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HAZLE TWP. — The only batted ball in the bottom of the seventh inning on Monday traveled 70 feet at most.
Yet, no one rushing from the Hazleton Area dugout was complaining after Logan Hearity’s infield dribbler was booted to allow Richie Rossi to race home for the only run in the Cougars’ 1-0 victory over visiting Central Bucks East in a PIAA Class 6A opening-round game.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of these guys,” winning head coach Russ Canzler beamed. “They just really showed who they are: a tough group of kids, a gritty, resilient group of kids, a team that has worked its tails off and been through some ups and downs all year, but has really come together as a team.”
The Cougars (19-4) proved that Monday, when Jonas Aponick’s three-hit pitching, their patience at the plate and making the most of their best scoring chance all afternoon enabled the District 2/4 champions to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals against Neshaminy, a 4-0 winner over Bethlehem Liberty, also Monday.
“As the game went on, I felt more comfortable,” Aponick said. “I’ve been in many of these types of games throughout the travel ball circuit and in high school this season. I felt I was getting stronger. I kept pounding the corner with my (fastball) and my breaking ball was doing its thing.”
Plenty enough to keep a heavy-hitting CB East team at bay.
“As a wise man in (former Hazleton Area teammate) Kyle Peters once said, ‘Your team needs only one (run) to win,'” added Aponick, who struck out six and walked three in seven innings. “You feel the nerves, but you know something big is going to happen in the end.”
With an 0-2 count on pinch hitter Marcos Gil Pena, one out in a scoreless duel in the last half of the seventh and the bottom of Hazleton Area’s batting order due up, extra innings seemed imminent despite Aponick’s heroics on the mound.
Neither the Cougars nor visiting Patriots (17-8) had a runner reach third bases to that point. Signs that either would break through anytime soon weren’t visible to the naked eye.
However, the thought that one of them might finally do so had spectators that filled the bleachers and lined the fences at Schiavo Field fidgeting with nervous anticipation throughout the latter part of the game.
Batting for center fielder Richie Rossi, Gil Pena fouled off two pitches from Patriots reliever Jason Albert, before taking four straight balls for a walk.
“I don’t think people realize how hard that is to do, to sit there cold, go down 0-2, foul off a few pitcheas and work back to walk,” Canzler said.
The speedy Rossi re-entered to run for Gil Pena, drawing a few throws from Albert to first until one ultimately got away from first baseman Colin Lynch to allow Rossi to scamper to second.
“My bat wasn’t there all game, so they had to pinch hit Marcos for me,” Rossi said. “I was so happy that he got on (base). I’m like, ‘If he gets on, I’m on a mission to steal every base and win the game for us. … If they know my presence on the bases, they’re not gonna throw perfect strikes. That’s just how the game rolls.”
Jonas Aponick flied out for the second out, but a wild pitch while Ryan Racho was batting chased Rossi to third. Racho walked and kept going toward second, daring the Patriots to get him in rundown so Rossi could attempt to dart home. When Central Bucks East didn’t take the bait, it brought up the speedy freshman Hearity., who bounced a 1-1 pitch into the synthetic turf that wasn’t fielded cleanly.
Game over.
“We’re a Cinderella story,” Rossi said. “There might have been some people looking down on us this year, but we don’t care what they say. We’re gonna keep proving them all wrong.”
Neither the Cougars or Patriots had many scoring opportunities Monday, as CB East’s Damian Frayne (seven strikeouts, four walks) was just as stingy as Aponick, giving up just two hits over six innings.
Lynch and Anthony Niro lined back-to-back two-out singles in the to of the second, but Aponick wiggled out of trouble by retiring Sean Hill on a popup.
Frayne walked a batter in both the first and second innings, but his first of two pickoffs got him out of the former and a strikeout enabled him to escape the latter.
