Wins set up WPIAL title rematch
Blackhawk has nearly as many aces on its pitching staff as a deck of cards, so there’s never any panic when a starter struggles out of the gate.
That stockpile of arms certainly came in handy Thursday in the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals against Forest Hills.
Starter Jon Pence, who last week was the wining pitcher in the WPIAL championship game, had problems finding the plate and was removed after 22⁄3 innings. All that did was open the door for Mark Engel, who retired the first 10 batters he faced and helped the Cougars pull out a 6-4 victory against the District 6 champion Rangers at Fox Chapel.
“Mark has been awesome, and he was our No. 1 last year,” Blackhawk coach Bob Amalia said. “We feel like we’ve got three No. 1s, but we feel our defense is so much better when he’s at short and it’s a great luxury.”
Blackhawk (23-2) and Forest Hills were beneficiaries of some strange scoring plays.
In the bottom of the second, the game was held up for 12 minutes after the strap broke on the home plate umpire’s mask, and a replacement had to be found in the Fox Chapel equipment room. The Cougars then took a 3-0 lead on a bases-loaded walk, followed by a hit batsman and an error.
Not to be outdone, the Rangers picked up their first two runs — and chased Pence — when they scored on a bases-loaded error and a catcher’s interference.
“It’s the stage of the game where you have to manufacture runs with walks, hit batsmen, bunting guys over because you’re going to be playing really, really good teams,” Amalia said.
“There were a lot of walks in the game that obviously created that.”
Blackhawk scored a bit more conventionally in the fifth when Anthony Sebastian pulled a 1-2 offering from Forest Hills starter Jared Wehner over the fence in left-center for a two-run homer that gave the Cougars some much needed breathing room.
They extended their lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth when Tyler Robinson singled and eventually came around to score on a Michael Turconi sacrifice fly.
Forest Hills made a run in the top of the seventh with two runs and had the tying run at the plate when Adam Cecere fanned to end the game.
Other Class 4A South Park 7, Hopewell 2:
Bryce Groff went 2 for 3 and drove in three runs while Adam Morris and Mike Kentzel each had two hits to support starter Kyle Thompson as the Eagles (22-3) set up a WPIAL championship game rematch with Blackhawk on Monday at a site and time to be determined. Thompson pitched 52⁄3 and was lifted for Tanner Pantuso as the two combined on a six-hitter. Mitch Heranic accounted for both Hopewell (15-11) runs with a two-run homer in the sixth. This will be the first WPIAL championship game rematch in a state semifinal since 2015 when Neshannock and Quaker Valley met in Class 2A.
Class 3A
Central Martinsburg 1, Riverside 0: It seemed like the right thing to do for the Panthers to trade a run for the out in the first inning. But that lone tally was all the Scarlet Dragons needed as leadoff hitter Alex Hoenstine was hit by a pitch from Riverside starter Christian Cicchinelli and came around to score on a one-out ground out to short from cleanup hitter Michael Speck for the only run of the game. Riverside (19-2) has not been to the state final since winning the second of back-to-back PIAA Class 2A titles in 2012.
Class 1A
Greensburg Central Catholic 7, Oswayo Valley 2: Antonio Cavallo pitched six strong innings and also did some damage at the plate as the WPIAL runner-up Centurions rolled into the state semifinals for the first time since they took home the title in 2002. Cavallo had as many hits, three, as he allowed and also knocked in three, while Paul Rice doubled and had three RBIs for Greensburg Central Catholic (14-5). The Centurions have won two in a row, and their longest streak this season is three.