Mirror photo by Michael Boytim Players from Williamsburg and Juniata Valley do a meet-and-greet before the start of Monday’s game at PNG Field.

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

Teams that end up on the losing side of a game don’t often linger around the field, but that’s exactly what the Williamsburg high school baseball team did Monday afternoon at PNG Field.

It was the first time the Blue Pirates have had the opportunity to play on the home field of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve.

Williamsburg used four pitchers — including seniors Dylan Hartman, Lambert Palmer and Liam McGregor — by design.

“I wanted my seniors to get a chance to pitch here,” Williamsburg coach Bob McCall said. “I was trying to get them some memories. They were real excited, for the last couple weeks, to be honest. I think I was even more excited than the kids were. I didn’t sleep much the last two days looking forward to it. We’ll remember this forever.”

The Blue Pirates came up short on the scoreboard, 7-4, to Inter-County Conference rival Juniata Valley, but the experience (and the many photos they took together on the field after the game) will stick with them.

“It was great,” Palmer said. “Everyone on the team was excited. We didn’t play our greatest, but we kept it close, and it was fun. It’s something I will remember for a long time.”

The Curve organization has always had a good relationship with area high school baseball teams and has held an annual Curve Classic tournament, but as the years have gone by, demand to play in it has increased.

“We saw that so many teams wanted to play here in the Curve Classic, and having only eight teams every year wasn’t really enough,” Altoona Curve general manager Nathan Bowen said. “We wanted to find enough spaces for everyone that wanted to play, and give them the chance to play. That’s why we expanded it to include the ‘Curve Invitational,’ a second eight-team tournament for some other teams to be involved.”

In addition to the two tournaments, the first which will begin Thursday morning with the original Curve Classic, games like Monday’s are also being scheduled and tabbed “Curve High School Baseball Showcases”

“A game like today’s, the athletic directors reach out to us letting us know they would like to play here,” Bowen said. “We try to play conference games, even in the bigger tournaments, and then we do our best to set it up around our schedule. We’re fortunate to have a two-week break with the Curve on the road so we can host more of these games.”

Juniata Valley has more experience at PNG Field with District 6 title games under its belt, and the Green Hornets are coming off a run to the PIAA semifinals.

“It’s great that they make this available to play during our season,” Juniata Valley coach Jeff Hensor said. “It’s great to have that opportunity just in case we get the opportunity to play here in the playoffs. That way when we’re on the big stage, we have been here before. It’s always special. I have 30 guys, and I wanted to try and get everyone in, but there wasn’t a chance for that today. It’s definitely special to play on one of the best minor league baseball fields around.”

Winning pitcher Trey Wilson and Nick Sodmont each drove in two runs, Bryant Allison had a triple and a double and Jake Johnson had an inside-the-park home run after being hit by a pitch by three different Williamsburg pitchers in his first three at bats.

“Everyone really enjoys coming out here and playing,” Johnson said. “It’s not every day you get to come out here and play where Major League Baseball players have played. It makes us feel like them, almost, and gives us a good feeling about how we’re playing.”

Juniata Valley and Williamsburg played together in a co-op in high school football season this year, and Johnson laughed when asked if he’d done something to make players from Williamsburg upset leading to the beanings.

“They all said each one was accidental,” Johnson said with a smile.

McGregor drove in three runs for Williamsburg, and Hartman had a pair of hits, including a triple.

“We didn’t play bad, we just had a bad first inning,” McCall said. “If we didn’t do that, it could have been a really tight game.”

Though the games at PNG Field have always been popular, hosting last year’s District 6 finals and several state playoff games there set a standard for PIAA attendance.

“We had three of the biggest crowds ever in the state last year,” Bowen said. “Tyrone and Central played in the state semifinals, the District 6 championship and the first round of the Curve Classic here last season, and the Southern Huntingdon-Mount Union game also had a huge crowd. There were close to 2,000 people here for that last year. Every seat in the lower bowl was taken, and we had to open the upper deck. We weren’t expecting that, but any time we can host something bigger like that, it’s great.”

WILLIAMSBURG (4): Uplinger c 410, Gorsuch 1b-ss-p-cf 301, Palmer ss-p-ss 300, Shawver p-1b 322, McGregor cf-p 201, Brantner 2b 100, Wagner ph 100, C. Hughes rf 100, Woodruff rf 100, G. Hughes lf 300. Totals–25-4-4.

JUNIATA VALLEY (7): Morningstar c 201, Rowe cr 020, Johnson ss 121, Wilson p-1b 411, Edwards 1b-p 200, Sodmont 2b 200, Hoover pr 000, Allison cf 412, Rodkey lf 300, Miller rf 000, Soder dh 101, Buckley pr 000, Beck ph 100, Couch 3b 210, Hearn ph 100. Totals–23-7-6.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Williamsburg 000 211 0–4 4 0

Juniata Valley 411 010 X–7 6 1

E–Couch. 2B–Morningstar, Allison. 3B–Hartman, Allison. HR–Johnson. RBI–McGregor 3, Sodmont 2, Wilson 2, Johnson, Morningstar.

PITCHING

WILLIAMSBURG: Hartman (L)–1 IP, 2H, 2BB, 2HBP, 1K, 4R, 4ER, 33 pitches; Palmer–1 IP, 1H, 2BB, 1HBP, 1K, 1R, 1ER, 28 pitches; Gorsuch–1 IP, 2H, 0BB, 1HBP, 0K, 1R, 1ER, 17 pitches; McGregor–3IP, 2H, 2BB, 2K, 1R, 1ER, 37 pitches.

JUNIATA VALLEY: Wilson (W)–5 IP, 3H, 2BB, 7K, 3R, 2ER, 96 pitches; Edwards–2 IP, 1H, 2BB, 3K, 1R, 1ER, 43 pitches.

Records: Williamsburg (2-4); Juniata Valley (5-4).