SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – A historic season for the Punxsutawney Chucks came to an end on Monday, as Riverside rallied for an 8-5 win in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals.
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The District 9 champion Chucks (20-3) put up three runs in the first inning and led 3-0 until the fifth, when Riverside tied the game, and the WPIAL champs, who came in with a record of 23-0, scored five more runs in the sixth to take control.
“We knew they were good top to bottom and it was going to require a Herculean effort,” said Punxsutawney coach Mike Dickey. “For a while there it was looking pretty good, but you can’t hold a lineup like that down for seven innings very often.”
This marked the second consecutive year the Chucks got to the PIAA semifinals, dropping a 1-run decision to Central-Martinsburg last season.
This time around, an RBI single by Carter Savage and a 2-run single off the bat of Zeke Bennett staked the Chucks to a 3-0 lead in the first.
That prompted the Panthers to make a change on the mound from Ronnie Harper to 6-2 sophomore Christian Lucarelli, who is already committed to Duke.
Lucarelli not only got the Panthers out of the first inning but threw up five more zeroes while striking out seven and allowing just one hit (a 2-out double to Zach Dinger) and five walks (two of which were intentional to Dinger his next two times up.
“He’s a Duke commit for a reason,” Dickey said. “We battled as hard as we could, but he was tough. When you have that kind of velocity and you’ve got other pitches in your pocket, that’s tough.”
Jake Sikora threw up zeroes threw four innings for Punxsutawney, limiting the Panthers to three hits and one and striking out three, while also inducing a pair of ground ball double plays.
Riverside’s bats came alive in the fifth, however. Sikora got Mitch Garvin, the No. 5 man in the order, to ground out to start the inning, but a 1-out error opened the door.
Darren McDade singled and Sam Barber walked, and Zach Hare, pinch-hitting in the No. 9 spot in the order, ripped a 2-run single to get the Panthers on the board. Evan Burry followed with an RBI double, marking the end of the day on the mound for Sikora. Josh Tyger came in and got a lineout double play to end the inning, keeping the game tied.
“Hats off to Jake for battling,” Dickey said. “He’s done that every time we’ve given him the ball. Josh came in, and we just felt like he was the best matchup for them the way they were barreling fastballs. He did his job, they just worked some counts and barrelled a couple of balls and we had a couple of miscues to open things up for them.”
Cooper Hallman walked and Dinger was intentionally walked with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Dinger got picked off of first base to end the threat.
Riverside took advantage in the bottom half of the inning, as they loaded the bases with one out on a single, hit-by-pitch, sacrifice bunt, and another walk.
McDade followed with a 2-run double to give Riverside its first lead of the game, and Sam Barber tripled to deep center, bringing in two runs, with the final run of the inning scoring on an error.
Punxsutawney didn’t go down without a fight in the seventh, as Drake Fox came on in relief of and was greeted with back-to-back singles by Coy Martino and Nevin Day. After a strikeout and flyout, Justin Miller ripped a 2-run double to make it 8-5.
The Chucks were one batter away from bringing the tying run to the plate, but first baseman Mitch Garvin snared Bennett’s line drive to end the game.
“That ball gets in, who knows what happens,” Dickey said. “That last inning kind of exemplified who we are. We talk about it all the time. There’s no clock.”
Riverside, which has won four state championships, moves on face the winner of Camp Hill and Saucon Valley on Thursday (that game was postponed to Tuesday because of rain).
For Punxsutawney, a season that finished just short of its ultimate goal still ended with the most wins in program history and back-to-back appearances in the PIAA semifinals.
“The quality people that they are parallels who they are as players,” Dickey said. “They’re a great, great group. Like we said in the huddle, it’s hard to say goodbye, obviously to a class like this. Back-to-back Western finals, a school record 20 wins, and just the type of people that they are.”
