H.S. Baseball: Cody Quaglia throws no-hitter as Holy Redeemer moves to title game
May 25—WILKES-BARRE — As Dunmore batters either watched fastballs zip by or breaking balls bend in for strikes, Holy Redeemer pitcher Cody Quaglia moved closer to a no-hitter Friday.
The biggest obstacle was he was running out of pitches. He had just nine left per the PIAA rules entering the seventh inning.
Quaglia made the most of them, retiring the Bucks in order to complete his no-hitter as Redeemer posted a 1-0 victory in a District 2 Class 3A baseball semifinal game.
"I wasn't trying to think about it too much," Quaglia said. "I just wanted to get guys out, get guys to roll over. That's all I think about. My teammates made easy plays on the field. I don't care really care about any of the pitches or the no hits. The job got finished, that's all."
Quaglia finished with 11 strikeouts, which included six called third strikes, as he finished with 103 pitches. The Bucks' only three base runners came via walks.
The victory sends Redeemer (18-6) to the championship game against Mid Valley (15-7) at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at PNC Field in Moosic. Mid Valley defeated Riverside 7-6 in the other semifinal.
There was a caveat in Friday's win. Redeemer finished with just one hit — a single to center by Luke Kopec to center in the first inning — and struck out seven times against Dunmore's Jamie McMinn. The Royals had just one base runner after the third inning, and he was erased trying to steal second.
The difference was McMinn had control issues in the third. He walked three and hit Kayden Stevenson in the head with the bases loaded to force in the game's only run with one out. The Royals, though, left the bases loaded in their last legitimate threat of the game.
"We've had a struggle the last two games where we're trying to do anything possible to get base runners," said Redeemer coach Ryan Knowles, whose top-seeded Royals needed eight innings to defeat a four-win Lakeland team in the quarterfinals. "We worked good counts, but we just couldn't barrel the ball up, especially with the bases loaded."
Quaglia left the Bucks gazing at strikes as he was unpredictable with his fastball and breaking pitches. Dunmore hit only three balls out of the infield, including a flyout to center to end the game.
"He was on fire today," Knowles said. "He had really good pop, commanded the zone really well, had really good presence on the mound. And he had a great mentality before he even stepped on the mound today. He really wanted the ball today, there is no doubt about it."
There were a couple outstanding defensive plays sprinkled in.
Redeemer third baseman Nick Mazzarella made two of them to start the fourth inning. He made a diving catch of a low liner off the bat of Max Forgione and followed by fielding a dying roller and throwing to first for the second out.
Shortstop Jack Hurst also had a big defensive play with two outs in the sixth and a runner on second. Dunmore's Matt Iezzi lifted a lazy liner to short center field, but Hurst sprinted over to make the catch.
Dunmore's best threat came in the third inning. Jimmy Clark walked and then went from first to third on a sacrifice bunt when no one was covering the bag. Quaglia came back with his sixth strikeout to end the inning.
District 2 Class 3A Semifinals
Holy Redeemer 1, Dunmore 0
Dunmore'AB'R'H'BI
Stets 2b'2'0'0'0
Forgione ss'3'0'0'0
Iezzi 1b'3'0'0'0
McMinn p'3'0'0'0
Hoban cf'3'0'0'0
Cady 3b'3'0'0'0
Jaramillo lf'1'0'0'0
Clark dh'1'0'0'0
Yurko rf'0'0'0'0
Mizenko c'1'0'0'0
Totals'20'0'0'0
Holy Redeemer'AB'R'H'BI
Quaglia p'2'0'0'0
Gordon 1b'2'0'0'0
Kopec cf'2'0'1'0
Stevenson c'2'0'0'1
Kelsall cr'0'0'0'0
Schultz lf'2'0'0'0
Yakimowicz pr'0'0'0'0
McDermott rf'2'0'0'0
Hendrzak dh'2'0'0'0
Karkosky 2b'0'0'0'0
Mazzarella 3b'2'0'0'0
Hurst ss'1'1'0'0
Totals'18'1'1'1
Dunmore'000'000'0 — 0
Holy Redeemer'001'000'x — 1
Dunmore'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
McMinn (L)'6'1'1'1'5'7
Holy Redeemer'IP'H'R'ER'BB'SO
Quaglia (W)'7'0'0'0'3'11
