With future looking on, solid foundation built
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UNIVERSITY PARK -- Carson Kensinger couldn't stand to watch the final moments of PIAA officials presenting Governor Mifflin with the state championship trophy Friday night after the Mustangs' 2-1 win over Hollidaysburg in the Class 5A baseball final at the Penn State University's Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Kensinger walked off the field, back into Hollidaysburg's dugout and held his head in his hands and let the frustration flow through him.
His herculean effort throughout the postseason had guided the Golden Tigers to their first PIAA championship game after the team had never even scored a run in two previous state playoff appearances.
But Kensinger, who earned wins on the mound in the District 6 championship win over longtime roadblock Central Mountain, District 8 champion Obama Academy in a subregional game and both Franklin Regional and Philadelphia Catholic League champion Monsignor Bonner in the state playoffs, came back onto the field for Hollidaysburg's final team huddle and then embraced freshman pitcher Vince Boland, who recorded a save and the final out for Kensinger in the state semifinal win over Bonner.
It was a passing of the torch moment for the senior, who like Boland pitched as a freshman in the postseason for the Golden Tigers.
"This team will be back without us," Kensinger said. "I truly believe that. I wish everyone here a good future if I don't get to talk to them again, which I really hope I do."
Being "back" now has an all-new meaning for the Hollidaysburg varsity baseball team.
Kensinger and his fellow seniors established a new ceiling for future Golden Tigers to look up to, and there were plenty in attendance Friday night among the nearly 1,000 Hollidaysburg fans who made the trip to State College.
Sitting in the front row between home plate and the Golden Tiger dugout were members of the junior high team, many of which played for the Hollidaysburg Little League team that made a run in the World Series a couple years ago and were inducted into the Blair County Hall of Fame recently.
Those players, whom many saw as heroes just a couple of years ago, were looking up to Kensinger and this current group and will make up a future Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal is looking forward to.
"It's really exciting," Szynal said. "We just got done with a week of baseball camp, and we have another week coming up. Even down to the little ones, they are really excited about Hollidaysburg baseball the whole way up from the Little League guys up to us at varsity."
Plenty of underclassmen who were already on this year's team will also be part of that future.
"There's a lot of guys that didn't get to play much this year that could have been starters," Szynal said. "They pushed these older guys, and we have a lot of talent in the program. We're definitely looking forward to next year."
Next season, Hollidaysburg will pack a solid one-two punch with Paul Wedel, who will be a senior and pitched an excellent game on Friday, and Boland, who was taking every moment in as he watched Governor Mifflin celebrate.
"It was really amazing and a great experience," Boland said. "I know all the seniors told me all year to take this all in and enjoy it, because we might never get back, but after experiencing this, I want to be back here the next three years. We're going to win one of them. We're going to be back, and we're going to win."
If Hollidaysburg does become a high school baseball program that experiences state-wide success annually, it will be this group that set that bar.
"I'll never forget these guys," Wedel said. "It sucks right now, but a couple years from now, we'll be proud and we'll understand how great this was."
With the support the community has shown and the level of baseball displayed both in this year's varsity postseason run and the Little League ride from two years ago, it seems like it would be a good bet that this won't be Hollidaysburg's last appearance in a state final.
Michael Boytim can be reached at mboytim@altoonamirror.com or at 814-946-7521. Follow him on X @BoytimMichael