Vincentian advances
Royals make two rare mistakes but clobber GCC, 11-0
Vincentian committed two errors in the second inning Monday in a game against Greensburg Central Catholic.
Other than that, the Royals were dominant. That has been a theme throughout the PIAA playoffs.
Vincentian advanced to the PIAA Class 1A championship by winning again in convincing fashion, this time an 11-0, five-inning victory against Greensburg Central Catholic in a semifinal at Wild Things Park in Washington. The Royals (19-4) will try to win their second title in three years when they play Southern Fulton (22-4) at 11 a.m. Friday in the final at PennState.
Three PIAA playoff games, three five-inning, mercy-rule shutouts for Vincentian, which won its first two games by scores of 10-0. In five playoff games overall, the WPIAL champions have outscored their opponents, 50-1.
“Everything is coming together,” senior Kyler Fedko said. “We’re really clicking at the plate. Our pitching. Our defense. We had a couple of errors today, but those are the only two errors we’ve made the whole postseason. Our team, we’re firing on all cylinders. We really are.”
Vincentian hit the ball hard against all three Greensburg Central Catholic pitchers it faced. On the other side, the Centurions (16-7) couldn’t get much going against Vincentian pitcher Aidan Thomson, who gave up just two hits and struck out five in a complete-game win.
After Thomson struck out the side in the first, the Vincentian offense began to slug away. Mark Yakim led off with a single, Fedko added a one-out single and Danny Morgano hit a sacrifice fly. After Thomson was hit by a pitch, Nate Christian came through with a two-run single. Just like that, the Royals held a 3-0 lead.
Vincentian added two runs in the second — chasing Greensburg Central Catholic starter Antonio Cavallo —— and then struck for six in the third. Sean McGrail and Morgano smacked two run singles in the third.
The Royals finished with 12 hits and all nine batters reached base. Yakim was 3 for 4 with an RBI triple and scored three runs. Fedko was 2 for 3 with a walk and scored two runs.
“We’re on fire right now. Every one of us. Every game it’s someone different stepping up to the plate and really making a difference,” said Thomson, who added an RBI single.
Thomson spent most of his outing getting ahead of hitters by throwing first-pitch strikes. The only two hits he allowed came on a single in the first and an infield single in the fourth.
“Aidan was excellent and he has been the entire season,” Vincentian coach Brad Bestic said. “He was just on. And that’s the Aidan we know, especially playoff time.”