Freeport’s magical season comes to end in WPIAL baseball quarterfinals vs South Park
PLUM — Just moments after their season-ending 4-1 WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinal loss to No. 5 South Park on Tuesday evening, senior Kason Barker and junior Gavin Tola sat on their heels and tucked their faces into their jerseys.
As Gage Blystone wiped away tears with his collar, Freeport baseball coach Ed Carr stood in shallow right field at Plum High School and tried to console his players.
“It hurts all of us,” Carr said.
The No. 4 Yellowjackets finish their season with an 18-2 record. They came one win shy of an undefeated regular season.
The Eagles (15-5) advance to play No. 1 Avonworth in the semifinals.
“That was probably the hardest I’ve ever had,” Carr said of his postgame speech. “These guys have so much pride, and they’ve worked so hard. It’s the definition of a team right here. Seeing the tears and seeing how much they hurt, it’s because they care so much.
“When you’re in a one-game (playoff), anything’s possible. But I feel like, in a series, we’ve got a chance to beat everybody. Today, they were just a tad better.”
Down 4-1 with two gone in the bottom of the sixth after having already scored, sophomore Marco Wolfe pinch hit for Owen Westendorf with the bases loaded and worked the count full.
Wolfe gave South Park reliever Robert Lenzi’s next offering a good cut, but didn’t make contact. The strikeout halted the frame and extinguished what wound up being Freeport’s last push to get back into it.
“I told him fight until he wins,” Carr said about approaching Wolfe before the payoff pitch. “And I said, ‘I’m giving this guy a breather, and I’m making him think about it.’ Marco’s been gutsy all year. I didn’t put him out there because I thought he’d fail, I put him out there because I knew he’d be confident in that situation.
“He didn’t get it done today, but — you know what — that experience is gonna play for him going forward.”
Wolfe said he would move on from the swing-and-miss after giving himself a night to be upset about it.
“I should be used to those situations,” Wolfe said. “It’s a second-round playoff game. It puts a little bit of extra pressure on myself, and I just didn’t pull through. That’s it.”
The Eagles tagged the ’Jackets for two runs in the top of the first and third innings. Freeport finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth frame. Tola and Trey Schreckengost both singled, and Ashton Bricker hit a one-out base knock to score Tola.
Luke Whitfield walked to put the pressure on Lenzi, who answered the call to help guarantee South Park a state playoff spot.
Lenzi threw 39 strikes on 63 pitches and struck out five. Junior Gage Blystone pitched six innings for Freeport, allowing three earned runs, striking out seven and walking two.
