Seneca Valley not nervous about playing in state semis
JACKSON TWP — Nerves, what nerves?
Members of Seneca Valley's baseball team currently have ice running through their veins. It's a product of the team's grueling regular season that saw the Raiders fail to win back-to-back games. Though the team did enough to make the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs, many considered SV little more than an afterthought.
That's when the Raiders hit their stride. Six straight playoff wins, most recently an 8-0 dismantling of DuBois Area on Thursday, has landed them in the state semifinals where they will face District 1's Conestoga (21-7) at 4 p.m. Monday at Greene Township Park in Franklin County.
“There's no pressure on these guys, everybody is loose,” said Raiders' coach Eric Semega. “With the way our season has gone, this is all a bonus for us. It's gravy. We don't have the nerves or jitterness that is normally part of this time of the season.”
The Raiders have outscored their six playoff opponents 35-13. Leadoff hitter John Harper has tallied four singles, a double, four runs scored and two more batted in over the last three games. Cleanup hitter Vince Augustine belted his second postseason home run Thursday. He now has nine RBI in the playoffs.
“We have six (postseason) wins against really good competition,” Semega said.
Though SV is clearly a different team now than it was just a month ago, the team's 12-11 overall record doesn't seem to equate to a squad one win from the state title game.
“You get this deep into the playoffs and you're facing teams from the other side of the state,” said Harper. “They don't know much about you and they see your record. Our record isn't that great, but we want to go out and surprise people.”
Conestoga coach John Vogan respects the Raiders, simply for the fact that they are still playing.
“Any team that makes it to the state semifinals is playing very well,” he said. “They just handled a good DuBois team.”
The Pioneers made it to the state playoffs for the first time since winning the state championship in 2011. Their run to the title that season included an 11-1 win over Seneca Valley in the semifinals.
Of Conestoga's 23 varsity players, 19 are seniors. One of them, shortstop Tom Richter, was the team's starting second baseman when the Pioneers met Seneca three years ago.
“He batted over .400 that year and has been a big part of our program,” said Vogan. “The players have worked hard to get us back to this level.”
Vogan saw balanced play from his team for much of the season. Recently, however, the offense began to slump.
Solid pitching and fielding sparked consecutive 3-2 wins over Spring-Ford (District 1 third-place game) and Cedar Cliff (PIAA first round). In Thursday's quarterfinal against Red Land, the Pioneers posted 10 runs, including six in the seventh inning.
“It was nice to see us hit the ball the way we are capable of,” said Vogan.
