Hamburg wins first-ever District 3 championship with 7-0 win over Palmyra

READING >> Hamburg has its first-ever District 3 team championship. In any sport. Ever.

The Hawks finally realized it Thursday night at First Energy Stadium, when the baseball team delivered gold with a 7-0 victory over Mid-Penn Conference opponent Palmyra in the Class AAA championship game.

The final out — a groundout to Hawks’ third baseman Hunter Epting — touched off a wild celebration that won’t soon be forgotten in the small Berks County town tucked away off Route 61.

“It means a lot to this team, these kids, this community,” Hamburg head coach Nick Evangelista said. “Hamburg’s a baseball town. Hamburg’s always been a baseball town. There’s a tremendous amount of support in Hamburg for baseball in the community, from youth on up. I wasn’t surprised tonight to come out here and see this crowd.”

The story of Hamburg’s run to glory is that of underdog.

Unheralded as a No. 14 seed with eight losses in 20 games coming into the D-3 tournament, the Hawks were actually stealthy assassins lying in the weeds, steeled by a fierce season-long Berks League Section 2 race with foes Berks Catholic and Twin Valley.

The grueling preparation the local race provided served Hamburg well from its first district game, a 6-3 nine-inning upset of third-seeded Northeastern on May 24, and carried all the way through to the turf at First Energy Stadium, where senior pitcher Ryan Smith shut down Palmyra on three hits and 131 tough pitches.

With a gold medal hanging around his neck, Smith oozed the same confidence he displayed on the hill and his teammates did at the plate when asked if this postseason run surprised him.

“No, not at all,” he replied. “We were absolutely ready. Honestly, we knew that we could play with absolutely anybody in AAA in this district. This whole season, through the eight losses, (four) of them were by one run. … All we needed was for a little momentum to pick up. And we got that at Northeastern and never let up.

“We’ve had a lot tight, high-pressure (games) this season. We’ve persevered this entire district run and we’re absolutely ecstatic that we got on the roll we got on.”

Palmyra was not exactly easy pickings for the Hawks — the Cougars came in on a pretty impressive roll themselves, winners of 10 straight games that pushed their season from .500 mediocrity to a district title game and beyond. They were making their first district title game appearance since 2003.

“All good things must come to an end, for right now, anyway,” Palmyra head coach Tim Gingrich said. “Looks like we left too many guys on base. That was the big thing for us. And we had one bad inning. Can’t do that in a game like this.”

The result came down to one bizarre frame — Hamburg’s fifth. Locked a scoreless duel with Cougars’ starter Zach Yingst, the Hawks, from seemingly nowhere, sent 12 batters to the plate and scored six runs on five base hits, all the damage coming with two outs. From the bottom of the lineup card, Derek Roberts sent a two-run triple in the right centerfield gap for the first runs of the game. Four batters later, following Janson Youndt RBI single, Smith helped himself with a bases-clearing missile to the same gap, another triple, and suddenly it was 6-0.

But that wasn’t all. With Roberts perched on third base, Palmyra successfully pulled off the ol’ hidden ball trick when Cougars third baseman Brandon Charochak tagged out Roberts. Palmyra started off the field and reached the dugout, before the umpire reversed the call. Yingst was not on the rubber when the hidden-ball tag was made, which apparently is a requirement in high school ball.

“I didn’t even know it was on,” Gingrich said. “He’s on the rubber, we’re golden.”

The reversal was huge because Hamburg led just 2-0 when the Cougars thought they had a third out. Forced back onto the field to complete the frame, Yingst surrendered a single, hit a batter, then walked ’em full before Smith unloaded.

Palmyra had its chances, despite only coming up with three knocks. The Cougars left 10 runners on base, largely the product of three walks, three hit batters and pair of late errors in the sixth. But the three times Smith found himself in any sort of pickle, he struck out the final batter of the frame to escape it.

Hamburg’s journey continues Monday in the first round of states — another first for the program — with an encounter against Distrct 12 runner-up Franklin Towne Center. The time and locale of that game is yet to be determined.

 

District 3-AAA championship game

Hamburg 7, Palmyra 0

Hamburg –  0  0  0   0  6  0  1 — 7  8  2

Palmyra –  0  0  0   0  0  0   0 — 0  3  2

WP: Ryan Smith  LP: Zach Yingst

2B: H, 1 (Mike Procak)

3B: H, 2 (Derek Roberts, Smith)