Knoch baseball coach George Bradley sent Dustin Montgomery to the plate to pinch hit looking for a spark.

The Knights senior connected on a full-count pitch that set Kelly Automotive Park on fire. Montgomery sent Mars senior pitcher Matt Derouin's offering over the 352-foot marker on the right-center field wall, giving Knoch a 5-4 walk-off Section 5-AAA win Friday afternoon.

“I just took off running,” Montgomery said. “I was hoping to go three (bases). It was the best feeling in the world.”

With Knoch's depth, Montgomery hasn't had many at-bats in the first nine games. The home run was on Montgomery's fifth attempt of the season.

It was his second hit, Montgomery also doubled Wednesday in the Knights' 3-1 win over Ellwood City.

Montgomery's moment was something Bradley felt coming.

“I told him he was going to be a hero someday,” Bradley said. “We haven't been able to get him in the starting lineup because this team has a lot of good kids from one clear down to 19. There are kids sitting on the bench, God bless them, and they aren't getting upset. They are pulling as a team. A lot of these kids would be start on other teams.”

Knights senior relief pitcher Chris Law had to pull himself together in the top of the seventh inning. His first pitch bounced 10 feet in front of the plate. Law ended up walking Anthony Michalski, who moved to second on a bunt by Dave Anderson.

Law intentionally walked Ty Reginelli, putting runners on first and second with the game tied at 4.

“I just took a breath really,” Law said. “I pray to my grandfather up in the sky and I always go to him. I beared down and knew this would be a big win for us and I had to come up big for my team.”

Law got the outs he needed. Ryan Leshinsky and Zarek Simkovich flew out to the end the inning.

Breathing exercises have helped Law settle down.

“We've spent quite a bit of time on that, actually,” Bradley said. “Our kids were yelling to him from the bench 'Go green,' we have some buzz words and so forth. This is a real rivalry. I can understand why he was excited.”

The win was the fifth straight for the Knights (8-1, 5-1).

Knoch built a 3-0 lead by plating a run in each of the first three innings.

Cole Shinsky, Joel Zacherl and Jordan Kowalski all drove in runs for the Knights.

Shinsky pitched the first six innings for Knoch, striking out eight batters to earn a no-decision.

Behind 3-1 entering the top of the fifth, Mars (5-5, 3-2) started to figure out Shinsky. Cam Marshall and Michalski opened with singles. After an Anderson bunt, Reginelli tied the game with a two-run double off the wall.

Leshinsky singled and Simkovich hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Reginelli to put the Planets ahead 4-3.

“Early on, we were swinging at a lot of breaking balls early in the count,” Mars coach Andy Bednar said. “We got more fastballs when we took that first pitch and got better swings on Shinsky.”

Knoch answered when Dominic Bucko and Law opened the bottom of the fifth with singles, chasing Anderson.

Bucko scored when Shinsky hit a sacrifice fly to collect his second RBI.

The win was the fifth straight for the Knights, who are now entrenched in second place in the section behind Deer Lakes.

“It's going to boost us up,” Law said. “We just need to settle down and go at every batter one-by-one.”

Montgomery took advantage of his one at-bat.

He's going to keep looking for opportunities.

Even if the ones he creates catch himself by surprise.

“I've never hit one out of here before,” Montgomery said. “I just came up trying to get on base in the bottom of the seventh because we needed a baserunner to go ahead.”

Mars 000 130 0 — 4 7 0

Knoch 111 010 1 — 5 9 0

W: Chris Law 1IP (0K, 2BB). L: Matt Derouin 2IP (1K, 0BB).

Mars (5-5, 3-2):Zarek Simkovich 1B 3B RBI, Matt Derouin 1B RBI, Anthony Michalski 1B 2B, Cam Marshall 1B, Ty Reginelli 2B 2 RBI, Ryan Leshinsky 1B.

Knoch (8-1, 5-1):Dustin Montgomery HR RBI, Chris Law 2-1B, Cole Shinsky 2B 2 RBI, Joel Zacherl RBI, Garrett Traggiai 1B, Dominic Bucko 1B

Monday: Hampton at Knoch; Montour at Mars