Everything clicking for Penn-Trafford baseball on 9-game winning streak

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, April 25, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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When Lou Cortazzo decided he wanted the interim tag removed from his name and officially became the coach of the Penn-Trafford baseball team, everything started to click.

The move felt right.

Of course, Cortazzo had to act fast. He had been in rain delays longer than the time it took him to determine what to do next.

“It all happened two weeks before (last) season,” Cortazzo said. “They gave me 20 minutes to make my decision.”

It all has worked out for Cortazzo, whose Warriors (11-1, 7-1) took a nine-game winning streak into Friday’s nonsection game at Connellsville. They were tied for first place with Franklin Regional (9-4, 7-1) in Section 1 and began the week No. 3 in the TribLive Class 5A rankings.

The Warriors look like they’re here to stay in the postseason conversation with a pair of two-game section series remaining against Gateway and Franklin Regional.

A bonding opportunity at the start of the season at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, S.C., merged into a regular season that has just one blemish, a 4-3 setback against Fox Chapel.

It is all part of a year-round grind for Cortazzo and his tried-and-true ballclub.

“Cut me open, and I bleed green and gold,” said Cortazzo, who won three straight section titles as a player at Penn-Trafford in the early 1980s and spent eight years on the bench as an assistant to former coach Dan Miller. “I wanted to continue to be a part of the program. There is a lot of time put into this. That’s 31 fall-ball games, putting in 3-4 days a week with the winter workouts, too.

“The hard work is paying off. We have built a family atmosphere here. We’re bonding better than anyone, and all of these kids have a spot in my heart.”

Penn-Trafford had to replace its top two pitchers from a team that reached the WPIAL semifinals and PIAA quarterfinals in Dylan Grabowski and Nolan Marasti but has done so with flying colors and by committee.

The team had a 1.43 ERA with junior Robbie Andrew (2-0), sophomore Dom Delio (1-0), senior Travis Kovarik (1-0), senior Brandon Roher and sophomore Zach Feldman (1-0) yielding sub-2 ERAs.

Junior closer Hunter Brown had yet to yield an earned run in five appearances.

Freshman Ben Grabowski also shows waves of promise.

“Roher was the only pitcher back with any experience,” Cortazzo said. “We had eight returning starters but not a lot of experience back on the mound. But we do have a lot of Tyler Horvat (types).”

By that, Cortazzo meant he has multi-talented players, utility guys who have a will to win like Horvat, a former Warriors star who earned All-American honors at Washington & Jefferson and is playing a fifth year at Division I Bryant.

Players like Horvat are the reason 106 players (grades 7-12) tried out for baseball at Penn-Trafford this year.

“I think we have one of the better defensive teams in the WPIAL,” Cortazzo said. “They have been playing together since (last) July and August. There are days we try to take off, and they don’t want to. You can have the most talented team in the world, but if you have guys wanting to walk in different directions, it’s not going to work.”

Senior Chuck Fontana III, the son of the former Warriors athletic director and longtime coach, was batting .415 with a team-high 17 hits and 11 RBIs. Senior catcher Ian Temple was hitting .342, junior Ethan Septak had 11 RBIs and senior Brody Hoffman had 10.

Senior David Newsome led the team with 14 runs scored.

Junior Brayden Stone (.387) had 13 runs, and senior Jason Sabol (10 runs, eight RBIs) was returning to form promptly after an injury.

The Warriors have three one-run wins, including two walk-offs at home.

They rallied to beat Trinity, 8-6, in a nonsection game.

“There is no quit in them, and they’re never out,” Cortazzo said. “They don’t give up, and that isn’t something that is easy to teach.

“They call themselves the ‘Comeback Warriors’ because that’s what they do.”

Cortazzo also praises the efforts of his freshly assembled staff that includes Mike DeMark, a former Warriors standout and Marietta hall of famer who pitched in the minors for the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Oakland Athletics, reaching the Triple-A level. He played professionally for 13 years (2006-18) and finished 27-27 with a 3.12 ERA in 561 games.

“Mike moved back from out of state, and I asked him to help us out,” Cortazzo said. “He’s a great instructor, a nice pick up.”

The other assistants are Brett Farrow, Frank Pecora, Zach Susalla and Dana Williams, who appeared in eight games with the Boston Red Sox in 1989.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford