Dock Mennonite falls in PIAA-2A opener to hard-throwing Camp Hill

DILLSBURG >> Hard-throwing right-hander Luke Parise struck out the side in the seventh, applying the final, masterful strokes to a complete-game effort that led Camp Hill to a 4-1 victory over Dock in the opening round of the PIAA-2A Tournament.

“He was mixing up speeds so much. He would throw multiple curveballs in a row and then come back and put a fastball on the outside part of the plate,” said the Pioneers’ Nathan Lapp. “It was hard to adjust the whole game.”

A tremendous season came to a close for the District One Champion Pioneers. Camp Hill advances to Thursday’s quarterfinals, to take on either Masterman or Schuylkill Haven.

Parise racked up a dozen strikeouts in the victory, allowing just one run off of three hits. One was by Lapp, a triple in the fourth.

Lapp also pitched well for Dock, allowing just one earned run off of nine hits while striking out five and walking three.

“We battled until the end. We just came up short,” said Lapp, a sophomore. “I knew I needed to get something going for our team (with that triple in the fourth).

“It means a lot (to make it to states). It was a great atmosphere and it’s fun to play in. We had a really good season.”

On what was a scorching day on the diamond at Northern High, Parise retired the first nine batters he faced.

The right hander piled up four strikeouts during that stretch, giving the Lions a tremendous early push.

Meanwhile, Camp Hill bats went to work in the second.

Christian Doi sliced a double to left to lead things off. Then with two outs, Ben Tyler (2-for-3, RBI) sent a ball to shallow right that fell just out of the reach of the on-charging Zach Frederick, scoring Doi for a 1-0 Camp Hill lead.

Dock came alive in the fourth.

Nathan Lapp smacked a triple to right center, and with one out, Lapp scored on a line-drive single to left by Sam Laux.

Parise quickly buckled down, however, and retired the next two batters to get out of the inning with the score deadlocked at one apiece.

The Lions broke the game open in the fifth.

Camp Hill strung together two hits, a walk and took advantage of some untimely Dock errors to build a 4-1 lead.

Parise (2-for-4, run) got things started with a hard-hit chopper for a single, and Doi’s (2-for-3, run, 2 RBI) hit up the middle scored two. Camp Hill got its other run on a sac fly to right by Peyton Shore.

Catcher Jackson Thompson had a pair of hits in the win for Camp Hill.

J.D. Bennett had a single to left with two outs in the sixth for Dock, but then Parise retired four in a row to end it.

“It was a huge pitching battle and we just did not take advantage of the strike zone,” Pioneers coach Dan Galluccio said. “What it all comes down to is that we didn’t make plays. It was 4-1 and they had three unearned runs. It’s gonna be tough to win that way.

“(Parise) was really good. He was sensational. The pitcher-catcher combination for their team was great. It was hard to run on them and (Parise) got ahead and threw strikes. We’re young, so the future’s bright.”