Tigers captures district title

ALLENTOWN — It took a comeback that continued into the seventh inning, but Northwestern beat Allentown Central Catholic, 5-4, on Saturday to win the District 11 Class 4A championship and earn a trip to the PIAA playoffs.

The Vikings grouped four hits and a walk to start the game and to score two first-inning runs. They followed that up with a second-inning run driven in on a long triple to left-center field by Justin Welch as Central Catholic went up 3-0. Three more hits and a Northwestern error led to another run in the third, and the Tigers were suddenly down 4-0.

Northwestern didn’t get its first hit until the bottom of the third when Brandon Mengel tripled to right with one out. Jacob Haas then grounded a ball to second that drove home Mengel to get the Tigers on the board.

Mason Vogwill came on in relief of Andrew White in the top of the fourth and settled in quickly. Meanwhile, Central Catholic’s Carter Welch cruised along and got a strikeout with runners on first and second to end the fourth and a double-play to erase a baserunner in the fifth.

Just when things seemed to be pretty comfortable for the Vikings, the Tigers bats went to work. Derek Holmes and Rafe Perich led off the sixth with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third. A fielder’s choice ground ball by Nic Henry plated Holmes to make it 4-2, and Austin Stasko followed with a double to put runners on second and third with one out. Justin Welch relieved his brother on the mound and got Vogwill to ground to third, but it was good enough to bring home Henry and cut the Vikings lead to one. Mengel then singled to make it a new game as the two teams headed to the seventh.

“I was just looking to make contact and put the ball somewhere that we could get that run home,” said Mengel of driving in the tying run.

Vogwill set down the Vikings in order in the top of the inning, and Welch got the first out in the bottom of the inning, before he walked Tyler Wiik. Holmes then followed with a line drive double to right-center field, and an intentional walk to Perich loaded the bases with one out. Henry stepped to the plate and hit a slow roller toward short that Carter Welch charged and attempted to make a throw to the plate for a force out, but the ball popped out of his hand and landed behind him, allowing courtesy runner Nate Goodolf to score the winning run from third.

“I just wanted to get to first as fast as possible. I didn’t know what was going on behind me, I just ran through the bag,” said Henry of driving in the winning run. “I saw the first base coach put his arms up in the air and start running to home plate, and everybody was running at me.”

Coach Duran Porrino watched from the third base coach’s box as Goodolf sprinted home and held his breath as the play unfolded. Later, Porrino, who had returned to coach the team after a year away, admitted that the expectations were high for the team and that was one driving reason behind why he returned.

“It was sort of an easy decision coming back this year knowing the group of seniors we had,” said Porrino. “We expected to be here, but it’s tough to win, it really is. To win three games in a week in tournament baseball, it’s emotional and it feels really good.”

FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME ... The win gave Northwestern its first District 11 championship since before any of the players were even born. The last Tigers’ district title came in 1989. Central Catholic was hoping to pick up their first ever district championship.

DON’T STOP NOW ... The Tigers get to continue playing with their berth in the District 11 playoffs. State playoffs begin next week, and Northwestern will play the winner of the District 12 championship, which won’t be decided until Thursday. District 12 encompasses the Philadelphia area.

MILESTONE ... Senior Trevor Schreiner lined a single to left field in the third to give him 100 hits in his high school career. The son of former Emmaus baseball coach John Schreiner, Trevor will play college ball at Lehigh Carbon Community College next season, and has collected 42 of his 100 hits this season.

Central Catholic 211 000 0 - 4 9 2

Northwestern 001 003 1 - 5 11 1

C. Welch, J. Welch (6) and Barto; White, Vogwill (4) and Wiik. W - Vogwill. L - J. Welch.