Greensburg Salem plays near-perfect game in section win over Derry

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, April 22, 2025 | 9:44 PM

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Greensburg Salem moved into a second-place tie with Knoch in Section 3-4A on Tuesday by playing an almost-perfect game.

The Golden Lions took advantage of seven Derry errors, played flawless defense, got timely hitting and solid pitching in an 8-0 victory in Game 1 of their two-game baseball series.

Game 2 is Wednesday at Derry.

The Trojans (3-4, 4-6) were the opposite. They allowed five unearned runs with sloppy defense and didn’t get clutch hits in the second and sixth innings with runners in scoring position.

“We’ve had games that we committed one error. And games like today,” Derry coach Tom Kelly said. “This was one of those games that we did not capitalize on our opportunities. Hopefully, we’ll bounce back on Wednesday.”

Derry had runners on second and third with no outs in the second inning. But Greensburg Salem pitcher Braedon Leatherman struck out the next two batters and snagged a line drive off the bat of Liam McMahen to end the threat.

Greensburg Salem (4-3, 6-5) did not waste its opportunity in the bottom of the second inning. Ayden Crissman reached on shortstop Cason Long’s error. Crissman swiped second and scored when Logan Dunkerley’s fly to right field was dropped by McMahen for a three-base error.

Dunkerley scored on Leatherman’s groundout for a 2-0 lead.

“It was a great win for us to get back on track,” Greensburg Salem coach Anthony Manley said. “Last week we faced Indiana and its top-notch pitching staff.

“We had a great practice Monday, and the players were very resilient and came out ready to go. It’s high school baseball. The least amount of errors you make and capitalizing on their errors is key to the game. We put the ball in play. Getting out of the top of the second inning was huge.”

Greensburg Salem scored in every inning after the first inning.

In the third inning, Peyton Chismar tripled, and courtesy runner James Hugus scored on Brody Chismar’s sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

A Derry error in the fourth inning led to two more runs as Dom Rosensteel singled, swiped second and scored on Robert Visnick’s hit. Visnick later scored on a throwing error.

“My defense was solid,” Leatherman said. “They made the plays behind me. It was an important win for us.”

Crissman tripled to begin the fifth inning and scored on Dunkerley’s groundout to make it 6-0.

Derry again had runners on second and third with no outs in the sixth inning. Long hit a screamer that ricocheted off Leatherman’s thigh and was caught for an out by first baseman Dunkerley. Tyler Martin, despite hitting a batter to load the bases, got Collin Barkley to ground out to end the threat.

“That’s the fastest ball I’ve ever seen come at me,” Leatherman said. “That was the hardest I have ever been hit. That was crazy.”

Greensburg Salem tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth when Visnick reached on an error and scored on Peyton Chismar’s sacrifice fly. Martin, who singled, scored on Brody Chismar’s double.

“We’re not satisfied,” Manley said. “This was great to get a win, but you want to come back and do it again (Wednesday). One win is great, but you know we’re in a race and you want to get the next one.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Derry Area, Greensburg Salem