SLIPPERY ROCK – Big-time players live for big-time moments.
After shutting out Sharpsville to lead West Middlesex to the 2022 Class 2A championship, senior ace Richie Preston threw a two-hit gem to lead the Big Reds to a 2-0 victory over Saegertown in the District 10 Class 1A Finals Monday afternoon at Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park.
“Big-time players come through in big-time moments,” West Middlesex coach Kolten Hoffman said. “When Richie is locating his fastball, he’s just so tough to hit.”
The district championship puts the Big Reds in Mercer County’s upper echelon, Hoffman said.
“I told the kids before the game that (the 1991-92 teams) won back-to-back championships and that’s the only other time it’s happened in school history,” he said. “This was a great opportunity for us and we have a great group of kids, so really proud of them there. I don’t think anyone in the county has won 3 in a row, so these guys are up there with some of the best teams in (Mercer) County history and they deserve it, because they’re a great group of kids.”
Both teams will advance to next week’s PIAA tournament.
West Middlesex (14-9) will meet the third-place team out of the WPIAL – either Union or Rochester – on June 5 at a site and time to be determined. The WPIAL’s third-place game is set to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Washington & Jefferson College’s Ross Memorial Park.
“We’re going to put some miles on our cars and go watch some games,” Hoffman said. “We’re going to try to give our kids the best opportunity we can to go win a couple of games in the state playoffs and go from there.”
Meanwhile, the Panthers’ quest for a state crown remains still alive but the District 10 runners-up will have to get through the WPIAL champion – either California or Bishop Canevin – in the first round of the PIAA tournament on June 5. The WPIAL will contest its Class 1A championship game at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Whenever we get another day in the sun, we’re going to enjoy it,” said Saegertown coach Nick Leslie. “Yeah, we would’ve loved to win another D10 title, but we’re still in the tournament and we still have some home and some life. At this point, anything can happen.”
Monday afternoon at SRU, neither team could get much going offensively.
Preston – a Salem International University recruit – fanned a career-high 10 batters and walked three (one intentionally) and hit a pair of Panthers in his 105-pitch masterpiece.
“He’s mid- to upper-80s,” Hoffman said. “Whether he’s locating up, down, in, out, he’s tough to hit. He adds this sweeper like they like to call it in the big leagues now. He mixed that in when he needed to get big strikeouts.”
Shaffer – a Penn State Behrend recruit – nearly matched Preston pitch-for-pitch, striking out eight, scattering six hits, and walking four in a 108-pitch effort.
“He just competed every inning,” Leslie said. “He was able to throw strikes early and keep them off balance. That’s always been his game plan. He was dealing with arm issues throughout the regular season, so we were limiting his pitch counts and innings but he showed up today and that’s all we could ask for.”
Saegertown nearly broke the game open in the first and fifth innings against Preston – who also went over 1,000 points this winter for the Big Reds – but the lanky right-hander worked out of bases-loaded jams in each inning.
In the first, Saegertown (18-3) loaded the bases against Preston with one away with singles from Luke Young and Shaffer and a hit by a pitch from Sully Zirkle, but Preston recorded back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam.
The Panthers filled the bases again in the fifth without a hit on free passes to Everett Gardner and Shaffer and Jon Grundy’s hit-by pitch, but Preston got Zirkle to ground out to second for the final out.
“(Preston) was at his best when he was in jams,” Hoffman said. “He just found another level both times. He definitely did that in the first and fifth innings. He had 28 pitches in the first inning, put his head down, and continued to grind after that.”
West Middlesex struck first in the fourth when Evan Gilson – who singled in his first at-bat – doubled home courtesy runner Logan Kent for a 1-0 lead.
The Big Reds made it 2-0 in the top of the seventh when Blaze Knight sent a rope past a diving Young for a stand-up triple before scoring on a Julian Trott double.
“You look up and down our stat line and you never say ‘Wow, look out for this kid – except for Richie when he’s on the mound because he’s a stud,’ ” Hoffman said. “We’ve got nine guys we feel we can compete within our order. Evan Gilson hitting in the seven hole – two hits today … a big double to score the first run across to kind of break the ice, so I have confidence one through nine that we’re never going to have a down inning.
“Credit to our guys for scratching a run across in the seventh. Blaze Knight and (Trott) with big swings gave us an insurance run, which was huge.”
Moments later with one away, Trott – who stole third – broke for home on a Devin Gruver grounder to short but got caught in a rundown before being ‘tagged’ out by Shaffer in front of the plate. During the tag, both players ended up on the ground, causing tempers to flare and a brief dustup around the plate.
After sending both teams to their respective dugouts, the game’s officiating crew circled up and ultimately ejected Trott and Leslie.
“It was an unfortunate situation,” Hoffman said. “You never want to see something like that happen. I thought (Trott) was in a rundown and he made his commitment to go home, and he turned and it kind of just happened. I don’t think there was malicious intent. Obviously, when you have that kind of contact, boys will be boys and tempers are going to get going. That’s not how we want to play the game. The umpires told me they thought it was malicious contact and that was why they removed him from the game. I disagree with that assessment, but it’s not my decision at the end of the day.”
“There’s no criticism of anybody,” Leslie said. “In that situation, I should’ve done a better job of keeping a cooler head. I explained to my group (after the game) when you see one of your own rolling around in pain. It’s kind of like your own kid and it’s hard to not get emotional about that. One thing that I’ll never apologize for is for going to bat for our kids and being there when they need me. Could I have done it in a better way? Absolutely!”
After getting out of the seventh trailing 2-0 and down to their final three outs, Saegertown went down quietly with West Middlesex senior Gio Rococi earning the save with a five-pitch strikeout.
NOTES: After securing their second-straight district championship, West Middlesex has won three in four years and eight overall. … The back-to-back championships are the second in program history for the Big Reds (1991, 1992). … The Panthers had a pair of errors, while the Big Reds had a clean game defensively.
