Spartans rally past NW for D-11 title

POTTSVILLE — Northwestern was three outs away from repeating as District 11 4A champions.

But North Schuylkill, who won last year’s 3A championship before moving up to 4A this season, had different plans.

In the end, it was the Spartans who repeated as champions with a 3-2 win, scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh for a come-from-behind victory.

The two teams came into the seventh inning tied 1-1 with their starters nearing their pitch limits.

North Schuylkill’s Reggie Crawford came into the frame with 98 pitches, seven shy of the number allowed by the PIAA for a pitcher in a playoff game. Crawford used up six of those pitches in a walk to Nate Goodolf to open the inning. Rules state that he would be allowed to face one more batter, and he got Carter Welch to hit a soft liner to short where Zack Stokes seemed to pull off of the ball, hoping to play it on a bounce and get a double play.

The plan backfired badly when Stokes bobbled the ball and couldn’t make a play, putting runners on first and second with nobody out.

Brandon Rockwell came on in relief and walked Rafe Perich, loading the bases for Derek Holmes, who hit a flyball to deep center field to bring home one run and make it 2-1. From there, Rockwell walked another batter to reload the bases, but worked out of the jam without allowing another run.

“When it’s only 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh against a team that doesn’t swing and miss a lot, those runs that we left there in the seventh sort of hurt,” said coach Duran Porrino.

Rafe Perich was at 96 pitches and headed for the mound in the seventh hoping to close out the game on a minimum amount of pitches. Perich’s first pitch was lined into center for a base-hit by Zach Chowansky.

“We were hoping for a one-pitch, one-out type scenario to start the bottom of the seventh, but it was one-pitch, one guy on base,” Porrino said.

Perich went after Stokes, who atoned for his miscue in the top of the inning with a double to left, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Crawford was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Mike Little followed with a sacrifice fly to right that tied the score.

With Perich past the pitch limit, Vinny Castrine came on to pitch and issued an intentional walk to reload the bases. Unfortunately, Castrine proved to be wild and walked Jake Green on a 3-1 pitch to foce home the winning run.

“That’s the way baseball works,” said Porrino. “We wanted Rafe to finish it and get an early out, but it didn’t happen.”

Northwestern (21-4) had missed other chances in the game, including when it loaded the bases in the top of the first against Crawford and then saw its next three batters strike out. Meanwhile, the Spartans loaded the bases three times in the game and got a run each time.

While North Schuylkill (21-3) locked up a spot in the PIAA playoffs, Northwestern still has one more shot at advancing. The Tigers will play the winner of the Selinsgrove and Danville 4A title game from District 4 on Friday for a trip to states. The District 4 championship game will be played Wednesday.

“We’re going to be pretty happy to play again,” said Porrino, who said ace Carter Welch will be the starter on Friday. “Our goal is to play them [North Schuylkill] again in states.”

JUST LIKE THE OTHER ... Northwestern and North Schuylkill both rolled through the regular season but lost in their league finals. Porrino and Spartans coach Nick Brayford know each other well and have talked about the possibility of the teams meeting in both districts and states.

HOW THEY GOT HERE ... The Tigers trailed Wilson in the semifinal by scores of 6-1 and 8-3 Saturday before rallying for five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Colton Hagadus and Nate Goodolf each drove in two runs in the inning. Goodolf also scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh when he took off for third on a ball bobbled by the catcher and then came home when the throw to third ticked off the glove of the third baseman, giving Northwestern a walk-off win on the heads-up baserunning.

DRAFTY IN HERE? ... Crawford has been scouted by major league teams but Porrino noted that Perich, who isn’t even the team’s ace, matched him well throughout the game. “If Reggie’s getting drafted, I find it hard to believe that scouts weren’t looking at Rafe here today and thinking, ‘He’s only a sophomore and touching 90 [miles per hour] probably.’”

Northwestern 000 100 1 - 2 3 1

North Schuylkill 010 000 2 - 3 6 3

Perich, Castrine (7) and D. Holmes; Crawford, Rockwell (7) and Little. W - Rockwell. L - Perich.