Errors prove costly to California in title game
The demon that haunted the California High School baseball team during its first nine games of the season raised its ugly head again Wednesday, and at the worst possible time.
Bishop Canevin took advantage of five costly California errors – all in the infield – to score four early unearned runs and went on to an 8-5 victory over the Trojans in the WPIAL Class A championship game at Wild Things Park.
Sophomore lefthander Tyler Maddix combined with reliever Cole Olszewski on a five-hitter as sixth-seeded Bishop Canevin (15-3) won its 11th straight game and first WPIAL championship since 2000.
The Crusaders scored two unearned runs in the top of the first inning and added two more in the fourth to forge a 4-1 lead. California (14-8) committed two errors in the opening inning and three more in the fourth.
For California, it was a flashback to the first nine games of the season when the Trojans had a 3-6 record and were struggling to play clean defense, something that had been corrected and was key in their push to the section title.
“We had a little first-inning jitters,” California coach Taylor Andrisko said. “We talked about that on the ride here. We wanted to get rid of those and settle in.
“The errors were so uncharacteristic of us. The second half of the season, defense was what we hung out hat on.”
California played catchup all day but almost made it to the top after falling behind 7-1 in the fifth inning. The Trojans battled back and brought the potential tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, causing a few anxious moments in the Bishop Canevin dugout.
“For sure,” Crusaders coach Bill Varney said. “But (California) is the best team we played in the playoffs.”
Bishop Canevin forged a 2-0 lead in the top of the first against California starting pitcher Addison Panepinto. Two errors put Olszewski and Maddix on base and Mason Glover hit an RBI single. A wild pitch allowed the second run to score.
California, however, had a golden opportunity to wipe away the deficit in the bottom of the first as the Trojans loaded the bases with no outs but scored only one run.
Caden Powell drew a leadoff walk, Ricky Lawson doubled deep to left field and Aidan Lowden was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a popout, Kris Weston lofted a sacrifice fly to left field that made it 2-1. Following another walk that loaded the bases, Maddix got out of the jam with strikeout.
“This has been a unique season in that not many people have hit Tyler,” Varney said. “They hit him in the first inning and that put him in a different zone. He kept his cool, kept his poise and kept throwing strikes.”
After the second walk in the first inning, Maddix retired the next 10 batters until a leadoff walk in the fifth to Cam Script.
“After he got out of the first inning, Maddix settled in,” Andrisko said.
Three California errors – each coming after there were two outs and nobody on base – in the fourth broke the game open. One of the errors came when Kellen Andruscik hit a hot liner that tore the webbing in the glove of third baseman Chase Cicchitto and fell to the ground.
Aiden Didion had an RBI single in the fourth, which ended with Bishop Canevin leading 4-1. The Crusaders tacked on three more runs in the fifth on five singles.
The Crusaders ended with 13 hits, all singles. California had five hits, four of them doubles.
California got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fifth as Script drew a walk and scored when Powell dropped a hit into left field and the ball took a turf bounce over the head of Aaron Edwards.
Andruscik hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth that made it 8-2. California answered in its half of the inning as Cicchitto doubled to deep centerfield and scored after advancing on a single by Brody Todd and a Dom Martini fielder’s choice.
Maddix left the game after six innings. He allowed four hits and three walks. He struck out eight.
California made it interesting in the seventh as Olszewski hit Lawson with a two-out pitch and walked Lowden. Cicchititto then hit his second double in as many innings, this one into the left-field corner to make it 8-5. Weston then reached on an error, but Olszewski ended the game with a strikeout.
As the WPIAL runner-up, California, which has won 11 of its last 13, will play District 5 champion Southern Fulton (23-1) in the first round of the PIAA playoffs that begin Monday.
“We’ll bounce back,” Andrisko said. “This is a resilient bunch. We fought back all year to win a section title. We’ll be ready.”