Yough tops Southmoreland to win section baseball crown outright

By: Jonathan Guth
Wednesday, May 4, 2022 | 12:58 AM

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Yough relied on the strong pitching of James Shoman and timely hitting to down Southmoreland, 7-1, on Tuesday to clinch the Section 4-3A championship.

With Monday’s 3-2 walk-off victory, the Cougars (8-5, 7-2) clinched a share of the section crown, but coach Craig Spisak’s team wanted it for themselves.

“I told our kids to not be satisfied,” Spisak said. “We need to play for seeding as well, and we have one more section game and three or four exhibition games remaining. We need to get our game improved as well as we can going into the playoffs.”

Shoman, a junior, allowed one unearned run on four hits in pitching all seven innings. He had seven strikeouts and walked one. Shoman came on in relief to win Monday’s contest.

“James and Allen (Novacek) have been our top two this season, but we have a lot of good arms,” Spisak said. “We have had three or four other guys that pitched in relief and did a great job.”

Like all coaches, Spisak was concerned about how his team would respond after such a dramatic win, and it appeared his worries were warranted as the Scotties (6-6, 5-5) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Scotties starting pitcher Anthony Govern reached on an error and came around to score when a single to the outfield by Ty Keffer was misplayed and the senior touched home plate for the run.

Shoman walked the next batter but buckled down to record a strikeout and induce a 6-4 force out at second to get out of the jam.

“The first inning wasn’t all his (Shoman) fault, but he settled down nicely after that,” Spisak said. “He hit his spots, changed speeds and did a nice job. I was worried about a letdown. They are high school kids. Anything can happen with high school kids.

“They weathered that storm in the first inning, minimized the damage and answered after that, and that was nice to see. Southmoreland has a very nice team. Coach (Al) Govern and Coach Vaughn (Hempfield) do a nice job. They are a talented team and they play well.”

Yough scored all the runs it needed in the second when Christian Park singled, stole second, Zander Aird walked, and Park came around to score on Dom Maroney’s single to left for a 1-1 game.

The Cougars took a two-run lead with two outs when a ball hit by Kaden Bizzozero was misplayed and Aird and Maroney scored. Maroney added another hit and RBI.

“I liked how we hit the ball with two strikes today,” Spisak said. “I thought we did a nice job with our approach with two strikes. We definitely made good contact and had some nice hits.”

Yough pushed its advantage to 4-1 in the third when Novacek singled, stole second and third and scored on Carson Pasinski’s grounder to short.

The Cougars scored one in the fourth when Aird singled, Korvyn Johnson and Bizzozero walked and Johnson came around to score on Taylor Odelli’s infield single. Odelli added a base hit in the seventh.

Govern came out after the fourth inning. He allowed five runs (three earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and four walks.

Yough added two runs in the fifth for a 7-1 lead.

Southmoreland had an opportunity to get back in the game in the bottom of the frame with runners on second and third after David Billheimer and Govern singled, but Shoman buckled down and recorded two groundouts to end the threat.

“We came out flat and weren’t ready to play,” Southmoreland coach Al Govern said. “I could see it in infield-outfield warmups. It is as simple as that.”

The Cougars’ next scheduled game is Monday against Charleroi in section play, but Spisak is hoping to get some nonsection games in to have his team ready for the playoffs.

“We are going to try to get a game on Thursday, but right now, Monday is the next one on the books,” Spisak said.

The Scotties return to action Monday against Mt. Pleasant in nonsection play.

Tags: Southmoreland, Yough