May 20, 2026 By Jerin Steele 5 min read

MONROEVILLE – Ryan Huey said one of his goals is to put a smile on longtime Fort Cherry coach Bob Sawhill’s face next week at the WPIAL baseball championships.

To accomplish that the Rangers first had to get there.

Huey played a big role in making sure that happened and he put a few smiles on faces Wednesday afternoon in the process.

That’s because the Rangers are headed to a WPIAL championship for the first time in 40 years and for the first time in Sawhill’s 38 years as coach.

Huey pitched 6.2 strong innings and had an RBI single to help the top-seeded Rangers dispatch No. 4 Riverview, 4-1, in the Class 2A semifinals at Gateway High School.

“We show up every day and put in the work to get here,” Huey said. “I’ll tell you there’s nothing more that I want to see than (assistant coach) Brad (Sawhill) and coach (Bob) Sawhill have a smile on their faces next week. That would be the best thing ever. We grew up together as a team and I knew this was a special group of guys.”

The Rangers (19-1) advanced to play No. 2 Neshannock in the Class 2A championship at EQT Park. It’s the first time they’ll play for a title since they won in 1986.

“At the beginning of the year we knew we had a good team, but we weren’t sure because we only had one senior starter,” Sawhill said. “This is definitely the best group that I’ve ever had.”

Riverview (14-8) plays South Side Beaver in the consolation game for the right to advance into the state tournament.

Huey had five strikeouts and allowed only three hits over 6.2 innings, but reached the pitch count limit with one out remaining. Riverview managed to get the tying run to the plate with one out, but Huey came back from a 3-0 deficit to strike out Liam Tomlinson to end his day.

Colton Temple took off his catcher’s gear and went to the mound. He got Ian Stempfer comebacker and tossed it to Blake Sweder at first base.

Then he and the rest of the Rangers went into a celebration.

“It was the nine-hitter, and he hadn’t had a hit on the day, so I was just trying to feed him fast balls and if he made contact, he made contact,” Temple said.

The Rangers got three runs in the first inning.

Temple beat out a high chopper to second base for a one-out infield single and Ben Demascal walked to put two runners on for Huey, who ripped an RBI single to right field.

After that the Raiders made some miscues in the field.

Huey tried to steal before Riverview starter Owen Metz delivered the next pitch and was caught in between first and second, but Metz’s throw to second base sailed high. Huey was safe at second and Demascal scored from third to make it 2-0.

Huey moved to third on a ground out and Tyler Wolfe walked with two outs to put runners on the corners. Wolfe stole second and once Riverview catcher Miles Duncan threw down to second base, Huey took off from third on a delayed steal and slid in safely to make it 3-0.

In the second, Nathan Wolfe laid down a bunt and ended up at second base after a throwing error by Metz and he moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Landon Trnavsky.

The Raiders opted to intentionally walk Temple with two outs to put runners on the corners.

Temple broke for second on the first pitch and the Raiders looked like they had it played perfectly, but second baseman Ashton Saunders dropped the ball. That allowed Wolfe to score.

“If we make those plays, they don’t score because they’re outs,” Riverview coach Bill Gras said. “We’ve practiced those plays hundreds of times and run it in games and got it perfect. We had it perfect today, but we just dropped the ball.”

Huey, a left-hander, did not give up a hit until the fourth inning when Miles Duncan hit a double to deep centerfield. Lukas Duncan followed with an RBI single to cut Fort Cherry’s lead to 4-1. Huey didn’t let the inning get out of hand, however. He recorded three straight outs, including a strikeout of Metz, to end the inning.

“The main goal today was to stay calm,” Huey said. “I knew I had it in me. The coaches were telling me to pitch to contact. I know we have great fielders and I had no doubt in my mind that they’d make the plays.”

Riverview’s next threat came in the sixth inning, but was thwarted by an unconventional double play. Huey walked the Duncans to put two runners on with one out. Owen Orbich hit a grounder to second and the Rangers got one out at second, but the relay went high over Blake Sweder at first base.

Miles Duncan raced home, but Sweder was able to retrieve the ball and fired home. Temple put down a tag and Duncan was ruled out to end the inning.