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North Star topples Tussey Mountain to earn 3rd straight D5-2A title berth

FERRELLTON — The runs came in bunches for the North Star baseball team in its District 5 Class 2A baseball semifinal contest against Tussey Mountain on Wednesday. The top-seeded Cougars scored nearly all the runs they would need in the bottom of the first inning to topple the fourth-seeded Titans 9-3.

North Star junior Andy Retassie hit a leadoff single off Tussey Mountain starter Camden Chilcote.  Senior Cayden Turner followed with a single of his own advancing Retassie to third with no one out. A stolen base by Turner put runners at second and third. Retassie would score the game’s first run on a passed ball that also allowed Turner to reach third. He would score on a Conner Yoder sacrifice fly.

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The Cougars led 3-0 after one inning.

Turner did not allow a Titans run until the fourth. With two on by way of back-to-back singles to start the inning, a catcher’s interference call against North Star backstop Braden Livingston loaded the bases. Tussey Mountain’s Aidan Lane grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Connor Jones came home to cut North Star's lead to 3-1.

Bryson Durst led off the fourth with a walk. Retassie, who finished 2-for-3 with an RBI, blasted a single to centerfield, which was misplayed, allowing Durst to score all the way from first to make it 4-1. The error also allowed Retassie to advance to third.  He scored on a Turner groundout to second.

The Titans put a crooked number on the board in the top-half of the sixth. Turner began to run out of gas, walking the first three hitters of the inning. Vance Kimmel came on in relief and was greeted by a Noah Lucko base hit that plated two Titans. That cut into the North Star lead 5-3. However, Kimmel would sit down the next three Tussey Mountain batters to end the inning.

North Star's Glendon Griffith singles during a District 5 Class 2A baseball semifinal against Tussey Mountain, May 22, in Ferrellton.
North Star's Glendon Griffith singles during a District 5 Class 2A baseball semifinal against Tussey Mountain, May 22, in Ferrellton.

The Cougars would get those runs back and then some in their half of the sixth. Following a Turner base hit and a stolen base, Yoder singled home Turner from second to make it 6-3. Livingston was hit by a pitch, and with two men on, Glendon Griffith brought them both home with a two-run single to give the Cougars an 8-3 advantage. Griffith scored one batter later on a double by Nolan Weible to set the final.

North Star coach Jake Klukaszewski had a message for his senior-heavy Cougars following the game.

North Star center fielder Vance Kimmel runs in to catch a fly ball with Glendon Griffith in pursuit during a District 5 Class 2A baseball semifinal against Tussey Mountain, May 22, in Ferrellton.
North Star center fielder Vance Kimmel runs in to catch a fly ball with Glendon Griffith in pursuit during a District 5 Class 2A baseball semifinal against Tussey Mountain, May 22, in Ferrellton.

“We need to finish,”  Klukaszewski said after the team finished District 5-2A runner-up the past two seasons. “This is the time to do it now. We got to stay humble, take it one pitch and one inning at a time. If we do that, we’ll be in the game."

North Star will try to capture the District 5-2A title on Tuesday against either defending champion McConnellsburg or Northern Bedford County.

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This article originally appeared on The Daily American: North Star baseball earns 3rd straight District 5-2A title appearance