North Allegheny takes series with win against Seneca Valley
JACKSON TWP — Sound play is of the utmost importance at this point in the schedule.
Heading into the rubber match of their three-game WPIAL Section 1-6A bill Thursday afternoon, both Seneca Valley and North Allegheny aimed to add to their confidence.
The Tigers’ Andrew Hart scattered three Raiders hits over six scoreless frames on the hill and added four hits at the plate to help the visitors claim the series with a 6-2 win. This after Seneca Valley blanked North Allegheny, 9-0, on Tuesday.
“Our defense kind of put us in the hole a little bit today,” Raiders coach Eric Semega said. “If it’s 3-0 after five or six rather than 6-0 — and you start putting some pressure on and getting to a bullpen — that makes the game a little bit more interesting. But, when it’s 6-0, there’s no pressure put on the other team to have to force to do anything.
“They (North Allegheny) did the little things to get to the outcome today.”
Hart led things off with an infield single in the top of the first, moved to second base on a sac bunt, then third on a balk. He crossed home on a wild pitch on Seneca Valley starter Zyler Freedman’s next offering.
In the second innning, Anthony Varlotta reached after being hit by a pitch and Owen Schall via a free pass. Both were pushed across on singles by Hart and Spencer Barnett.
“An off day helps,” Tigers coach Andrew Heck said. “Having the Wednesday off day, you can kind of reset yourself, work on some things ... The biggest thing was getting back to playing like we did offensively on Monday (a 7-0 win). Tuesday night’s game, we had some opportunities early, and we didn’t capitalize.
“Finding our stride early — especially being able to scratch one across in the first inning — was big.”
Meanwhile, Nick Parrotto’s second-inning single was the only base knock Hart allowed his side’s host through three innings. The Tigers stretched their advantage to five thanks in part to hits by Schall, Hart, and Barnett in the fourth.
“When you have seven backwards Ks, something’s going on,” Semega said of Hart’s performance on the mound. “He was hitting some spots with two strikes. Obviously, he pitched very well to get the win and we didn’t obviously do very well to try to take the win off of him.”
The Raiders’ only runs of the contest came on pinch hitter Owen Yarussi’s two-RBI double in the sixth. Senior Paul Rebovich entered to pitch two innings in relief of Freedman and fanned three challengers. Josh Wolfe, another senior substitute, had a single and a walk at the plate, while T.J. Border played well behind it defensively.
“Today, the game was not going very well for us, so — you know what — it was a great chance to give opportunities,” Semega said. “They came in and sparked everything that we did from the fifth inning on ... The people that are just so comfortable playing and not producing, now they have to think a bit more and get pushed by the other guys.”
North Allegheny now has a one-game lead on Pine-Richland and a two-game advantage on Seneca Valley in the section standings.
“I think the biggest thing is you want to be playing good baseball, more than anything else,” Heck said. “Our section is very tough and to be able to be in the lead is great. Anybody can take you down on any single day. It’s not so much of a section title that I’m focusing on. I’m focusing on playing good baseball.”
The Raiders will be back in action against Butler next week.
“The positioning of first to fourth really doesn’t matter, because we’re going to get matched up first to fourth on the other end,” Semega said of the section standings. “It’s just about trying to be at the peak of your game going into the playoffs.”
North Allegheny 120 201 0 — 6 9 0
Seneca Valley 000 002 0 — 2 5 1
W: Andrew Hart 5.2 IP (9K, 2BB). L: Zyler Freedman 4IP (2K, 2BB).
North Allegheny (11-3, 7-2): Andrew Hart 4-1B RBI 3R, Drew Dougherty 1B RBI, Spencer Barnett 2-1B 2RBI, Ian Zahorchak 2B, Anthony Varlotta R, Owen Schall 1B 2R
Seneca Valley (12-4, 5-4): Josh Wolfe 1B R, Nick Parrotto 1B R, Owen Yarussi 2B 2RBI, Zachary Tkatch 1B, Brock White 1B
