Seneca Valley outlasts Butler on diamond in 2-1 win
JACKSON TWP — The staredown lasted seven innings.
Creed Erdos wasn’t going to be the one to blink.
The Seneca Valley backstop’s double to left center field in the bottom of the 11th inning scored the winning run in a 2-1 decision against Butler Friday evening. The triumph in the enduring tug-of-war for momentum set the host Raiders up for a potential WPIAL Section 1-6A baseball series sweep Saturday.
Both sides had only three hits through the initial seven frames as those on the mound shined through. Golden Tornado (9-7, 6-5) starter Madden Clement conceded just two base knocks and fanned eight in five innings of work, and SV’s Zachary Tkatch lasted seven frames and struck out nine.
“That was a well-fought game,” Raiders coach Eric Semega said. “Neither of us could get anything happening when we got people in scoring position. Plays were made on both ends and, to me, that’s actually what playoff baseball is going to be like ... That’s a great game for us knowing what’s going to be coming a couple weeks from now.”
SV (14-4, 7-4) scored early, tacking a run on in its half of the first after a misplayed fly ball hit by Hunter Troiano. That brought home Nick Parrotto, who reached on a free pass.
By belting a home run over the tall left field fence in the top of the fourth, Conner McTighe evened matters for the Golden Tornado. McTighe had three of his team’s four hits in the contest, with Liam McElroy’s single in the 10th being the only other one.
Andrew Lucas led off the fifth inning with a walk, then tried his luck by wheeling to third on an errant pick-off attempt shortly after. After some confusion — the plate umpire called him out on an impressive throw by the Raiders’ Evan Tomasic, while the base umpire indicated otherwise — he returned to the bench as the frame’s first out.
Tomasic had another crucial defensive play when he laid out to glove what would have been a blooper to right field with runners on second and one gone in the 10th. His throw to second doubled Butler up to end the threat.
“They did their job,” Golden Tornado coach Josh Forbes said of his two hurlers — Colin Casteel threw 5.1 solid innings in relief. “We didn’t field it behind them, and that’s what happens. We could’ve won this game, 1-0, but at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. We could’ve tacked on more runs and we could’ve added on.”
Butler has mustered only one run in 18 innings against SV.
A difficult play for Golden Tornado shortstop Lance Slater wound up with the winning run, Parrotto, reaching first right before Erdos’ walk-off hit. The inning prior, the Raiders’ A.J. Capizzi got on because of an error.
“Free bases hurt us,” Forbes said. “We gave away entirely way too many free bases, and that’s why they ended up winning this baseball game, is because we probably gave up five or six more free bases than they did — and that’s maybe even being generous.”
As for Erdos’ final trip to the plate, he said, “He started me early off-speed. On 2-0, I took the pitch. 3-1, I knew the heater was coming. I was looking for it middle, middle away. I got it middle and I drove it to left field ... I had that feeling I was going to get the pitch.”
The two teams will finish up their three-game bill Saturday at Seneca Valley.
Butler 000 100 000 00 — 1 4 2
Seneca Valley 100 000 000 01 — 2 4 0
W: Nick Parrotto 4IP (2K, 2BB). L: Colin Casteel 5.1IP (7K, 0BB).
Butler (9-7, 6-5): Conner McTighe HR 2-1B RBI R, Liam McElroy 1B
Seneca Valley (14-4, 7-4): Hunter Troiano 2B 2-1B RBI, Creed Erdos 2B RBI, Nick Parrotto 2R
Saturday: Butler at Seneca Valley
