Montour’s bid for a miracle comeback win came up 90 feet short Thursday.
Brooks York’s two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning propelled Upper St. Clair to a wild 13-10 victory over the Spartans in a WPIAL Class 5A semifinal baseball game played at Peterswood Park in Peters Township.
Montour, trailing 10-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, scored nine times to tie the game and had the winning run on third base with two outs but could not bring him home.
As a result, Upper St. Clair — which was seeded 12th in the 16-team tournament — advances to play South Fayette for the WPIAL title either Tuesday, May 26, or Wednesday, May 27, at EQT Park.
Montour will take on Thomas Jefferson, which lost 4-3 to South Fayette in Thursday’s other semifinal game, for third place either Tuesday or Wednesday at Ross Memorial Park on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College.
The outcome of that game will determine seeding for the PIAA Tournament, as the Spartans are guaranteed a spot there regardless of what happens. State tournament play starts Monday, June 1.
Montour coach Bob Janeda, whose team reached the semifinals for the first time as a Class 5A school, said the Spartans didn’t play well at all in Thursday’s loss to Upper St. Clair.
“We made three errors along with a couple mental errors,” he said. “And you can’t afford to do that in a WPIAL semifinal.”
Montour, seeded eighth in the tournament, saw an early 1-0 lead crumble in the middle innings as Upper St. Clair tied the score with a run in the fourth then erupted for five runs in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead.
The Panthers added a run in the sixth and three more in the seventh to build what looked like an insurmountable 10-1 lead heading into the bottom of the inning.
But Montour sent 15 batters to the plate in the seventh and scored nine times to tie the game at 10-10.
The Spartans’ first three runs scored on bases-loaded walks, which made it 10-4, and Dalton Young’s sacrifice fly cut the deficit to 10-5. Sal Magliocco followed with an RBI single, another bases-loaded walk made it 10-7 and Zachary Ciamacco’s run-scoring single pulled Montour to within 10-8.
The Spartans made it a one-run game when Magliocco scored on a fielder’s choice, and Caleb Armbruster drove home the tying run with a base hit. Montour had the winning run at third with two outs, but could not cash it in, and the game went to extra innings.
Upper St. Clair wasted no time taking the lead in the eighth, as York clubbed his two-run homer following a hit batsman. Nico D’Orazio capped the scoring with an RBI double.
Montour managed one base runner in the bottom of eighth – Magliocco’s two-out single – but could not score.
“I was very proud of how we fought back and didn’t quit,” Janeda said of his team. “What stings is we had the winning run 90 feet away in the bottom of the seventh.”
Janeda said his team knew Upper St. Clair’s bullpen was a bit thin but Panthers starter Max Dietrick bailed his team out by getting into the seventh inning. He allowed nine hits and three runs – two earned – while walking two and striking out three.
“We couldn’t knock their starter out until the seventh,” Janeda said. “He threw a nice game, but once we got to the bullpen, we had success.”
Both teams pounded out 15 hits in the game. Ciamacco and Magliocco each finished with three for Montour while Armbruster, Matteo Weber and Tyler Puffer each contributed two.
Montour took advantage of an Upper St. Clair miscue to score the game’s first run.
With two outs and no one on base in the bottom of the second, Magliocco doubled to left, advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw by Dietrick and came around to score on a wild pitch.
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