Nativity wins first District 11 Class A baseball title after seven years of title game losses

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — When first baseman Brandon Smith caught second baseman Josh Kimber's throw for the final out, seven years of frustration exploded for Nativity’s baseball team.

“He’s been our guy all year and now, here we are,” Nativity head coach Ben Kreiger said about senior Nolan Ferhat after he pitched and tripled twice in the Hilltoppers’ 5-2 victory over Marian on Saturday at North Schuylkill High School.

“Sorry, I keep saying, ‘Here we are,’ but it’s overwhelming,” Kreiger said after the Hilltoppers captured their first-ever District 11 championship following seven straight years of losses in the title game, including last year to Marian.

“We’ve been preparing for this,” Ferhat said about the game and the celebration that followed. “I mean, since game one, we’ve said we’ve got to get ready for Marian. We knew it wasn’t a free ride to the championship, but we knew we did it.”

In fact, the Hilltoppers improved to 11-10 with their victory, so in an up-and-down year, Saturday was definitely a high point.

Using an effective slider that served as his offspeed pitch, Ferhat struck out seven.

After he gave up runs in the first and second innings on a sacrifice fly by Mike Gelatko and an RBI single by Cole Defrancisco, Ferhat struggled thereafter only in the fourth. Ferhat walked two batters on eight pitches with two outs, but induced a flyout from Rocco Griguoli for the inning’s final out.

“A huge shout-out to my catcher, Ethan Grabowski,” Ferhat said. “He’s our pitch caller. I’ve been pitching to him since Little League. He’s been my catcher since I can remember, so he knows my pitches. He knows me better than anybody else.”

As Ferhat settled down, Nativity heated up its offense in the third inning.

“It was a matter of time until we got comfortable, and we started clicking, and here we are,” Kreiger said. “And it just took that one inning when we could start moving that train forward, and it all paid off.”

A single by the eighth batter in the order, Josh Kimber, began a five-run outburst. A dropped fly ball hit by Ryan Grabowski put two runners on base and they promptly scored on Ferhat’s first triple of the day.

By the time the inning ended, the Hilltoppers got the first of Nolan Kokitus’ two hits and added a run-scoring single by Trey Keating and a two-run double from Smith. They batted around the order against Marian ace Brian Hinkle.

“One thing I can say, Brian Hinkle is, hands down, the best pitcher in the Schuylkill League,” Kreiger said. “I said it this morning on the radio and I say it again. He’s the best pitcher that we faced all year. He commands the ball well.”

Yet Nativity got to Hinkle, who matched complete games with Ferhat, who earned his own praise from Marian head coach Tony Radocha.

“He’s a unicorn in that he works quick. He’s around the plate, and he sets up his fastball with his offspeed,” Radocha said. “And we weren’t really used to that.”

Radocha said Marian enjoyed a 12-9 season despite heavy use of underclassmen in games, experience that he feels will be useful in the future.

“It give us a leg up for next year, and we’re moving up to double-A. We’re really going to have to take our game to the next level,” he said.

With Saturday’s victory, Nativity advances into the PIAA Class A Tournament.

“It’s a whole new ballgame, so we’ve got to figure out how to manage that first,” Kreiger said. “We will get there. We’re going to go through it and we’re going to put our left foot in front of our right and we’re going to continue working hard.”

After posting three hits on Saturday, Ferhat said, “I know it’s going to be a challenge whatever game we get to. Every district winner is good, but we’re ready for it.”

(Updated to reflect who threw ball for last out)