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Mistakes break California in PIAA opener

4 min read
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NEW CASTLE – Nick Damico had to be surprised by what he was watching.

The head coach of California High School’s baseball team saw his team that played strong defense all year commit three errors, saw a pitching staff that was so solid get knocked around for 12 hits, and a strong offense make one of the biggest running mistakes of the game to kill a late rally.

It all added up to a 7-3 loss by the Trojans to Saegertown in the first round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs in Mike Kirkwood Stadium at Neshannock High School on a chilly Tuesday afternoon.

California, coming off its fifth WPIAL title in program history last week, finished the season with a 20-3 record after allowing more runs in this game than the Trojans did in a game all season.

Saegertown (16-7), the District 10 runner-up, moves on to play Brookville, the District 9 champion Thursday.

The Trojans had to wonder might have been with a cleaner-played game.

“I see those mistakes in practice sometimes,” said Damico. “I was a little surprised by the defensive errors on the ground balls. We made mistakes on the bases that were abnormal.”

Maybe the first rumblings that this game was going to be difficult to win came in the first inning when Saegertown loaded the bases but failed to score off California starter Brandon Powell, a right-hander who came into the game with a 5-1 record and sub.-2.00 ERA.

Saegertown was coming off a 12-0, five-inning loss to Rocky Grove in the District 10 championship game. The Panthers were handcuffed by hard-throwing Travis Perry, who had 10 strikeouts in those 15 outs. But Saegertown head coach J.J. Potts said the Panthers had not seen such a hard-thrower as Perry.

“That’s our M.O. all season. We’re a resilient bunch of kids,” said Potts. “We got down early (against California) and our kids didn’t lay down. … Against Rocky Grove, we saw a 6-7 kid (Perry), who threw in the 90s. I told our kids, ‘You aren’t going to see that many more times.'”

Still, California had to feel good after taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Brendan Sheehan.

It didn’t last long.

Saegertown reached Powell for three runs in the top of the third and one more in the fourth before Damico removed him after 74 pitches and replaced him with Rich Stimmel, who lasted one inning, 34 pitches, and allowed three runs.

The key to the third inning came on two errors by third baseman Alex Adams. Both balls were hit hard and one glanced off his glove on a short hop. Adams was charged with a third error in the fifth that led to another Saegertown run that made it 5-3.

Saegertown stretched the lead to 7-3 by scoring two runs in the sixth inning.

California had a chance to catch up by loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Drake Johnson lifted a fly ball to center field and the throw back caught Jacob Swartz off second base for a double play before the runner on third base, Enzo Mariscotti, crossed home plate.

“That was huge,” Potts said. “It’s a big turning point in the game. You always tell your players, ‘Hit the cutoff, hit the cutoff.’ That’s a perfect reason why. If he tries to airmail it home, trying to be a hero to get an out that doesn’t mean anything, we never make that play. It was a huge turning point.”

Earlier in the game, California had a courtesy runner picked off third base to end another threat. Interestingly, the Trojans entered the game with 130 stolen bases on the season.

“It’s a crazy game but it was a lot of fun,” said Damico. “It was a great season. It was a lot of hard work. We don’t take that (WPIAL) title for granted. It doesn’t come around that often and I was proud we could do that.”

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