Swinging bunt helps Norwin rally past Butler and into Class 6A semifinals
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Monday, May 19, 2025 | 10:03 PM
Norwin’s Trevor Vitsas puts the ball in play to score the winning run during the ninth inning against Butler in their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin’s Trevor Vitsas (22) is mobbed by teammates after the Knights defeated Butler in nine innings in their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin’s Jake Sincak celebrates as he scores the winning run in the ninth inning against Butler during their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin’s Trevor Vitsas celebrates after the Knights defeated Butler in nine innings in their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin catcher Trevor Vitsas tags out Butler’s Boden Lenyk at home plate during their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin’s Nathan Silberman celebrates his double against Butler during their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin pitcher Matthew O’Neil celebrates after getting a strikeout against Butler during their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin’s Trevor Vitsas (22) is mobbed by teammates after the Knights defeated Butler in nine innings in their WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinal on Monday, May 19, 2025, at North Allegheny.
Norwin celebrated a walk-off win in nine innings thanks to a swinging bunt that rolled only a few feet.
In a way, it summed up the Knights’ grittiness.
“There are no style points,” Norwin coach Craig Spisak said after the fourth-seeded Knights rallied late to defeat No. 5 Butler, 5-4, in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 6A baseball playoffs Monday. “It’s not gymnastics. We’re lucky it’s not gymnastics.”
Even if Spisak’s players probably felt like doing some backflips afterward. It was Norwin’s first playoff win since 2021 and a first for the Knights’ fourth-year coach, who admitted “it was ugly.”
Norwin had only five hits to Butler’s 12.
The Knights trailed 4-2 with two outs in the sixth inning and were nearing a fifth consecutive playoff loss. Instead, they scored one run in the sixth, a tying run in the seventh and the winner in the ninth on junior Trevor Vitsas’ unintentional bunt.
Butler reliever Aaron Lunn fielded the roller, but his throw to first base was too high. Norwin senior Jake Sincak scored from third on the error for the walk-off win.
“It means a great deal to us after losing the last couple years, all by a couple of runs,” said Sincak, who reached base three times and scored twice. “We’re excited for this.”
Sincak also scored the tying run on a pinch-hit double by junior Caden Sivrich in the seventh.
Norwin (13-7) advances to face No. 8 Hempfield in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Boyce Mayview Park. Butler (11-9) was trying to reach the semifinals for the fourth time in five years.
Norwin junior Matthew O’Neil pitched 5⅓ scoreless innings in relief for the win. The right-hander allowed three hits, walked two and struck out six in a 72-pitch outing.
“However long that game needed to go, we were going to go that long,” O’Neil said. “We were going to fight no matter what.”
Butler scored one run in each of the first four innings against Norwin starter Ethen Culbertson to lead 4-2. But the Tornado ultimately left nine runners on base and had two more thrown out at the plate.
“When we could’ve put them away, we didn’t put them away,” Butler coach Josh Forbes said. “The longer a team hangs around, the more chance they’ve got when they’re down and they’re fighting.”
Butler right-hander Nolan Stefaniak kept Norwin in check until he reached the PIAA-imposed 105-pitch limit with one out in the seventh inning. The Penn State-bound junior left the mound with a 4-3 lead after allowing three hits, four walks and striking out eight.
“Nolan pitched a great game for them,” Spisak said. “There’s no doubt about it, he was lights out. He was tough. Our whole goal was to try to make him work, and, to some degree, I think we accomplished that.”
A one-out double by Nathan Silberman off Stefaniak started Norwin’s rally in the sixth inning. Tristyn Tavares followed with a two-out RBI single to cut Butler’s lead to 4-3.
In the seventh, Sincak drew a leadoff walk and advanced two bases on an errant pickoff attempt by Stefaniak. One batter after Stefaniak reached his pitch limit, Sivrich drove a one-out double into center field to score Sincak for a 4-4 tie.
“We preach to our kids all season about the mental side of this game and how much adversity this game provides,” Spisak said. “We try to understand that there are going to be ups and downs. These kids have practiced that all year.”
In the ninth, Sincak drew another leadoff walk, O’Neil reached on a bunt single and Sivrich followed with a sacrifice bunt. With runners on second and third, Vitsas’ swinging bunt prompted Butler’s game-ending throwing error.
“It’s our first playoff win in multiple years,” Vitsas said. “It’s pretty big.”
Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
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