Last team standing.

Congratulations go out to the Knoch baseball team, the final Butler County varsity sports team to still be playing this spring.

And that's quite an accomplishment, because quite a spring it was.

Slippery Rock's baseball team lost only two games all season. Moniteau's baseball team lost just three times. The Warriors' softball team won the District 9 title and only had a couple of defeats.

Karns City was good in baseball and softball — Moniteau was just a little better.

Seneca Valley's boys volleyball team reached the state semifinals and it took a five-set, nail-biter of a victory by Fox Chapel — considered the best team in the state — to knock the Raiders out.

So Knoch's Knights should be more than proud of themselves.

This is a team that's reached the WPIAL playoffs four straight years under coach George Bradley. Knoch was only 7-12 in Bradley's first year.

This season, the team is 21-2 and has not allowed more than four runs in a game since a 6-3 loss to Deer Lakes way back on April 1.

It's a team that grew up together. Seniors Chris Law, Jordan Kowalski, Garrett Traggiai and Asa Adams played prominent roles all season. They and fellow seniors Joel Zacherl, Ryan Grossman and Dustin Montgomery have been playing baseball together for years.

Pitching wins in this sport and the Knights have quite a 1-2 lefty-righty combination in Cole Shinsky and Alex Stobert. They combined to allow just one total run in four successive postseason wins over Montour (twice), West Allegheny and Punxsutawney.

The 6-foot-4 Shinsky is 9-0 record with an earned run average just above 1.00. The 6-3 Stobert has numbers not too far off those.

Both of these guys are juniors, so don't look for Knoch to fall out of contention next year, either.

Before last year, this program had never won a WPIAL playoff game.

During this year, the Knights added the program's first WPIAL title and PIAA tournament wins to their coffers.

The way the team wins is impressive.

This is a fundamentally sound team that rarely makes costly mistakes. The pitchers feed off each other's success and aren't afraid to pitch to contact with a stellar defense playing behind them.

These guys don't get rattled by the pressure of a close game with their season on the line.

They almost seem to welcome that type of scenario.

Knoch's playoff run was in jeopardy almost before it started. Trailing Blackhawk by a run late in their WPIAL quarterfinal game, Stobert delivered a two-out hit to plate the tying and go-ahead runs, then watched his infield turn a game-ending double play the next inning.

Stobert threw a two-hit shutout at Montour in the next game. Then outfielder Dom Bucko made a running catch in the gap to preserve the WPIAL title win over West Allegheny.

Whatever it takes ... Knoch's got it.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle