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Riverside stays unbeaten, reaches PIAA baseball finals

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Monday, June 12, 2023 | 9:30 PM

Riverside baseball coach Dan Oliastro said his group has been a “big-inning team” all year, and he was hoping they could do it one more time.

It turned out his Panthers had some more crooked numbers in them, and, combined with outstanding relief pitching from sophomore ace Christian Lucarelli, it was enough to climb out of an early hole, keeping their perfect season alive.

Daren McDade hit a go-ahead two run double as part of a three-run fifth inning, the Panthers added five more runs in the sixth and Lucarelli pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in an 8-5 win over District 9 champ Punxsutawney in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals at Slippery Rock’s Jack Critchfield Park.

The Panthers (24-0) will face either Camp Hill or Saucon Valley in the 3A state championship at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Penn State. Punxsutawney finished 20-3.

“We’ve done this all year,” Oliastro said. “We’ve been behind 4-1 and scored 10 runs in one inning. I knew we could do it.”

With the score tied 3-3, McDade came up with the bases loaded and one out and ripped a ball to the gap in left center, which scored two runs to give the Panthers the lead.

“It felt great,” McDade said. “I knew going into the at-bat, my teammates had given me a good approach on what to expect. I just came up there looking for a certain pitch and found it, thankfully.”

Sam Barber followed with a deep fly ball to center that went over the head of Bennett. That scored two more, and Sean Hayes scored Barber from third on a hard shot that found its way past a drawn-in infield.

Those runs helped erase a difficult start for the Panthers.

Punxsutawney got an RBI single from Carter Savage and a two-run single by Zeke Bennett to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Oliastro lifted starter Ronnie Harper for Lucarelli with two outs in the first.

“After they scored three we had no choice,” Oliastro said. “We didn’t want to bring Lucarelli in until the fifth or sixth inning, but it didn’t happen that way. In a game like this, you lose, the season is over. You’re turning in the uniforms the next day.”

Lucarelli, a Duke commit, ended up inducing a groundout to get out of the first and went on to yield one hit over the rest of his outing. He struck out six and walked five (two intentional), keeping the Chucks from adding to their lead.

“Coach told me that if we get in trouble to get hot really quick,” Lucarelli said. “After they scored the first run, I went out to the bullpen, threw a couple plyo (balls), threw five pitches and he told me to go in. It was a little faster than I expected, but I was still able to go out there and get that out.”

Lucarelli was pulled after the sixth at 75 pitches, which means he will be available in a limited capacity for the state championship game.

Riverside’s comeback started in the fifth after a frustrating first four innings against Chucks starter Jake Sikora that featured two rally-killing double plays.

The first glimmer of hope came when Drake Fox reached on an error. McDade followed with a single. Barber walked to load the bases.

Oliastro called upon Zach Hare to pinch-hit, and he promptly lined a two-run single to left to cut the lead to one. Evan Burry followed with an RBI double that tied the score.

Punxsutawney plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Fox got Bennett to line out to first baseman Mitch Garvin to end the game.

Now the Panthers will have a chance to finish their undefeated season and win the program’s fifth state championship and first since 2012.

“It’s awesome,” McDade said. “I remember the 2011 and 2012 teams that won it. Just to be in their shoes finally is unbelievable. I’ve been dreaming about this since I was five years old.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

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