Central Catholic Shuts Out Norwin for First WPIAL Baseball Crown

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, May 27, 2015 | 10:12 PM

For the first time in school history, Pittsburgh Central Catholic Vikings has won a WPIAL baseball championship. The Vikings defeated the Norwin Knights, 2-0, on Wednesday night at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington, PA. The Vikings (12-7) had not been to the championship game since 1979. It took 36 years and great pitching, timely hitting and solid defense to add a baseball trophy to the storied sports program at Central Catholic.

Jack Tumulty went the distance on the mound for the Vikings, allowing no runs on six hits, while striking out six batters and walking only one.

Early on, both teams showed that the adage of defense winning Championships was as true as ever. The game was scoreless through the first two innings as both Tumulty and Norwin’s John Driggers benefitted from strong defense play behind them. In Norwin’s bottom half of the 2nd inning, with two men on base and only one out, Connor Perry hit a line drive that PCC third baseman Joel Shaffer snagged. Shaffer then doubled up Norwin’s Vinnie Shoff at first base for an inning-ending double play. In the Vikings’ top half inning, with a man on first and no outs, Knights’ catcher Mike Rossi caught Central Catholic’s Joel Shaffer attempting to steal. Both teams seemed to understand that defense indeed wins championships.

The Vikings would score first in the 3rd inning, breaking Norwin’s postseason scoreless innings streak at 23 innings. The Knight’s had come into the title game with three straight shutouts in the WPIAL Playoffs and were looking to become the first team in the WPIAL’s highest classification to go through the playoffs without allowing a run. Matt Morrone would hit a leadoff double and Antonio Febbrraro followed with an infield single to put runners at the corners with no outs. Antonio Falbo then connected on a RBI single into left field, giving the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Driggers, however, would induce two fly ball outs to end the inning, stranding three Vikings on base.

Norwin continued to threaten, including in the 3rd inning when Central Catholic’s defense turned their second double play, ending the inning. In the 4th inning, the Knights had runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs, but Reno Rainey would be thrown out at the plate on a fielder’s choice. Tumulty would get two fly ball outs to end the threat, keeping Central Catholic’s lead at 1-0. Norwin would once again put men on base in the 5th inning as, with two outs, Shaffer would make a running, one-handed grab and then throw Rainey at first base to end the inning. In all, the Knights strand seven runners on base on the night.

Central Catholic would add an insurance run in the 6th inning as catcher Dom Derenzo, and Oklahoma recruit, would hit a double to left center field to lead off the inning. The next batter, Shaffer, would ground out to the pitcher. On the play, Derenzo ran to third, but Norwin first baseman Rainey’s throw to 3rd base was errant and Derenzo would score on the error, making it 2-0 Vikings.

That was all that Tumulty, a sophomore, would need as he retired eight of the last nine batters to seal the win and the championship. He allowed only three runners to reach second base, and only one to third base in the game. For the Vikings, hitters seven through nine in their order, Morrone, Febbraro, and Falbo reached base in seven of their nine plate appearances with four hits, one run, a RBI, two walks, and a hit batter to pace the Central Catholic offense. The other six batters only reached base 3 times in the game.

Norwin falls to 15-5 on the season but still qualifies for the PIAA state playoffs. They will play the winner of the Dubois-State College game on Monday, June 1st at a site and time to be determined. Pittsburgh Central Catholic move on to the state playoffs as well and will face the Shaler Titans on Monday, June 1st at a site and time to be determined.

Score by Innings:

PCC          0 – 0 – 1- 0 – 0 – 1 – 0 = 2
NORWIN  0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 0

Winning Pitcher : Jack Tumulty – 7 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 K
Losing Pitcher: John Driggers – 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 0 K, 1 HB