The Montour Spartans will have their collective hands full when they make their 2025 WPIAL Class 5A Baseball Tournament debut Wednesday night against Shaler.
The Titans were in the running for the tournament’s top seed until losing to Mars in walk-off fashion last week, but they still ended up the third seed behind No. 1 Pine-Richland and No. 2 Plum.
Montour, meanwhile, enters Wednesday’s 7 p.m. game at North Allegheny High School as the No. 14 seed. That’s just about where Spartans coach Bob Janeda figured his team would end up, based on its overall record and where it finished in the section.
“We hoped to get a little higher seed,” Janeda said after watching the Spartans go 12-8 overall and 6-4 in Section 4, tied with Connellsville for third place behind Thomas Jefferson and Baldwin. “But we’re not disappointed.”
The Spartans are in their first season at the Class 5A level after a run of major success in Class 4A. Montour was the No.1 tournament seed in three of its four years at the Class 4A level, won four straight section titles at that level and went 40-4 over those four seasons.
The Spartans also won the PIAA championship in 2022.
“That’s one thing we’re proud of,” Janeda said of his team’s run at Class 4A. “We have a culture of winning for sure. The players know that and feel that.”
In Janeda’s opinion, Class 5A is the toughest of the WPIAL’s six classifications. “It’s a grind,” he said. “There are a lot of good teams, and we knew it was going to be tough.”
Montour got off to a rough start, winning just one of its first six games before turning things around.
“We lost two one-run games to Connellsville in our first series,” he said. “I would have liked to have gotten a split.”
The Spartans then lost 1-0 to Thomas Jefferson, which is seeded No. 5 in the tournament, before coming back to beat the Jaguars, 2-1.
Montour got hot down the stretch, winning 11 of its last 14 games. Janeda attributed the turnaround to a young team simply maturing as the season progressed.
The Spartans start just two seniors – catcher Ryan Gamble and left fielder Andrew Porto. The team’s top two pitchers, Matteo Weber and Michael Ivanoff, are both juniors, and underclassmen dot the lineup card on most days.
Ivanoff and Weber are the Spartans’ steadiest players, with Ivanoff playing second base or serving as designated hitter when he’s not pitching. Weber also serves as DH and plays center field when he’s not on the mound.
“They’re really key contributors offensively and on the mound,” Janeda said of the two juniors. “They’re our strongest players.”
Montour also has a couple of sophomores who’ve been key contributors in outfielders Zander Stern and Dalton Young.
Janeda by no means is conceding anything to Shaler, despite the disparity in the seeding numbers. “Never say never,” he said. “That’s why they play the game.”
But Janeda acknowledges that he’s excited about what lies ahead beyond this season.
“We have a very young team, and that should mean good news for next year,” he said.
“The future looks bright.”
WPIAL POSTPONEMENTS
All three WPIAL baseball and softball tournament games scheduled for Tuesday were postponed because of rain, and they’ll be played Thursday.
In the Class 1A baseball tournament, two-time defending WPIAL champion Bishop Canevin takes on Rochester at 6:30 p.m. at Burkett Park in Robinson.
The Crusaders enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed while Rochester is seeded No. 13 in the 13-team field. Bishop Canevin has an overall record of 10-6 and went 8-2 in Section 3, good for a share of the title with top tournament seed Serra Catholic and No. 2 seed Eden Christian.
In Class 1A softball, 10th-seeded Cornell plays No. 7 Serra Catholic at 3 p.m. Thursday at Montour High School. Cornell enters tournament play 7-7 while Serra Catholic is 12-5 overall.
The top three finishers in the 13-team field move on to the PIAA tournament.
In Class 2A softball, No. 9 seed Our Lady of the Sacred Heart battles eighth-seeded Apollo-Ridge at 3 p.m. Thursday at Fox Chapel High School.
OLSH has a 9-6 overall record and Apollo Ridge is 13-4.
The top four finishers in the Class 2A tournament earn berths in the PIAA tournament.
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