Shanksville-Shade comes back to defeat Blacklick Valley for WestPAC baseball title

May 14—CRESSON — Despite losing by 11 runs to Blacklick Valley just five days ago, the Shanksville-Shade baseball team entered Monday's WestPAC baseball championship game with a renewed outlook and an underdog mentality.

Shanksville-Shade found itself down early once again to Blacklick Valley in Monday's game, but battled back to tally five unanswered runs and flip the script.

The Somerset County squad limited its mistakes and pulled away with five runs over the final three innings to prevail 7-4 at Mount Aloysius College.

"We haven't done it yet," said Shanksville-Shade sophomore Grant Boozer, who tallied two hits and earned the three- inning save on the mound.

"I think it's the first one for the school, so that's pretty nice to do it while I'm here, especially early in my career, too."

Shanksville-Shade (7-12), which lost 6-4 and 13-2 to Blacklick Valley this season, took advantage of four errors by their counterparts.

"We were excited to be here," Shanksville-Shade coach Luke Mihelcic said.

"We knew the tough opponent that we had. We had to come and give it our all, but we were excited to be here and excited to make the most of our opportunities. I'm proud of the guys for that."

Blacklick Valley (12-6) led 3-0 after the second inning.

The Vikings only netted three more singles after that frame.

"Not taking anything away from them, we did give them some unearned runs," Blacklick Valley coach Garry Wurm said.

"Even when we were up 3-2, there was just a feeling there that wasn't good. It didn't seem like we were very confident in ourselves. Then when they got the couple extra runs there, they were routine plays. You can't give teams runs in baseball. I think we gave up four unearned runs.

"We didn't hit the ball. We didn't get ourselves back in it with our bats. That was concerning."

Blacklick Valley scored with two outs in the second inning.

A two-base error on a ball hit to shortstop scored two. Jordan Kotelnicki, who provided two hits, delivered an RBI single to right field for a 3-0 edge.

Right-hander Hayden Williams struck out five of the first eight batters he faced.

Shanksville-Shade responded in the top of the third with a pair of runs. Christian Musser, who tallied two knocks, drove in Hunter Critchfield with an RBI single to right field. Braxton Faidley added a two-out run-scoring single to center on a full count to bring the Vikings within 3-2.

The game flipped in the top of the fifth. After a groundout, two walks and an error loaded the bases. Faidley hit a fly ball that hit off the center fielder's glove and allowed Jordan Young to score. Alec Thiele added a two-run single that shortstop Alex Reba knocked down and kept in the infield. Shanksville-Shade took its first lead at 5-3.

"Some aggressive play style by our guys," Mihelcic said. "They were able to stay confident, battle back and stay focused — everything we preached throughout the year. I'm proud of the guys. (They showed) mental toughness as we entered the middle stretch of the game."

Putting Wednesday's lopsided loss in the rear-view mirror was important for Shanksville-Shade.

"It definitely took a lot of mental toughness," Boozer said. "We hit the ball really well. Isaac (Jamison) threw really well. We just threw really well as a team. We played well in the field. We played a complete game. That's how you win games."

Blacklick Valley cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fifth. Kotelnicki singled and later scored on a wild pitch.

With two outs, Boozer's pitch kicked away from catcher Isaac Jamison, who retrieved the ball and threw to Boozer covering home plate. The quick relay made Collin Nedrich stop and try to get in a rundown. Boozer tagged Nedrich out to keep the 5-4 lead.

"We got the one run and made it 5-4, then their pitcher was a little bit all over the place," Wurm said. "Collin Nedrich was out at home plate there. I thought the ball got away, too. It did get away enough, but their catcher did a great job of recovering and getting him out. We were hoping he'd get in a rundown to get that run across. It makes it just a different look and puts us back in it. It didn't happen."

Williams struck out nine batters in 52/3 innings.

Boozer drove in an insurance run off reliever R.J. Bartoletti with a 10-pitch single that was grounded into center field.

"There was a couple I could have let by maybe, but I was just, like, 'I'll fight them off,' " Boozer said. "I just kept fighting, and I finally timed it up and found a hole."

In the seventh, Shanksville- Shade took advantage of another error in center field.

Thiele laid down his second sacrifice bunt of the game to move Faidley into scoring position. After a wild pitch, Jamison's perfect bunt down the first-base line brought in Faidley for a 7-4 lead.

"We played them twice during the season," Wurm said. "We just beat them last week 13-2. I knew they didn't throw their better pitchers. I used it as sort of a way to get some confidence. It might have worked the other way where our guys were a little too confident and maybe took them a little bit lightly."

Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TheWizOfOz11.