×

Treese’s walk-off lifts Tigers

It was one of those majestic moments frozen in time, the kind that might play out during a made-for-television sports movie.

For senior first baseman Tyler Treese and his Hollidaysburg Area High School baseball teammates, it was a moment, and a memory, that they will cherish forever.

With Hollidaysburg and Central Mountain locked in a scoreless tie in the eighth inning of their District 6 Class 5A championship game Saturday afternoon at Peoples Natural Gas Field, Treese was looking for a pitch that he could barrel up against talented Wildcats’ senior right-handed pitcher Evan Watkins.

“I was just trying to hit it as hard as I could,” Treese said of his game plan when stepping to the plate with two outs and senior center fielder John Servello, who had singled, on first base.

Treese did all of that, and much more, sending Watkins’ low-and-inside fast ball sailing over the right field wall, just to the left of the corner 325-foot sign, for a game-winning two-run homer that gave the Golden Tigers an exhilarating 2-0 victory and the district championship.

“I wasn’t trying to hit a home run, but I knew that it was going pretty good,” Treese said. “It feels great to win it for my team after this long battle today. We’ve been playing together for a long time, and we always knew that we had something special.”

Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal was hoping that the left-handed hitting Treese could simply pull the ball over the head of Central Mountain right fielder Troy Gardner, but Treese provided the Tigers a bonus with the home run.

“He pulls the ball a lot,” Szynal said. “With a guy on first base, we knew that if (Treese) hit the ball over the right fielder’s head, we were going to win the game. He has a lot of power, and obviously, he got all of the pitch at a crucial time.”

The blast lifted Hollidaysburg to a 17-1 season record and a berth in the PIAA state-tournament play-in game against District 10 champion Erie Prep on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Slippery Rock University.

“I’m just happy for our seniors to win a district championship, and that they get to play another game,” Syznal said. “This group has worked so hard to get here. This was a really good high school game. All the players played well, and all the pitchers pitched well.”

Watkins displayed the guts of a war hero for Central Mountain, striking out for batters in nearly eight innings while spacing eight Hollidaysburg hits.

“Ethan is just a workhorse,” said Central Mountain coach Michael Kramer, who was visibly emotional after his team’s difficult loss. “I wouldn’t want anybody else out there for us in that spot. Ethan possesses the composure to pitch in that situation. He was getting close to the (new PIAA mandated limit of) 100 pitches, and he was still throwing well.

“I’m disappointed for him, but he has nothing to be ashamed of,” Kramer added. “He pitched a great ballgame, eight innings against a 17-1 Hollidaysburg team. I was proud of our kids today. They’re a great group of guys. It’s sad to see it end the way it did.”

Hollidaysburg’s pitching tandem of sophomore right-hander Sam Servello and junior right-hander Brenden Hileman performed just as admirably as Watkins, stranding a total of 12 Central Mountain baserunners over eight shutout innings.

Servello worked the first five innings, allowing four hits, striking out seven, and working out of jams in the first, second, third and fifth innings in which Central Mountain (13-8) put runners on second and third base each inning but came up empty.

Hileman came on in the sixth inning, and, after yielding a leadoff double to senior first baseman Landon Breon, Hileman left the Central Mountain courtesy runner on third base by getting Watkins to ground out to first and striking out sophomore left fielder Zach Eck.

In the seventh inning, Central Mountain loaded the bases with two outs before Hileman got Breon to pop up to senior shortstop Cory Storm to end that threat.

Mixing speeds and effectively keeping Central Mountain’s hitters off-balance, Hileman retired the Wildcats in order in the top of the eighth inning.

“Sam (Servello) did a great job keeping them off the board, and Brenden pitched well, like he has all season for us,” Szynal said.

Kramer felt that all the baserunners that his team left stranded tipped the momentum of the game in Hollidaysburg’s favor.

“Leaving runners stranded definitely boosts the momentum for the other side,” Kramer said.

Given new life, Hollidaysburg capitalized with Treese’s game-winning heroics in the eighth.

“I knew that Watkins’ numbers were good, and I knew that this would be a tight game,” Szynal said. “You just hope that you can come out on the winning end. The ending is something that these kids will remember forever.”

CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (0): Miller cf 401, Hanna 2b 100, Corl c 202, Lavelle cr 000, Carson ss 402, Stark cr 000, Houtz 3b 300, Breon 1b 401, Gardner rf 301, Watkins p 000, Prough dh 300, Eck lf 400. Totals –28-0-7.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (2): Storm ss 301, Peterson c 401, Hileman cr-p 000, J. Servello cf-rf 411, Pugh 3b 301, Treese 1b 412, Walters rf 000, Margroum dh 200, Stevenson lf 300, S. Servello p-cf 202, Nolan 2b 200. Totals — 27-2-8.

PITCHING

Central Mountain: Watkins (L) 7 2/3IP, 8H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4SO.

Hollidaysburg: S. Servello 5IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 7SO; Hileman (W) 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 2SO.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Central Mountain 000 000 00–0 7 0

Hollidaysburg 000 000 02–2 8 0

2B–Breon, Pugh. HR–Treese. RBI–Treese 2. SAC–Hanna, Gardner, Nolan. LOB–Central Mountain 12, Hollidaysburg 7. SB–Lavelle. HBP–Corl by S. Servello; Storm by Watkins. DP — Central Mountain turned 1 (Carson unassisted, Carson to Breon).

Records: Central Mountain (13-8); Hollidaysburg (17-1).

Umpires: Plate–Steven Keefer. First base–John McGonigle. Second base–Brett Hebert. Third base–Ed Parks.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today