Twice as Nice
WASHINGTON, Pa. — The adage says that defense wins championships.
On Wednesday night, two plays in the field put the finishing touches on a second straight WPIAL Class AAAA title for Seneca Valley's baseball team.
The Raiders were nursing a 5-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning when Mt. Lebanon's Pat Goff strolled to the plate with runners on first and second and just one out at Consol Energy Field.
Goff sent Matt Smith's pitch up the middle, where SV shortstop Zach Creedon fielded the ball on one knee, scrambled to his feet and stepped on second base before throwing onto first, where Austin Bream made a pick just in time to get the hustling Goff. The sequence sealed SV's third WPIAL title overall and second in as many years.
“It should have been a hit,” said Smith. “It was a great play by our shortstop.”
Before the play, Creedon moved a few steps toward second base. The adjustment allowed him to field the ball directly behind the bag.
“It was great positioning by our infield coach (Tom Magill),” said Raiders coach Eric Semega. “Zach did a great job battling off the slide (of Mt. Lebanon's Ian Happ) and Austin made a great pick at first base.”
“At first I wanted to flip the ball to Sam (second baseman Fragale), but I bobbled it,” said Creedon, “so I had to take it myself. Coming up with a double play to end a game as big as this, it's huge.”
Another defensive effort earlier in the inning proved just as vital to SV's WPIAL gold.
The Raiders entered the top of the seventh with a 5-1 lead, but that edge was trimmed to 5-2 when Jack Faett's leadoff base hit was followed by Cory Wuenschell's RBI triple.
The next batter, Luke Hagy, lifted a foul ball that appeared to be headed out of play down the left-field side. But SV's Connor Coward raced across the foul line and snagged the ball just short of the fence. Courtesy runner Nick Stabile tagged from third and scored to make it 5-3, but the Raiders gladly traded a run for the all-important first out of the inning.
“That was an incredible play, too,” Smith said of his left fielder. “My defense picked me up at the end. That's why they're out there.”
Smith, who was also the winning pitcher in last year's WPIAL title game — a 15-4 victory over Peters Township — admits he was running on fumes near the end of Wednesday's contest. He threw 129 pitches, 79 for strikes.
“My legs were exhausted,” said Smith, who struck out 10 and walked four, “but I wasn't coming out. This was my game to finish.”
Smith had dominant innings, such as the third and fourth, when he threw a combined 27 pitches and retired six of the seven batters he faced. There were also innings when he labored — the first and seventh in particular — when he dealt 49 pitches. In the end, though, he allowed just the three earned runs on seven hits.
“He threw a great game, but we made him work,” said Blue Devils coach Patt McCloskey. “I couldn't be more pleased with our effort tonight.”
The Raiders (18-4) broke open a close game with three runs in their half of the sixth inning. Jason Martin and Carson Kessler both had RBI base hits and Johnny Choma came home on a fielding error. The damage came against Blue Devil relievers Zack Bahm and Happ. Bahm had entered the game with two outs in the fifth frame, relieving starter Mike Duffy, who exited after throwing just 48 pitches and holding the Raiders' offense in check.
“Our plan was to have Mike get through their order twice,” said McCloskey. “We felt we had a good matchup with Zack coming in. It's a move that worked out for us in the past, but didn't today.”
The Raiders scored first in the bottom of the second when a Mt. Lebanon fielding error led to Kessler's single that plated Martin. Their lead was extended to 2-0 in the fifth when Coward, who reached on an infield single off Duffy, came home on a wild pitch from Bahm.Semega did not take SV's successful defense of last year's title for granted.“Every team knows how tough it is to get here,” he said. “To win two in a row, it took a lot of luck, effort and hard work from our players.”The Raiders will face District 6 champion Altoona in the first round of the state playoffs Monday at a site and time to be determined.SV lost in the state semifinals last year.“I don't think it will be tough for this team to refocus,” said Semega. “Right now, they're just playing and having fun. It's been a relaxed group in a lot of big games this year.”Mt. Lebanon 000 001 2 — 3 7 2Seneca Valley 010 013 x — 5 6 0W: Matt Smith 7IP (10K, 4BB). L: Mike Duffy 4.2IP (1K, 0BB).Mt. Lebanon (14-9): Luke Hagy 2-1B RBI SB, Ian Happ 1B R 2SB, Chris Girvin 2B RBI, Brad Bekampis 1B, Jack Faett 1B R, Cory Wuenschell 3B RBI, Nick Stabile RSeneca Valley (18-4): Sam Fragale 1B R, Austin Bream 1B R, Jason Martin 1B R RBI, Carson Kessler 2-1B 2RBI, Connor Coward 1B R, Johnny Choma RMonday: Seneca Valley vs. Altoona, PIAA Quad A first-round playoff; site and time TBD
