Title game first-timers to face stellar pitchers

Playing in a PIAA baseball title game will be a firsttime event for WPIAL teams Ringgold and South Side Beaver. If this new experience is to be most memorable, Ringgold and South Side Beaver will have to trump two aces.

Ringgold and South Side Beaver will face two standout pitchers who have futures in Division I college baseball. Ringgold (19-4) plays Valley View (15-3) in the PIAA Class 4A final at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, and South Side Beaver (17-5) meets Lancaster Catholic (19-5) in the 3A championship at 1 p.m. Friday. All of the PIAA baseball and softball title games will be played Thursday and Friday at Penn State.

Valley View, near Scranton, is expected to start senior Mason Black, who has signed with Lehigh University. Black is 7-0 with a 0.56 ERA and has allowed only six runs in 50 innings (four earned). He has allowed only 27 hits and walked only five.

Lancaster Catholic features Dillon Marsh, a senior and a University of Kentucky recruit. Judging by his major-college future and his statistics this season, Marsh has to be one of the best pitchers in the state. He has an 8-1 record and a 0.68 ERA, and opponents are hitting only .099 against him. He averages two strikeouts an inning, with 122 in 61⅓ innings. He has allowed only 21 hits.

Marsh pitched the final five innings in Monday’s semifinals but is eligible to come back against Ringgold.

Baseball

It is highly likely he will pitch.

“From what we’ve heard about [Marsh] and looked up some video, he’s a phenomenal pitcher,” said South Side Beaver coach Chip Hunter. “He’s everything they advertise about him.”

Both of these games might be determined by how South Side Beaver and Ringgold fare against these two top pitchers.

South Side Beaver has been hitting fairly well in the postseason. Take away a 13-2 loss to Avonworth in the WPIAL semifinals and South Side Beaver has scored 40 runs in five other postseason games.

Defensive Big Macs

Canon-McMillan was 8-4 in mid-April and not looking quite like a team that started the season ranked No. 1 in WPIAL Class 6A by the PostGazette. But the Big Macs (20-5) have won 12 of 13 and find themselves in a PIAA championship for the second time in school history. Canon-McMillan plays Bensalem, near Philadelphia, for the 6A title at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Canon-McMillan coach Tim Bruzdewicz is often asked what has made his team roll the past two months. Well, the offense has been pretty good. Then there is pitcher Zach Rohaley, who is 13-1. But Bruzdewicz believes something else has been key to the Big Macs’ success.

“We’re talented defensively, but we just weren’t getting it done early on,” Bruzdewicz said. “I think that’s the biggest difference with us.

“People keep asking and looking for the biggest difference and I think, besides some clutch hitting, our defense has really improved.”

Canon-McMillan won a PIAA title in 2008. Bensalem is playing in its first state championship.

Royal dominance

Up to this point, Vincentian has had one of the most impressive playoffs runs of any WPIAL team that has made it to a PIAA championship. But the Royals will play a team that has been just as dominant.

Vincentian (19-4) will play Southern Fulton (22-4) in the Class 1A championship at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Vincentian has won six postseason games (WPIAL and PIAA) by a combined score of 50-1. The Royals have won all three PIAA playoff games by shutouts and the 10-run rule. Would it be crazy to think Vincentian could win the PIAA title by at least 10 runs?

Now that would be historic.

Since the PIAA playoffs started in 1977, no team has won every game by 10 runs or more. Considering Southern Fulton’s resume, it would be astonishing if Vincentian won this game by 10 or more.

Southern Fulton, near Breezewood, has just about matched Vincentian in postseason domination.

Southern Fulton has played six postseason games and outscored opponents, 532.