MCCONNELLSBURG — Northern Bedford has experienced a wild 24-hour period from having its season initially ended last Thursday to finding out late Sunday night that it would be playing in the first round of the PIAA state playoffs.

Northern Bedford coach Ryan Cherry literally had to rally the troops back and try to get them mentally prepared to play high school baseball once again.

The fairy tale script was started with the announcement on Sunday that Southern Fulton, the team Northern lost to in the District 5 championship, had used an ineligible player.

However, come Monday night, less than 24 hours later, Homer-Center tore the script up completely and shut down the Black Panthers season once again by handing NBC an 11-1 loss in Class 1A action at McConnellsburg High School.

“It could have been a little bit easier having a little time to prepare,” Northern Bedford coach Ryan Cherry said. “But we played 22 games this season already, and we just finished last Thursday, so it really wasn’t like there was a terrible amount of time off.”

“Sure, thinking you’re done and having to turn around mentally and come back, maybe that was a little bit of a difference. But we struck out a lot, and we put a lot of (their) guys on base.”

The Black Panthers were missing only one player from their roster, but it was a big one as Kolson Feathers, the leadoff hitter and defensive outfield captain in center field was already on location at his family vacation.

As a result, Northern had to shuffle players around both in the field and in the batting order.

“He (Feathers) left on vacation yesterday (Sunday),” Cherry said. “We had no idea we were playing when they left. So, by the time we found out we were playing, he was already at his location.”

Northern Bedford closed the season with a record of 13-10, while Homer-Center advances to the state quarterfinals with a record of 14-10 to play MMI, a 13-12 winner over Fairfield on Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

“What those boys (Northern Bedford) had over there had to do was extremely difficult,” Homer-Center coach Scott Bauer said. “… They haven’t practiced and already went through the emotions of playing their last game. I applaud their effort. For us, we sent a message this morning and explained the situation. We were ready to go because we just prepped our team. My coaching staff did a great job of trying to find and dig as much information as they could (on Northern Bedford).

Unfortunately, Northern Bedford struggled on the offensive side while three pitchers combined to administer 14 walks and allowed two HC batters to reach on hit by pitches.

In the seven innings, the Wildcats had the bases loaded in five of them. Only one of those five — the sixth — failed to produce a run.

Meanwhile, the Panthers had six runners reach third base. Only one of those made it home safely as Silas Weitzel came in to score on a Tyler Kagarise RBI single to right field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

Starting pitcher Trace Baker was able to strike out three batters in the top of the first after two Wildcats reached on a walk and error.

NBC got its first two runners of the game on base as Jordan Free delivered a single to center then moved to second when Nevin Lloyd was issued a walk.

It was the first of only two walks surrendered by Wildcat pitchers on the game, while two other NB players got first when they were plunked by pitches.

Unfortunately, Northern Bedford left the two runners stranded as Kagarise grounded into a double play and Carter Watson grounded out to third.

“We had an opportunity to score in that first inning and we didn’t,” Cherry said. “I think if we would have scored there, that could have set the tone.”

In the top of the second, Collin Dunn reached on a walk, Connor Deyarmin got on due to an error and Chase Stroup was hit by a pitch. All three players came in to score as Brayden Rado bagged a two-run single to center and Nash Budner had a bunt single to give Homer-Center a 3-0 edge.

The Panthers were retired in order in the second before Baker shut the Wildcats down in order in the top half of the third. That would be the last inning the Wildcats didn’t manage to load the bases.

NBC got the bases jammed in the third with one out as Baker singled, Free was hit by a pitch and Lloyd singled to deep second. Kagarise struck out swinging and Watson popped out to HC second baseman Stroup down the right field line behind first base.

Homer-Center tacked on two more runs in the fourth as Stroup, who singled to left, and Rado, who walked, each touched home as Budner tallied a RBI single and Eli Turk picked up on run batted in on a ground out to short.

With one out in the fourth, NBC had runners at the corners in Zach Bowers at third after walking and Erik Swanseen at first following his single to right. However, Silas Weitzel lined out and Baker struck out to keep Northern scoreless.

The Panthers thought they got out of the top of the fifth only giving up one run as Dunn scored when Rado was walked with the bases loaded up. However, Watson got the next batter, Budner, to ground back to him and promptly threw to Weitzel at home for the force out and then the catcher threw it to Braden Zellers at first for what was initially called an out to end the inning.

However, HC first base coach argued that Zellers’ foot was on the outside orange bag which is designated for the runner.

After huddling together, the umpiring crew reversed the call and determined Budner was safe.

The Wildcats went on to score three more runs with two outs in the inning to push their lead to 9-0.

“In our district championship game, in the first four innings, we had two guys on every inning and we just couldn’t get that timely hit,” Bauer said. “So, it was just a matter of time. … We got the lead and our boys came up with some big hits.”

Homer-Center recorded just eight hits on the night as they took advantage of all the free bases.

“They put the ball on the ground and we didn’t make the plays when we needed to,” Cherry said. “That put the pressure on us for our pitchers.”

HOMER-CENTER (11): Rado c-p 221, Budner ss-cf 512, Shimko p-ss 402, Turk rf-c 411, Fisher lf-rf 500, Dunn 3b 120, L. Stroup pr 010, Deyarmin cf-lf 311, Zerfoss 1b 400, C. Stroup 2b 131, Sharer ph-rf 000. Totals — 29-11-8.

NORTHERN BEDFORD (1): Free ss 302, Lloyd cf-rf 201, Kagarise 2b-p 401, Watson 1b-p-3b-1b 400, Cottle rf 000, Snider dh-3b 300, Bowers lf 200, Swanseen 3b-2b 301, Weitzel c 310, Baker p-cf 301, Zellers 1b 000. Totals — 27-1-6.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Homer-Center 030 240 2 — 11 8 2

Northern Bedford 000 000 1 — 1 6 3

E–C. Stroup, Shimko, Free, Swanseen, Baker. RBI–Rado 3, Shimko 2, Turk 2, Budner, Zerfoss, Sharer, Kagarise. SB–Rado 2, Shimko, Bowers. WP–Baker 2. HBP–C. Stroup (by Baker, Watson); Free (by Shimko); Lloyd (by Rado).

PITCHING

Homer-Center: Shimko (W) –5 innings, 4 H, 5 K, 2 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 67 pitches.

Rado — 2 innings, 1 H, 4 K, 0 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 30 pitches.

Northern Bedford: Baker (L) — 4 innings, 5 H, 9 K, 4 BB, 5 R, 4 ER, 95 pitches.

Watson — 1.2 innings, 2 H, 1 K, 6 BB, 4 R, 4 ER, 60 pitches.

Kagarise — 1.1 innings, 1 H, 2 K, 4 BB, 2 R, 2 ER, 35 pitches.

Records: Homer-Center (14-10); Northern Bedford (13-10).