Early in the season, it wasn’t working out for the Golden Eagles or Parsons. Tyrone was 2-5 and Parsons was scuffling at the plate until a win over Somerset in early April.

Parsons had two hits in that game and carried the momentum over into the Curve Classic where he was named the MVP of the tournament and led Tyrone to wins over Bishop Guilfoyle Academy, Hollidaysburg and Altoona for the title.

He never stopped hitting, and the Golden Eagles transformed into a different team and capped a magical run through the District 6 Class 3A playoffs with a 6-1 victory over Philipsburg-Osceola Thursday at Vets Field in the championship game.

“I started off the year really struggling,” Parsons said. “The first three games, I had maybe one hit. After that, I changed my swing. The Curve Classic hit, and I started killing the ball. I stuck with my new swing the rest of the season, and there has maybe been one game I haven’t had multiple hits.”

Tyrone battery mates Braydon Parsons (25) and Jon Stroup celebrate after the final out. Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers

Parsons led off the game with a hit and scored and then drove in another run with an RBI single in the second inning to put Tyrone in control early.

“I went with what one of our assistant coaches call the ‘choke and poke,’ which we usually do on two strikes,” Parsons said. “I do that all the time unless it’s like a 3-1 count where I’m looking for one pitch.”

Philipsburg-Osceola managed just one run on a third-inning RBI single by Fischer White off Tyrone starting pitcher Jon Stroup, who went the distance and allowed just six hits.

The District 6 title was Tyrone’s first since 1992 and only the second in school history. The Golden Eagles won a state championship in 2021, but they were the District 6 runner-up that season.

Tyrone leaned on four senior starters Thursday — Parsons, Owen Oakes and Brandon and Conner McClure — but Parsons’ thoughts were with a member of their class that wasn’t there — at least not physically.

“It feels great to make school history,” Parsons said. “That’s our second all time, so it will be nice to hang a banner. As a senior group, we wanted to dedicate this season and this District 6 championship to Kaleb Fink. He passed away going into our freshman year, and he would have been on this team playing with us. We want to dedicate this to him.”

Tyrone fell in the District 6 title game under coach Kevin Soellner in 2021 and again to Philipsburg-Osceola three years ago in a 1-0 heartbreaker in Johnstown.

“We were 0-for-2, and I said the third time had to be a charm,” Soellner said. “Obviously it feels great. I believe Class 3A is loaded. This is what we play for. We wanted this.”

Stroup also pitched in a victory over Hollidaysburg earlier this season and in a 2-1 win over Huntingdon in the District 6 quarterfinals.

“My mindset was to throw strikes, let them hit the ball and let my defense do the work,” Stroup said. “Going through that rough stretch earlier in the season motivated us to work harder, and honestly we just decided that we needed to play for everyone around us — the coaches and each other — and we have won as a family and as a team.”

Despite leading 2-1 for the majority of the game, Soellner was on edge as Tyrone left seven runners on base over the first three innings, including leaving the bases loaded twice.

“I said ‘I hope that doesn’t bite us in the butt,'” Soellner said.

Tyrone finally took complete control in the top of the sixth inning.

Colton Frye and Brandon McClure were hit by pitches with one out, and Parsons was intentionally walked to load the bases. Back-to-back Philipsburg-Osceola errors, including a poor throw home, led to a pair of runs before singles by Conner Zupon and Oakes made it 6-1.

“I thought we were playing with a lot of tension,” Philipsburg-Osceola coach Doug Sankey said. “We had some errors early and made some mistakes walking guys that led to big innings. We had a play at home on a force out where the throw took our catcher off the plate.”

White finished 3-for-3 for the Mounties, which defeated Tyrone, 7-2, in the regular season.

“I have been playing against Tyrone for 28 years,” Sankey said. “They are tough. They are scrappy. They don’t strike out. They put the ball in play and make things happen. Their pitcher threw well and kept us off balance.”

Philipsburg-Osceola will play WPIAL champion Ellwood City in the first round of the PIAA playoffs.

“I think we’re going to play well Monday,” Sankey said. “Everytime I have lost a district championship, we have actually made a pretty good run in states, but this was a tough loss, so you never know.”

Tyrone will host Avonworth, the WPIAL third-place finisher, on Monday and attempt to continue its second-half surge.

“It’s them. They feel like they can turn it on and turn it off,” Soellner said. “They work hard, and they just turn it on when it’s most important to turn it on. We haven’t told them anything different than we have all year, but they just step up when they need to step up.”

TYRONE (6): Parsons c 422, Bokulich cr 000, Stroup p 500, Fletcher cr 000, Kustenbauder cf 512, Zupon 2b 401, C. McClure 1b 401, Harper pr 000, Oakes rf 402, Plummer lf 310, Frye 3b 312, B. McClure ss 110. Totals — 33-6-10.

PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (1): Guenot 2b 411, Baughman p-3b 301, White 1b 303, Lamb ss 300, Yoder cf 300, Law lf 300, DeSimone rf-p 300, Matier c 000, Cartwright dh 301, Rafferty 3b 200, Lucas rf 100. Totals — 28-1-6.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone 110 004 0–6 10 1

Philipsburg-Osceola 001 000 0–1 6 7

E–Frye, Guenot, Baughman, Law, White, Matier, Rafferty, Lamb. RBI–White, Kustenbauder 2, Parsons, Stroup, C. McClure, Oakes.

PITCHING

Tyrone: Stroup (W) — 7IP, 6H, 4K, 0BB, 1R, 1ER, 92 pitches.

Philipsburg-Osceola: Baughman (L) — 5 1/3IP, 7H, 5K, 3BB, 2HBP, 6R, 4ER, 93 pitches; DeSimone — 1 2/3IP, 3H, 0K, 1BB, 0R, 0ER

Records: Tyrone (14-9); Philipsburg-Osceola (14-8).

Umpires: Kevin Campbell (HP); Nick Shope (1B); Klayton Heffner (2B); Nate Shope (3B).