Palmerton advances to 3A finals
A senior counting down the days until his high school graduation, Connor Beahm has had a lot of very good days during his baseball career at Palmerton.
Sunday, in the District 11 Class 3A semifinals at Easton’s Richards Field, Beahm enjoyed the absolute best day of his scholastic career.
Beahm pitched a four-hitter with seven strikeouts and collected two hits, including the one that ignited a four-run rally, as No. 3 seed Palmerton picked up an efficient 4-0 win over secondseeded Palisades.
Coach Tyler Svetik’s Blue Bombers (15-8) advance to Tuesday’s 3A championship showdown opposite No. 4 Panther Valley (17-6). First pitch is scheduled for 3:35 p.m. at DeSales’ Weiland Park.
Beahm, understandably, was beaming with pride after his dominant day.
“This feels awesome,” said the left-hander. “This is the first time in my high school career we get to play for a championship. I know all the guys are happy. We put together a great performance today and hopefully we can carry it over to Tuesday.”
Beahm was brilliant from start to finish.
He retired Palisades, which features a formidable top of the order, 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning, striking out two. He allowed a leadoff single to Chase Kimbel in the third but stranded the runner at first.
The Pirates (15-7) put two runners on in both the fifth and seventh innings against Beahm, but no runner ever touched third base.
Beahm, who threw but six pitches in the sixth, needed only 80 pitches overall to beat Palisades.
“The fastball, honestly,” he said of his go-to pitch. “I was getting people to roll over and to pop up. I let my defense play behind me and they did the job. I try to be as efficient as possible.”
“Connor did what he’s done all season,” said Svetik, in his first season as coach. “He fills up the strike zone, he works ahead, he works fast and keeps our defense engaged. He was spectacular for us. To shut them out and hold them to four hits, that’s a heck of a job.”
Pitching against Palisades ace Jaden Newton, an East Stroudsburg University recruit, Beahm realized he had to be at the top of his game.
Newton is one of the area’s premier pitchers. He, too, went the distance Sunday but encountered trouble in the decisive fourth inning. Palmerton scored all four of its runs on five well-struck hits.
Beahm, the No. 2 batter in the Blue Bombers’ lineup, led off with a ground ball single that was fielded near second base. Cole Serfass followed with a hit-and-run single down the left-field line that advanced courtesy runner Ty Sander to third.
“We knew runs were going to be at a premium,” Svetik said. “We knew we wanted to get our guys moving. Cole’s such a good hitter, I didn’t want to bunt. So we played hit-and-run and got guys on second and third with nobody out.”
After Newton struck out Jake Grammes, Kaleb Eitner lined an RBI single to left field. Chase Reph lined the next pitch into right-center field for a run-scoring single. Garrett Horvath then delivered the biggest blow, a two-run double that cleared the glove of Palisades
centerfielder Nick Petrillo by several inches.
“I got down 0-1; I swung at a changeup in the dirt,” said Horvath, the No. 7 batter. “I was looking for fastball and I was looking for something to drive. I got a 1-1 fastball and put a good swing on it.”
Horvath praised Palisades’ Newton, who threw
six shutout innings and struck out eight.
“He’s a great opponent. He’s going to do some great things at ESU,” Horvath said.
Now, it’s onto the championship game for Palmerton against an unfamiliar opponent in Panther Valley, which upset No. 1 seed
Notre Dame-Green Pond 8-7 on Saturday.
The Blue Bombers are 2-0 vs. Schuylkill County opponents this season.
“I feel good,” Svetik said. “I think we’re playing real confident baseball right now. We’ve been talking about this championship game since December. I read the teams off [in our classification] and I said, ‘Why can’t we win it?’ “
“We still have to play the game, but I wouldn’t want to be playing us right now.”
Palisades coach Gary Koenig, meanwhile, says farewell to a quality senior class that includes Newton.
The Pirates, who beat Palmerton 6-2 on May 4, were paced Sunday by Newton and Kimbel, the only player other than Beahm to collect two hits in the game.
“This year is a tough year,” Koenig said. “I have some great seniors. Like I told them, the majority of them played for me as freshmen and it’s been an enjoyable ride. Tremendous players. We weren’t at our best. Palmerton played better than us today.”