Back-to-back walks from Aponick put Patriot runners on first and second with one ou in the third. However, he caught Clemson-bound Chase Harlan leaning off first base too far and picked him for the second out, then fanned Jack Mislan on a wicked slow curveball for the inning-ender.
“To go out there against some of the names they have over there and the numbers they’ve put up in District 1 this year and pitch the way he did and keep them off balance speaks volumes for Jonas Aponick),” Canzler said. “He’s pitched in a lot of big games in his life. I’ve watched him do it snce he was 12 years old.”
None were bigger than Monday’s gem that got a big assist from Rossi in center field in the top of the sixth. With a Patriot on first base with one out following a hit batsman, Chase Fulford hit a sinking liner that a sliding Rossi caught at his shoe tops. Another Aponick strikeout thwarted the potential rally.
“If that gets past him, we’re scoring our guy from first, but their centerfielder made a helluva play,” said CB East head coach Kyle Dennis, whose team was playing in the PIAA tournament for the first time. “We hit about eight, nineor 10 balls hard, right on the screws, but credit to them (the Cougars), they made all the plays.”
With it top of the order up, Hazleton Area had a chance to break through in the home sixth following a hit batsman and walk with two outs, but Frayne whiffed Shea Higgins on three pitches to keep the scoreless.
After Aponick retired the Patriots in order on five pitches in the top of the seventh, CB East brought in Albert to relieve Frayne.
Five batters later, the Cougars were celebrating a return to the second round of the state tournament.
“Hat’s off to everyone on the team that wear ‘Cougars’ on the front of their jerseys — everyone from top to bottom” Aponick said.
Near the other dugout, CB East players and coaches were coming to grips that the most successful season in their program’s history had come to abrupt end.
“It’s tough,” Dennis admitted. “It’s a special group of seniors. They set the standard for us.. They were the first CB East to play in June, the first to make it as high as No. 3 in District (1), the first team in school history to play the state tournament.
Many Patriot seniors played varsity since their freshman year.
“They struggled through so much adversity this year,” said Dennis, noting that a projected top-line pitcher didn’t pitch and all-Suburban One League outfielder didn’t play because of injuries. “It didn’t matter because these guys got together and they overcame all of that.”
So, too, has their opponent Monday.
“This time of year, it’s all heart and it’s belief in yourself,” Canzler said.
Game Summary
PIAA Class 6A First Round
At Schiavo Field
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST (0) — Moody dh 2 0 0 0, Muzsi pr 0 0 0 0, Behm 2b 2 0 0 0, Harlan 3b 2 0 1 0, Mislan cf 2 0 0 0, Fulford ss 3 0 0 0, Mutchler c 3 0 0 0, Lynch 1b 3 0 1 0, Niro lf 3 0 1 0, Hill rf 3 0 0 0. Totals 23 0 3 0.
HAZLETON AREA (1) — Hearity lf 4 0 1 0, Florentino rf 2 0 1 0, Martoccio 3b 1 0 0 0, Ledger c 1 0 0 0, Schmidt cr 0 0 0 0, Higgins 2b 3 0 0 0, Marino dh 3 0 0 0, Rossi cf 2 1 0 0, Gil Pena ph 0 0 0 0, Aponick p 2 0 0 0, Festa cr 0 0 0 0, Racho 1b 2 0 0 0. Totals 20 1 2 0.
CBE (17-8) 000 000 0 — 0
HA (19-4) 000 000 1 — 1
Two outs when winning run scored
E — Central Bucks East 2, Hazleton Area 0. LOB —Central Bucks East 6, Hazleton Area 4. CS — Harlan, Florentino, Hearity. S — Martoccio.
Central Bucks East IP H R ER BB K
Frayne 6.0 2 0 0 4 7
Albert L 0.2 0 1 0 2 1
Hazleton Area IP H R ER BB K
Aponick W 7.0 3 0 0 3 6
HBP — by Frayne (Martoccio), by Aponick (Mislan). WP — Albert.
