May 16, 2019 4 min read

UPPER ST. CLAIR – For the second year in a row, Peters Township’s season ended with a first-round playoff loss Thursday at Boyce Mayview Park. The fifth-seeded Indians were upset by No. 12 Butler in a hard-fought 5-3 contest in the WPIAL’s Class 6A.

Peters Township’s season is over while the Golden Tornado will move on to face North Allegheny in the quarterfinals at a date and time to be determined.

“They out battled us in all aspects of the game,” Joe Maize, who just wrapped up his 35th year as Peters Township’s head coach, said. “On the mound, at the plate and also defensively.”

The underdogs scored first in the top of the first. With runners at the corners and one out, junior third baseman Simon Brown drove in courtesy runner Logan Koegler with an RBI groundout. The Golden Tornado added on in their next two at-bats. Second baseman David Leslie drew a leadoff walk and came around to score three batters later when PT dropped a fly ball off the bat of freshman shortstop Cooper Baxter.

In the top of the third, first baseman John Ryan Herold drove home Nathan Strutz with a single to push the lead to 3-0.

The Indians’ offense got something going in the fourth. With one out and senior catcher Dom Campagna, who picked up PT’s first hit with a leadoff double, on third base, Mark Lehman drove in the Indians’ first run with a triple. Lehman came around to score two batters later on a single by designated hitter Mac Ciocco. Peters had cut the deficit, but Butler had an answer in the next half inning.

With two outs and runners on second and third, Leslie singled in two runs to stretch the lead to 5-2. He finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and two RBI.

The Indians got one of those runs back in their half of the fifth. Senior shortstop Dax Ploskina hit a sac fly to score sophomore shortstop Logan Pfeuffer. The inning could have been bigger, however, as PT had runners at second and third with nobody out and only managed the one run. For Maize, hitting with runners in scoring position was something his team did well early in the season but struggled with down the stretch.

“Probably the last three or four games, for whatever reason, we weren’t getting that base hit when we needed it, and that was critical,” Maize said.

Anderson was the winning pitcher. He struck out seven, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits, walking three and hitting a batter.

Anderson gave way to junior Austin Rodgers, who earned the save after retiring four of the five batters he faced. At the time Butler head coach Cody Herald decided to pull his starter, he was at 110 pitches.

“He started the last hitter with 100 and that last hitter just kept battling and battling and battling,” Herald said.

Herald described his starter, who also played basketball for Butler throughout a deep playoff run, as a “bulldog.”

For PT, Tom Colcombe took the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

Offensively, senior catcher Nathan Stutz was key at the plate, going 3-4 with a run scored for Butler.

For Herald, the key to a long playoff run will be for Butler to continue to embrace their status as a 12 seed.

“Everyone loves a story about an underdog,” he said. “We have to still come out like there’s nothing to lose. We played (North Allegheny) twice. Whatever happened in those games happened. It’s a new season. Anyone can beat anyone at this point. We just have to capitalize on mistakes if mistakes are made.

While 2019 ended in another early playoff exit for Peters Township, Maize was pleased with how the year went overall.

“Probably the best word to sum (the season) up is one word: fun.” Maize said. “The reason for it being so enjoyable is because of the senior class. (We had a) great group of kids.”