Upper St. Clair slips past South Fayette for WPIAL title
South Fayette beat Upper St. Clair twice in the regular season, but in the game that mattered most, the Panthers used some late magic to make history.
Tanner Schroeck hit an RBI single up the middle in the top of the seventh to plate what proved to be the winning run as No. 12 Upper St. Clair completed their improbable run with a 3-2 win over No. 10 South Fayette in the WPIAL Class 5A championship Wednesday night at EQT Park.
It’s the first WPIAL baseball title in Upper St. Clair history. South Fayette was denied its third title and first since 2018.
“It’s unbelievable,” Panthers coach Jeff Donati said. “I’m just so happy for our kids. We talked about this the entire offseason and they believed it. They stuck together. This is all about the kids tonight.”
Brooks York led off the seventh with a double off South Fayette starter Trey Skeen.
Skeen was then lifted for Evan Mizia, who got a groundout for the first out, but then Schroeck came up and hit a ball past his right ear into centerfield.
Schroeck had a pair of hits and RBIs.
“We talked about bunting there, but we decided to stick with what we’ve been doing all playoffs and that was hitting,” Donati said. “Tanner is the No. 7 hitter in our lineup, but he’s really a three or four hitter. He’s hitting over .350 and has been a guy for us all year.”
Upper St. Clair loaded the bases with two outs, but Mizia struck out Evan Smirniw to end the inning.
The one run was enough, however.
South Fayette got the tying run on via an error with one out on a grounder to short by Jacob Bostian and Colt Cloherty reached on an infield single to put the tying and winning runs on base, but Upper St. Clair starter Max Dietrich got a strikeout and a flyout to secure the win and finish off a complete game.
South Fayette coach Marc “Bubba” Snider credited his kids for their fight all the way to the end.
“This is the best group of young men I’ve coached in my entire life,” Snider said. “Nobody gave them a chance. We were picked to finish last or second to last in our section, but we just competed. All the credit to Coach Donati and Upper St. Clair. I have a lot of respect for him.
“I wasn’t good enough tonight. My kids were good enough. There were multiple things that I could’ve done differently in this game that would’ve put our team in a better position to win. I as the head coach take 100-percent of the responsibility for this loss.”
South Fayette swept Upper St. Clair during their Section 2 series in mid-April, winning 17-6 and 7-6.
The third meeting was ruled by the pitchers early on.
Skeen retired the first 12 batters he faced until Upper St. Clair finally broke through in the fifth.
Cooper Stutzman hit a leadoff single for the Panthers’ first base runner.
Skeen responded by getting the next two batters out, but Schroeck lined a single up to center field, which scored Stutzman to tie the game at 1-1.
Luke Marchinsky followed with a to right field and moved to second on a throw to third, to put two runners in scoring position.
Finn Baird, the No. 9 hitter, topped a slow chopper to third. Ryan Speer charged and threw to first, but not in time to get Baird, who slid into first base. Schroeck scored on the play to give Upper St. Clair the lead 2-1.
The Panthers tried to get another run across on a delayed steal, but South Fayette shortstop Bo Stover cut the throw shot and fired home to gun down Marchinsky.
South Fayette immediately responded right away by tying the game in the bottom half.
Evan Mizia led off with a double, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a single by No. 9 hitter Colt Cloherty.
The first run of the game came in the bottom of the fourth when Stover smashed the first offering from Diertich in the frame over the fence in the left-center gap.
Stover was halfway to second when he saw the ball leave the yard and leaped in the air in celebration.
Prior to that South Fayette hadn’t had much luck against Dietrich, who allowed a single and two baserunners through the first three innings.
He finished with three strikeouts and allowed only five hits.
“I got a text from him the other night and he asked me who I was throwing,” Donati said. “I asked him if he wanted it and he said yes, so I told him it was his ball. He’s been so good to our program and I can’t say enough about how big he was tonight.”
After retiring the side in order to begin the game, Skeen led off the bottom half of the first with a single to left field. Skeen stole second and was in scoring position with no one out, but Upper St. Clair starter Max Dietrich retired the next three batters to strand him there.
South Fayette again got a runner to second with one out when Luca Goia walked and stole second, but a heads-up play by Upper St. Clair shortstop Nico D’Orazio erased him.
D’Orazio fielded a slow chopper and alertly threw to third in plenty of time for Tanner Schroeck to tag out Goia at third.
Both teams enter the state tournament on Monday.
Upper St. Clair gets New Oxford, the fourth-place team in District 3. South Fayette plays District 6 champion Hollidaysburg.