Clement, Butler score playoff victory
SHALER TWP — Madden Clement was rather bold on the mound.
Butler coach Josh Forbes is pretty bold himself when it comes to hitting.
That combination propelled the Golden Tornado to a 5-1 victory over Mt. Lebanon in their WPIAL Class 6A baseball quarterfinal game Saturday at Shaler's Matulevic Field.
Clement, a sophomore left-hander, tossed a three-hitter and struck out five. He surrendered only a first-inning run and allowed one walk, polishing off the Blue Devils in 85 pitches despite hitting three batters.
Butler (14-6) plays top-seeded North Allegheny (18-3) in a semifinal game at 4;30 p.m. Monday at Matulevic Field. The Tigers own wins of 8-1 and 11-0 over the Golden Tornado this season.
It was Clement who took ownership of the proceedings Saturday.
“I always have trouble in the first inning,” he said. “That's just how I am. I need the second and third innings to kind of settle in.”Forbes agreed with that assessment.“If I could have gotten Madden to start this game as if it was the second inning already, we'd have won this game 5-0,” the coach said. “But what an effort he gave us today.“That kid is a different breed, a different animal. He can ramp his competitiveness to a whole new level. That's what he did today.”Mt. Lebanon (11-8) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Tanner Donati was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Matthew Delvaux's single to center.Delvaux was on third base when Derrick Shields hit a hard grounder to third that Brady Gavula knocked down, then threw to first for the final out.“That kid made a great play there or we get another run,” Mt. Lebanon coach Pat McCloskey said of the first inning. “That would have been big for us.“We had a shot again in the sixth and seventh innings, but (Clement) battled out of both situations. No question, he deserved to get the win today. He was outstanding.”Butler didn't score until the third inning. Mattix Clement grounded a single up the middle with one out. David Leslie reached on a two-base error as the center fielder misplayed his fly ball.On a 3-0 count, Cooper Baxter drilled a two-run triple to deep center and the Tornado had a lead they never lost.“Our coach wants us to be aggressive at the plate,” Baxter said. “If we get a pitch we like, we're OK to swing 3-0.“I got a fastball right down the middle, just what I was looking for. If I had gotten any other pitch, I wouldn't have swung.”Forbes said the 3-0 pitch “is usually the best pitch to hit a batter's gonna see. I don't believe in passing that up.“I give all of our players the green light on 3-0. They're smart enough to make the right decision there,” the coach added.Kyle Yost reached on an infield single in tyhe fourth, Conner McTighe walked and Mattix Clement delivered a run-scoring single. McTighe and Mattix Clement added RBI singles in the sixth, the latter getting his third hit of the day.That was more than enough for Clement, who threw 54 of his 85 pitches for strikes.“The kid just got his (driver's) license and he pitches a game like this ... He just battles. I'm proud of him,” Baxter said.Clement retired eight straight batters before Eli Heidenreich walked with one out in the sixth. He calmly retired the next two hitters.Delvaux singled and Shields was hit by a pitch to begin the Blue Devils' seventh. With two outs, Trevor Turkovich reached on an infield single to load the bases.Joey Daniels flew out to left to end the game.Clement threw 51 pitches in the first five innings, 34 over the last two. He allowed no hits from the second through sixth innings.“I wasn't getting tired,” he said. “I began working a bit too fast. My dad (pitching coach Matt Clement) came out and told me to slow down.“I was fine after that.”So was Butler.Butler 002 102 0 — 5 8 1Mt. Lebanon 100 000 0 — 1 3 1W: Madden Clement 7IP (5K, 1BB). L: Derrick Shields 5IP (5K, 2BB)Butler (14-6): Mattix Clement 3-1B 2-RBI, Cooper Baxter 1B 3B 2-RBI, Ethan Trettel 1B, Kyle Yost 1B, Conner McTighe 1B RBIMt. Lebanon (11-8): Matthew Delvaux 2-1B RBI, Trevor Turkovich 1BMonday: WPIAL Class 6A semifinal-Butler vs. North Allegheny, 4:30 p.m., at Shaler
