Hit batter, wild pitch allows North Penn to score twice in 5th, rally past Liberty in PIAA-6A quarterfinals

BOYERTOWN >> There are easier ways to lose a game and have a season — and perhaps an era — end than to have the tying and winning runs score on a hit batter with the bases loaded and a wild pitch.

But Liberty coach Andy Pitsilos summed it up simply Thursday night after the Hurricanes lost to North Penn in 4-3 in the PIAA 6A quarterfinals at Boyertown’s Bear Stadium.

“That’s baseball,” the veteran coach said.

The loss ended a 20-5 season for the Hurricanes, who won both the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11 6A championships. Since losing to Hazleton 4-0 on April 24, they had won 11 games in a row, and rolled to five straight victories in the EPC and district tournaments by 10 runs.

However, they had to go nine innings to beat Avon Grove 6-5 in the first round of the state tournament and ran into another tough District 1 team on Thursday.

“They beat us today,” Pitsilos said. “They’re a good team and I wish them the best. It doesn’t make it hurt less.”

After both teams scored twice in the first inning, Liberty took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth when Tommy Mason laid down a bunt single and immediately advanced to second on a bad throw. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Braylen Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly to deep center.

But the lead didn’t last long.

A double by Jack Picozzi to right got the North Penn half of the fifth inning started. With two out, James Mangine was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kevin Brace was then hit by a pitch to force in the tying run.

Many of the Liberty players and coaches felt Brace had hovered over the plate and didn’t try to avoid the pitch that nicked him, but the HBP stood.

Ayden Zabala replaced Liberty starter John Galgon and his second pitch got away, allowing Chase Jones to score from third with what would prove to be the winning run.

The Hurricanes went 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth and got a sliding catch in center from Gonzalez to strand runners at second and third in the bottom of the sixth.

But down one, they couldn’t rekindle the seventh-inning magic they had against Avon Grove when they scored twice in the final regulation frame to force extra innings.

After two flyouts to start the seventh, Gonzalez worked a walk, bringing Canisius-bound senior JC Spinosa to the plate.

Spinosa, who had countless big hits throughout Liberty’s postseason run and had two of the Hurricanes’ hits against North Penn, took a big swing at a Picozzi curveball and couldn’t connect for strike three.

Though disappointed, the Hurricanes fans who had been treated to so many lopsided wins in recent weeks, stood for one last ovation.

It will be North Penn moving on to Monday’s semifinals against Philadelphia’s Father Judge, a 1-0 winner in nine innings over District 1 champ Central Bucks West.

“Liberty’s a very good baseball; they have a lot of weapons for sure,” said Knights coach Kevin Manero, whose team will play in the state semis for the second time in three years. “At this point, you know everybody’s good and you just have to go out there and execute at the right times. We needed Jack Picozzi to be real big on the mound today and he was big on the mound and huge at the plate.”

Picozzi, an Ithaca College commit, went 3-for-4 and scored two runs and drove in one. On the mound, he went all seven innings, allowing ust six hits, walking two and striking out five.

“I was just focused on throwing everything with intent,” Picozzi said. “I was attacking the zone, trusting my fielders and having the confidence to get every hitter in their lineup. After giving up two runs in the first inning, I just had to take a few deep breaths, just reset and refocus. It was a hectic first inning and I just have to give a lot of credit to our offense to get two runs on the board and it was basically a 0-0 game again. From there, I just had to throw strikes.”

Liberty scored just one run and collected only four hits over the final six innings. None of the Hurricanes hits went for extra bases.

The Hurricanes dugout was filled with emotion as the players cleared out for what would be a sad ride back to Bethlehem.

“These are great kids,” Pitsilos said. “They don’t mess around. They work hard, they play hard. They expect to win every time and we expect to win every time.”

Liberty will lose nine seniors who overcame 2020 when the season was lost due to COVID-19 and went on to go 65-11 over three seasons, win three straight division titles, a league championship, two district golds and four state playoff games.

“This was a special group and I love each and every one of them,” Pitsilos said. “I never prepare a speech for the last game and I didn’t this time. This speaks for itself. It’s hard. The Holy Grail is to win the last game and it’s you lose one game against a good pitcher and it’s over. But these guys will forever be Liberty baseball players and they’ll always be part of our family.”