Walk-off single in 11th inning leads North Hills to 1st WPIAL Class 5A baseball title
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Wednesday, May 30, 2018 | 8:06 PM
North Hills waited 44 years to get back to the WPIAL baseball finals.
And the Indians didn't mind waiting a bit longer.
Joe Pusateri's single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning scored pinch runner Tanner Schmitt with the game-winner as North Hills defeated Mars, 3-2, in the Class 5A title game Wednesday at Washington's Wild Things Park.
Pusateri, who pitched the first seven innings for North Hills before he was lifted after reaching the maximum pitch count, hit a sinking drive that landed in front of Planets center fielder Rowen Fletcher.
“That's like a dream,” Pusateri said. “You sit in the backyard, you dream about batting up, bases loaded, 3-2 pitch. When I was up there, I thought ‘this is everything a little kid dreams about.' ”
North Hills (20-3) will face either Red Land or Lower Dauphin on Monday in the PIAA opener at a site and time to be determined.
Mars (15-6), which came up short in last year's final against Latrobe, will square off against District 3 champ Ephrata in the PIAA first round Monday.
Garret Barto led off the 11th with a long double off the right-field fence. Steven Miller was intentionally walked, and J.T. Mazula bunted up pinch runner Schmitt and Miller.
Tyler Zozos was intentionally walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Pusateri's big hit.
“Unreal, it's hard to believe,” said Indians coach Randy Miller amid his players celebrating. “Six years ago, this was our dream. Our 11 seniors have been incredible during this ride. We had the formula — talent plus drive equals success.”
North Hills had tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the sixth when Miller singled home Jordan Pritchard.
Mars junior Will Bednar also was superb on the mound. Bednar, who has committed to Ohio State but might be picked in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft, had limited North Hills to one hit over the first five innings before the Indians strung together three hits in the sixth.
Bednar finished with 10 strikeouts before being lifted with two outs in the seventh.
Relievers Miller and Frank Craska of Mars also kept the opposition off the scoreboard. Miller retired 13 of the 14 batters he faced and pitched out of a jam in the eighth.
“You couldn't ask anything more from Will and Frankie,” Mars coach Andy Bednar said of his pitchers. “Their team had good hitters and really battled them, and we couldn't muster anything the last few innings.”
Zozos gave the Indians an early lead by hitting a double that was barely fair, scoring J.T. Mazula.
The Planets answered in the third when Fletcher was a hit by a pitch and scored on freshman Jon Wetherholt's triple. Mars took a 2-1 lead when Fletcher tripled and scored on Wetherholt's sacrifice fly.
Wetherholt was out at home plate when second baseman Jordan Albright fielded Craska's grounder and fired the ball to Mazula, or the issue might have been settled in regulation.
“I'll tell you what, he's quite a player,” coach Bednar said of Wetherholt. “We're looking forward to a lot of great things he's going to be doing for us over the next several years.”
Pusateri threw the first pitch of the game and hit the last pitch of the game.
“I told them we need one big inning out of you guys to grind it out and get us a victory,” coach Miller said.
Pusateri plans on attending DePaul University in the fall, but will not be playing baseball.
George Guido is a freelance writer.
Tags: Mars, North Hills
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