PIAA Baseball Semifinals Recap from Tuesday

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 | 11:15 PM

Monday saw WPIAL AA champion Beaver clinch a spot in the PIAA state finals. However the news was not as good on Tuesday for District 7 as North Allegheny in Quad-A, Keystone Oaks in Triple-A and California in Single-A all saw their state title dreams and their 2013 season comes to an end with heartbreaking losses. Here are recaps from all the Western Semifinals baseball games from Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks to Lee Mohn and Don Rebel for their help on these recaps.

PIAA CLASS AAAA SEMIFINALS :  Lower Dauphin Falcons 1 – North Allegheny Tigers 0 in 10 Innings
North Allegheny played their second consecutive 10 inning game on Tuesday but this time they came up on the short end of a 1-0 defeat to Lower Dauphin in the western finals of the PIAA baseball tournament.  It was a pitcher’s duel between Blair Lewis of Lower Dauphin and Jason Monper of North Allegheny.  Neither team had a base runner reach second base through six innings.  Lower Dauphin turned three double plays in that time while Blair Lewis gave up only three hits and walked two.  Jason Monper was just as strong giving up 2 hits and walking none.  The drama began in the 7th inning when North Allegheny would get singles from Matt Waugaman and Jimmy Divosevic to open up the inning.  After a failed bunt attempt to move the runners  Divosevic was picked off second base after a fly out to center field to end the inning.  Lower Dauphin would load the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh but Monper got Luke Lingle to hit into a 1-2-3 double play to escape the threat.  Lower Dauphin would load the bases with no one out in the bottom of the 8th but Monper was able to get a rare 4-2-5 double play then get a fly out to end the inning.  The Tigers had a chance with two outs in the 9th.  Matt Waugaman would hit one off the center field fence and bounced away from center fielder Jeff Light.  Coach Andy Maddix took his chance and sent Waugaman around 3rd to try and score but the relay was in time for the third out.  Lower Dauphin would again load the bases in the bottom of the 9th with one out but Monper would get 2 strikeouts to end the inning.  The 10th inning the Tigers would strand a runner at 3rd base which set up the heroics for Lower Dauphin.  On a 3-2 pitch junior Jake Shellenberger would hit he ball over the left field fence for a walk off home run and send the Falcons to State College on Friday.  North Allegheny finishes their season 22-5.

PIAA CLASS AAA SEMIFINALS:  Upper Moreland Bears 3 – Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles 1
A strong team defensively all year, Keystone Oaks picked a bad time to have a rough day on the field. The Golden Eagles committed four errors, which doubled their two hits on offense as the #3-team out of District 7 fell to District 1 runner-up Upper Moreland 3-1 Tuesday at Green Township Park in Scotland. Taylor Lehman got the start for Keystone Oaks and gave up the first of three unearned runs in the first inning when Keystone Oaks thought they had the final out of the inning, but the home plate umpire overruled the first base ump, claiming Nick Riggle’s foot came off the base in reaching for the throw. Lehman pitched four innings, allowing three unearned run with one walk and three strikeouts. Jared Skolnicki tossed two innings of scoreless relief for the Golden Eagles, who saw their history making season come to an end with a final record of 20-6. Keystone Oaks qualified for the WPIAL playoffs this year for the first time in a decade and made it to the state playoffs for the first time in school history. The Bears improve to 22-4 and move on to the PIAA Class AAA championship game on Friday at Penn State where they will battle West York at 1:00pm.

PIAA CLASS A SEMIFINALS:  Johnsonburg Rams 8 – California Trojans 1
Johnsonburg could not even win the District 9 championship, but now they are one victory from a state title. But after beating WPIAL champion Western Beaver in Round One, the Rams bounced WPIAL consolation winner California from the postseason with a convincing victory at First Commonwealth Field in Homer City on Tuesday.  Johnsonburg, now 18-3 will face Canton in the PIAA Class A finals on Friday at Penn State at 10:30am. The Trojans season ends with a final mark of 20-6.

Tags: California, Keystone Oaks