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MARTINSBURG -- Jonah Snowberger found himself in a jam with the bases loaded in the top of the second inning of a District 6 Class 3A quarterfinal game Thursday against Westmont Hilltop.
The senior pitcher worked his way out of it, fanning two batters to close out the side, and then he and the Scarlet Dragons made the Hilltoppers pay for it.
Central scored 12 runs in the bottom of the frame, kicked off by a two-run RBI single by Snowberger, and the Dragons advanced to the semifinals with a 15-0 win in four innings.
"I've said that we need situations like that," Central coach A.J. Hoenstine said of high-scoring second inning. "We love having Jonah on the mound and he hasn't been in many jams this year. He got out of it with two strikeouts there, and their pitcher had a good first inning against our first four batters; there's not many better than that.
"(Snowberger) got out of that, and if they score some runs there, that's a different game. He got out of it and then we turned it up a notch in the second inning there and did what we do."
The Dragons (21-0) will host No. 5 seed Bald Eagle Area in Tuesday's semifinal game after the Eagles topped Richland Thursday night. The winner will advance to the district championship game and punch its ticket to the PIAA tournament.
In addition to his contributions at the plate, Snowberger finished his day on the mound after three innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. Devon Boyles came on in relief in the fourth and struck out the final two Westmont Hilltop batters of the game.
"We've had a ton of games where we get that big spark," Snowberger said. "We started off slow tonight, but we didn't let that hold us back, though. Second inning, we kind of used that energy we brought in from the field and got a hot start. When we start to get rolling, we get rolling."
Westmont Hilltop closed out the season at 6-11 after having a chance to jump on the defending champs early on.
"You want to get the ball in play, try and scratch a run across there, and (Snowberger) really bared down, threw hard and got out of that inning," Westmont coach Paul Knupp said. "Then we turned around and had a couple hit-by-pitches, couple of walks and just got ourselves into a mess. We can't give up free things against a really good baseball team like that. I think we gave up eight free bases in that inning. The result was a 12-spot, and that got us in a lot of trouble."
Now the focus shifts for Central to beating Bald Eagle Area, and Hoenstine made clear the ultimate goal is the PIAA tournament.
"You can get beat any day," Hoenstine said. "This is a good group we have, they know that and they'll work hard to get ready for Tuesday, but Tuesday's the big game. You win that and you're in the state tournament. Districts is nice, but Tuesday's the big one."
WESTMONT HILLTOP (0): Thomas p-lf 200, Hockenberry cf 200, Burnheimer lf-c 200, Amaranto 3b-p 201, Ray rf 200, Gyure c-3b 100, Rice 2b 000, Chiodo dh 100, Rozich ss 100. Totals --13-0-1.
CENTRAL (15): Kling cf 401, Hoenstine ss 411, Boyles 1b-p 411, Smith c 301, Fisher cr 020, G. Snowberger 3b 120, Helsel rf 222, J. Snowberger p-1b 201, Beisinger cr 020, Gregg lf 232, Metzger 2b 020. Totals -- 22-15-9.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Westmont 0 0 0 0XX X-- 0 1 3
Central 0(12)1 2XX X--15 9 0
E--Rozich, Gyure, Rice. 2B--Smith. RBI--J. Snowberger 2, Kling 2, Metzger 1. WP--J. Snowberger. LP--Thomas. SO--Thomas 2, Amaranto 0, J. Snowberger 7, Boyles 2. BB--Thomas 3, Amaranto 2, J. Snowberger 2, Boyles 0.
Records: Westmont Hilltop (6-11); Central (21-0).