Baseball

Dragons tested, and pass, en route to D6 title

By Matt Michelone

For the Mirror

If you look closely at the 2022 results so far for the Central baseball team, they haven't played in many games that weren't decided either by the 10- or 15-run rule.

During Saturday afternoon's District 6 Class 3A championship, the Scarlet Dragons took part in just their fourth close game of the season, their second this month.

However, they remained on their path to perfection as the top-seeded Dragons pulled away in the fifth en route to a 7-1 victory over Penns Valley to clinch back-to-back district titles before 1,371 fans at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Dragon shortstop Jeff Hoenstine felt it was a great test to see how the team handled a challenge like that during the upcoming state playoffs.

"It was good to experience something like that," he said. "We're most likely going to see that down the road in the state playoffs, and I think that prepares us well."

Central had to navigate some early turbulence as the Rams stranded four base runners over the first two innings. Central benefited from three strikeouts from Devon Boyles and a pair of flyouts to Ty Helsel and Parker Gregg, respectively.

"We said from the beginning we pitch well, we know that," Penns Valley coach Rich Sweitzer said. "One of the keys was going to be able to score. We've got to put runs up, because they're going to. We didn't get some timely hitting when we needed it."

The Dragon offense was powered by Jonah Snowberger who got the scoring going with a two-run single in the bottom of the second.

The Rams answered the next frame as Ty Houtz smacked a line drive to left field which cut the deficit in half at 2-1.

Central started to turn to pull away in the fourth when Parker Gregg knocked in a run on a single to make the lead 3-1.

The Dragons put the game away in the fifth as Hunter Smith drove in a run to make it 4-1. That was later followed by a two-run double from Jonah Snowberger and an additional run scoring on an error to put the game away on the same play.

"I like to think our line up top to bottom is pretty solid," Central coach AJ Hoenstine said. "It's somebody different every game. The nice thing is these guys don't care who it is as long as we win the baseball game."

Jonah Snowberger finished the day going 2-for-3 at the plate with four RBIs. His brother Griffin went 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

"Jonah did a really nice job," AJ Hoenstine said. "He's been hitting the ball decent all year. We actually switched he and his younger brother (Griffin) in the lineup and Jonah said 'yeah, that's the best thing for the team, let's do it', and I tell the kids the baseball gods are always watching and they like things like that."

Snowberger believes that last year's elimination in the state postseason to their Blair County rival has served as a driving force for their success.

"Last year was the biggest learning experience," he said. "We lost to Tyrone (in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals) on this field.

"I think a lot of guys, that's still in the back of our minds and we don't want to be in that spot again. We used that as motivation for this year."

Central will now await a match up with loser of the WPIAL championship between Mohawk and South Park. Penns Valley meanwhile awaits the winner of the District 5-8-9 subregional championship between Bedford and Punxsutawney.

Both of these state first round games are scheduled for Monday, June 6 at a site and time to be announced.

PENNS VALLEY (1): Houser 2b 301, Welshans rf 412, Sweitzer dh-p 201, Lyons 3b 000, Brodzina c 300, Houtz p-dh 302, Greene cr 000, Miller 1b 200, Myer ss 200, Keith ph 000, Brooks cf 301, Thompson lf 300. Totals: 26-1-7.

CENTRAL (7): Kling cf 402, Hoenstine ss 302, Boyles p-rf 400, Biesinger rf 000, Smith c 411, G. Snowberger 3b 332, Helsel rf-p 221, J. Snowberger 1b 302, Bettwy pr 000, Gregg lf 301, Metzger 2b 100, Dionis ph 100. Totals: 26-7-9.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Penns Valley 001 000 0 - 1 7 4

Central 020 140 X - 7 9 1

E - Brodzina 2, Meyer 2; Smith. 2B - Brooks; Kling. RBI - Houtz; J. Snowberger 4, Smith, Gregg.

PITCHING COMPARISON

PENNS VALLEY: Houtz (L), 5 2/3 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO; Sweitzer 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

CENTRAL: Boyles, 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO; Helsel (W) 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO.

Record: Penns Valley (11-12); Central (23-0).