Oley Valley gets revenge on Camp Hill, makes District 3-AA final

EPHRATA >> The “Revenge Tour” is complete.

With it comes much more than just revenge for the Oley Valley baseball team.

In the Lynx’ District 3 Class AA baseball semifinal against Camp Hill, also known as the team that denied them the district championship a year ago, they got a gritty complete-game pitching effort from senior Matt Fisher and the plate discipline to score two runs on bases-loaded walks in the sixth inning en route to a 2-0 victory at Ephrata’s War Memorial Field.

“At the beginning of the season, we talked about having a ‘revenge tour’ where we wanted to have an opportunity to beat the teams that beat us last year. And this was the culmination,” Oley coach Rick Harrison said. “Officially after (Tuesday) we beat every team that beat us last year.”

The No. 1 seed Lynx are officially destined for the District 3-AA championship game – set for Tuesday against Lancaster Catholic at a site and time to be determined – and the PIAA Class AA championships by virtue of making the final.

Catcher Tyler Wentzel was 1-for-2 and scored the winning run and Nate Christman was 2-for-2 with a stolen base to lead Oley at the plate.

It was all the sweeter coming against a Camp Hill team that ended Oley’s season, 2-1 in 15 innings in last year’s semifinals.

“I wanted a rematch against them. It stayed with us a long time,” Fisher said “When we heard that they were a possibility we started talking about it and planning for it.”

It was far from simple against the reigning District 3 champs as Fisher (7 innings, five hits, seven strikeouts) and Camp Hill starter, sophomore Wyatt Beddow, both successfully avoided the big inning while occasionally working out of some dicey spots.

Fisher worked out a jam of runners on second and third with one out in the second, then in the sixth, scored back-to-back strikeouts with the bases loaded to give the Lynx a massive lift.

“It was intense. I was pumped after (Fisher) got that strikeout,” Oley’s Tyler Wentzel said. “I knew he would come through; he always does.

“You could definitely feel the momentum shift after he got that strikeout. It was a huge lift.”

Oley hadn’t exactly capitalized on its opportunities, squandering a golden opportunity in the fourth with Wentzel (single) and Nate Christman (single) on second and third with one out.

Scoreless going into the bottom of the sixth, Oley could be forgiven for any flashbacks of last year’s marathon.

“The way it was going it very easily could have gone that way,” Harrison said. “But with the depth of our pitching I was confident even if it went to extras that we would have been able to win it.”

But Oley’s disciplined approach finally paid off in the sixth.

Wentzel reached on an error, Pete Vaccaro singled and Christman walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Gavin Blankenbiller worked a walk to score Wentzel and break the deadlock plus chase Beddow (5 2/3 innings, five hits, seven strikeouts, four walks). Reliever Jack Dunphy had the same result to his first batter, Brandt Schlegel walking to score Vaccaro.

“You could tell (Beddow) was getting rattled and that definitely put a spark in us to stay disciplined and take the walks,” Wentzel said.

The 2-0 lead was plenty for Fisher, who got stronger as the game progressed and went 1-2-3 in the seventh for the win.

“It was a great feeling. After they beat us in 15 innings last year, winning here was great. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Wentzel said.

“Going in we wanted to take pitches, get his pitch count up and hopefully stay in the game defensively and give ourselves a chance to win at the end. Actually, it really worked out perfectly,” Harrison said. “He got a little tired, walked a few guys and we were able to push a few runs across late.

“That whole game plan doesn’t work if Fisher isn’t on his game and keeps us in it like he did.”