North Allegheny players shift focus to summer ball earlier than expected

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Saturday, June 7, 2025 | 11:01 AM


Summer started too early this year for the North Allegheny baseball team.

An opening-round playoff exit left the defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Tigers looking ahead to a long offseason with early June travel ball practices replacing meaningful postseason games.

“It was a rough finish to our season,” sophomore first baseman Christian Simons said in the wake of the 3-1 upset loss to No. 8-seeded Hempfield. “We came into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, and we were supposed to win it all. To have that first-round exit, you definitely don’t forget that.”

The Tigers (14-7) won the Section 1-6A title with a 10-2 mark, finishing two games ahead of eventual WPIAL champion Seneca Valley, but their bid to repeat ended quietly against Hempfield on May 19. North Allegheny, hampered by inconsistent run production all season, managed only two hits against an 8-12 fourth-place team.

“We need to be better offensively,” said manager Andrew Heck, whose Tigers hit .239 as a team this season. “We never got rolling. We never got hot. Some of the guys just had a down season swinging the bat, and sometimes that’s baseball.”

In 2024, North Allegheny hit .297 as a team on the way to its ninth WPIAL title.

“Hitting was definitely our biggest struggle all season,” said Simons, who batted .278 with a team-high 14 RBIs. “We were facing some great arms, but I don’t know what it was.”

The playoff loss served as an abrupt ending for a decorated 10-player senior class that went 48-22 in the past three seasons with a WPIAL title and a runner-up finish.

The seniors include third baseman Miles Pealer, who hit a team-best .333 with 23 stolen bases, and workhorse starting pitchers Nico Varlotta, Nate Persinger and Jackson Walsh, who combined for 91 1/3 innings, striking out 117. The rest of the staff combined for 54 1/3 innings.

Second baseman Mason Smith, shortstop Augie Maslo, outfielder Sean O’Donnell, pitchers Colin Moore and Ben Wilcox and utilityman Carson Burns also played their final high school games.

“Our senior class was a really awesome group,” Heck said. “They should be very proud of their accomplishments and how they left North Allegheny. Obviously, we fell short in the playoffs. But one game doesn’t define your legacy.”

Carrying on the legacy at the WPIAL’s winningest baseball program will be a group of hungry underclassmen and reinforcements from a junior varsity team that went 19-1.

“I think we are going to be a very good team next year,” Simons said. “We did have a lot of seniors this year, but I think the guys we have coming up are very good baseball players.”

The vast majority will play travel ball this summer, including Simons and sophomore outfielder JJ Mancuso (.281, team-best 17 runs) with the Marucci Spikes. They began practice June 2, the same day the PIAA playoffs started without them. They will play 30-40 games this summer at tournaments in Virginia, Georgia and Ohio.

Another handful play for Hardcore Elite, including junior pitcher Nate Surman, who went 1-0 with three saves and a 0.58 ERA with 15 strikeouts and one walk in 12 innings, and sophomore Mason Dratfinsky, who posted a .447 on-base percentage with nine stolen bases.

The Tigers will hold their season-ending banquet in mid-June and begin weightlifting and conditioning in July.

“I’m very excited for next year’s team,” Heck said. “By the end of the year, I really think we could be in a very special place with the guys we have coming through the program.”

The returning players won’t forget their first-round playoff loss. The score of the game — 3-1 — is written on a poster hanging in the NA locker room “to remind everyone what happened and to work harder,” Simons said.

“It will be a steady reminder moving forward,” Heck said. “Just to remind us, ‘We’ve got to show up and we’ve got to play.’ … You learn from your losses, and you’re better from your losses. Unfortunately, that loss ended our season.”

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