseball season. CB South and Souderton, SOL Continental mates, will play for the Class 6A state champion at Penn State University at 10:30 a.m.
“It’s unreal,” said coach Brian Klumpp. “It shows how good the SOL is. It’s really good baseball. You had three in the semifinals and two in the state championship. It’s a really good league and we’re looking forward to it.”
Tuesday’s game wasn’t good baseball for the first five innings, especially on the CB South side.
After grabbing an early 1-0 lead in the first on a Trachtenberg RBI groundout, the Titans gave it right back in the top of the second. With the bases loaded, North Allegheny No. 9 hitter Joey Colella hit a double to drive in three runs and put his team up 3-1.
That lead went to 4-1 after back-to-back doubles by Cam Medic and Shane Murphy in the fourth.
CB South wasn’t helping itself either with errors in the field and on the base paths. Mike Marino led off the third with a double and went to third on a wild pitch. But when another pitch got by the catcher, he was sent from third and thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning. Later, another runner was tagged out after over-running second.
Defensively, the Titans committed three errors, including a critical one in the top of the fifth on a two-out fly ball that was dropped and led to two more runs scoring for North Allegheny, making it a 6-2 game.
North Allegheny starter Anthony Hattrup’s pitch count rose over 100 in the fifth and the Tigers turned to their ace, lefty Ryan Partridge, who escaped a bases loaded jam in the fifth, but an inning later he wouldn’t be so fortunate.
Bryan Rossi drew a walk to lead off the sixth, followed by an Owen Petrich single and then a walk to Ryan Rieber to load the bases. Pinch hitter Dakota Beck followed with a sharp ground ball that was misplayed for an error, scoring one and again loading the bases. Brock Veit drew another walk that pushed a run across to make it 6-4, and then Jake McKeown pulled the Titans to within one with an RBI single.
“We were more patient,” Klumpp said. “We were a lot more patient. We knew, I don’t know why, but the second and third time through (the lineup), we really get on pitchers at that time. I feel like we just had different approaches. We were a little more confident and, I think, relaxed. Early on, we were pressing a little bit, trying to do too much to get to the state championship and then once we settled in and played our game, we really came out on fire.”
With the bases loaded and still nobody out, Joey Loynd crushed his second double of the game to put CB South in front at 7-6.
“We really took advantage,” Loynd said. “We had a change of pitcher, and then a couple other kids came in and didn’t really find the zone well. We just took advantage of them today.”
After another pitching change, Trachtenberg made it 9-6 with a two-run double of his own.
“I saw him warming up,” Trachtenburg said of North Allegheny reliever Kevin Schott. “He was a little wild, so I was waiting for something. I took the first pitch, it was a strike. The next pitch, I swung at and hit a line drive to left field.”
Later, with two outs, Beck, batting for the second time in the inning, ripped a single to drive in two more runs.
And a five-run cushion was plenty for lefty Rieber, who pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings, including the final three outs in the seventh, to pick up the victory.
“It’s unbelievable and I’ve been saying it since Day 1,” Klumpp said. “They’re never out of a game. They like playing for each other. They enjoy being here with each other. I mean, we’re so happy where we’re at, but we don’t feel like we’re done yet.”
North Allegheny 030 120 0 6-9-2
Central Bucks South 100 109 x 11-11-2
North Allegheny (6) – CJ Weller 4-0-0-0; Cole Young 4-0-1-0, Jared Orwell 4-1-2-0; Logan Andreyko 4-0-0-0; Ryan Dougherty 3-1-0-0; Anthony Hattrup 2-0-1-0; Aaron Posey 1-0-1-0; Cam Medic 4-1-2-1; Nate Campbell 0-1-0-0; Shane Murphy 1-0-1-1; Ben Tharpe 0-1-0-0; Conor McSparran 0-0-0-0; Benjamon Petschke 1-0-0-0; Josey Colella 3-0-1-3; JT Montross 0-1-0-0; Kevin Schott 0-0-0-0; Trevor Freyvogel 0-0-0-0; Ryan Partridge 0-0-0-0; TOTALS 31-6-9-5.
Central Bucks South (11) – Brock Veit 4-1-1-1; Jake McKeown 4-2-2-1; Joey Loynd 3-1-2-2; Jake Trachtenberg 3-2-2-3; Connor McKeown 3-1-0-0; Bryan Rossi 3-1-0-0; Owen Petrich 4-1-2-1; Zach Steinberg 2-0-0-0; Ryan Rieber 0-2-0-0; Michael Marino 1-0-1-0; Dakota Beck 2-1-1-3; KJ Halgren 0-0-0-0; TOTALS 29-11-11-11.
E-CB South 2, North Allegheny 2. LOB-CBS 8, NA 7. 2B-Shane Murphy, Joey Colella Cam Medic, Joey Loynd 2, Michael Marino, Jake Trachtenberg. SB-Ryan Dougherty 2, Jared Orwell.
North Allegheny IP H R ER SO BB
Anthony Hattrup 4.2 6 2 0 4 3
Ryan Partridge 0.1 3 7 6 0 3
Kevin Schott 1.0 2 2 2 2 1
Central Bucks South IP H R ER SO BB
Owen Petrich 2.0 2 3 3 1 1
Brock Veit 2.2 4 3 1 2 1
Ryan Rieber 2.1 3 0 0 1 0
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