May 27, 2025 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

One bad inning in the field, and six of them on the basepaths, ran Belle Vernon’s baseball team out of the postseason.

Central Valley erased a two-run deficit by scoring five times in the sixth inning, and Belle Vernon self-destructed by committing six outs on the bases as the Warriors rallied for a 7-3 victory Tuesday in the WPIAL Class 4A consolation game at Washington & Jefferson’s soggy Ross Memorial Park.

Central Valley (13-11) moves on to the state tournament as the WPIAL’s third-place finisher. Belle Vernon’s season ends with a 16-8 record and thoughts about how it let one get away.

“We had our opportunities,” said Belle Vernon coach Tony Watson. “We made a couple of baserunning blunders and there were a couple of questionable calls. We didn’t have our A-game today.”

What Belle Vernon did have was a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning after third baseman Connor Bergman hit a solo home run to left centerfield.

The Leopards, however, had to replace standout pitcher Parker Lind because of the pitch-count limit. Lind allowed only three hits and one run over five innings and struck out 10. But he also issued six walks and Central Valley was able to grind out some lengthy at-bats, including one by Blake White, their No. 9 hitter, that went 12 pitches.

“Parker threw the ball well but he got into some deep counts that pushed his pitch count up,” Watson said. “Then (Central Valley) got to our secondary pitching.”

Lind, a Kent State recruit, entered the game having thrown 13 2/3 scoreless innings in the postseason.

“Our plan was to get him out of there as soon as possible,” said Central Valley coach Tim Bruzdewicz. “We were prepared for their lefty, but he’s a D-I guy. We were able to work some deep counts and that helped with that.”

Central Valley scored five runs in the sixth against Belle Vernon relievers Lucas Judy and Cole Matusik. And the Warriors did it on only two hits, one a hard-hit ground ball by Daniel McIntosh that rolled into the right-centerfield gap for a triple. Two walks, a fielder’s choice RBI-groundout, a successful squeeze bunt, a hit batsman and a two-run double by Will Ciucci gave Central Valley a 5-3 lead. A Belle Vernon error pushed across Central Valley’s final run of the inning.

The Warriors made it 7-3 in the seventh when Antonio Perri’s sacrifice fly scored McIntosh.

Ciucci was the winning pitcher, throwing 3 1/3 innings in relief of McIntosh. Ciucci allowed one run on three hits.

The Leopards had plenty of chances to forge a larger lead than 3-1. In each of the first six innings, Belle Vernon made an out on the bases, and they were committed in a variety of ways. Twice the Leopards overslid bases on the synthetic turf that was made slick by a light but steady rain. Another runner was picked off first base, another thrown out at home plate on a double steal, and another attempted to steal second base, stopped and retreated back to first and was thrown out. In the fifth inning, they had a runner on first base who was doubled up on a flyout.

“We’re a team that has been aggressive on the basepaths all year,” Watson said. “That’s one of the things that made us successful. But in conditions like these, the rain, we sorta shot ourselves in the foot on the basepaths.”

Belle Vernon scored in the first inning when Kole Doppleheuer drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on a Matusik groundout. The Leopards made it 2-1 in the third when Bergman singled, advanced on an errant pickoff throw and scored on a single by Seth Tomalski.

Central Valley, a team with 31 players on its roster but only four seniors, will move to play the District 10 champion in the first round of the PIAA tournament on Monday. And Warriors head coach Tim Bruzdewicz knows a little about success in the state tournament. He coached Canon-McMillan to the PIAA championship in 2018 and he sees one common trait between his Central Valley team and that C-M squad.

“We’re a real young team, and earlier in the year when adversity would find us we’d struggle,” Bruzdewicz said. “But these guys have grown up and they are believing in each other and what we can do.”