Hopewell finishes strong, advances to Region 6 final

All throughout the American Legion baseball season the conventional wisdom was Blackhawk was the best team in Beaver County.

And perhaps it was, as it won the Beaver County championship and posted a county best 17-1 regularseason record.

But when it came time to play for the Region 6 championship, it was Hopewell, not Blackhawk, that played in the 15th and final game of the double-elimination tournament in Shaler.

And Hopewell made this run, which lasted until Uniontown came back from a 5-0 deficit in the final game to win, 7-5, despite having only 13 players on its team for the tournament.

"The 13 kids we had were the ones who wanted to be there. and they played very well," said manager Dave Denniston. "We were never out of a game, played hard in all five games, but it just wasn't meant to be. I don't think any of the players can be sitting at home and say 'what if?'"

Hopewell began the season winning its first six games but went into a midseason slump before rebounding toward the end of the season. As a result, its final regularseason record was 11-7, good enough to beat out Ambridge-Baden by a game in the Beaver County East Division.

Top pitcher Tim Sabo explained why.

"We didn't have Zeph Kraus," he

said, referring to a fellow right-handed pitcher whose slugging exploits as an outfielder helped Hopewell High School sweep the Blackhawk Cougars in two games during the WPIAL baseball season.

Another key player absent during this time was catcher Austin Mike, the only college player on Hopewell's roster this year. The Clarion catcher left to play for the Olean Oilers of the New York Collegiate Baseball League in midseason and returned for the end of the regular season, but was not available for Hopewell's run for a state tournament berth.

Kraus was back for the regional playoffs, however, as Hopewell rolled up three consecutive victories to begin its quest for a berth in the state playoffs.

It began July 18 behind Sabo, who pitched a complete-game, 4-3 victory against Moon, the first defeat Moon had suffered all season. A 7-4 victory against Connellsville followed the next day behind the pitching of Shane Martin and Christian Piroli.

Against Shaler July 20 Martin, who had hits in every game of the regional playoffs, clubbed a home run as every hitter in the Hopewell lineup got a hit in a 14-4 victory while Piroli and Kraus pitched.

Old nemesis Blackhawk, which defeated Hopewell three times before during Legion season, including the Beaver County final, was next. Chase Morales got the start for Hopewell and pitched well, but Blackhawk swept Hopewell in the season series with a 5-4 victory, recording the final out with two runners on base.

Blackhawk was eliminated the following day. Since Sabo threw less than 100 pitches on Saturday he was asked to pitch with three days rest in the winner-take-all final, but he had to be relieved in the middle innings and was victimized by defensive lapses in Uniontown's comeback victory.

Still, the tournament proved to be a great showcase for Martin, who attends but does not play baseball at Slippery Rock, therefore likely ending his career on a positive note.

"Shane came to play," said Denniston. "He peaked in regionals. He was back to the old Shane, throwing hard, change and curve thrown very well, to keep batters off balance. He's a real competitor."

And Sabo, a rising senior, developed a change up during the postseason and impressed Beaver County American Legion president Norm Kraus enough to describe Sabo as one of Beaver County's leading baseball prospects.

Hopewell's final record, including playoffs, was 1810.