On brink of elimination, South Park uses furious 7th-inning rally to get past Quaker Valley
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Thursday, June 5, 2025 | 5:40 PM
South Park’s Cooper Hochendoner celebrates after A.C. Miller scored against Quaker Valley during their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
South Park’s A.C. Miller scores against Quaker Valley during their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
South Park’s A.C. Miller steals second base under Quaker Valley’s Oscar Roig during their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
South Park first baseman Keegan Fekety tags out Quaker Valley’s Kyle Rader during their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
South Park’s William Hays makes a running catch in right field against Quaker Valley during their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
South Park’s Keegan Fekety celebrates after the Eagles scored against Quaker Valley during their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
Quaker Valley’s Ryan Finamore celebrates with teammates after hitting a grand slam against South Park during the sixth inning of their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
Quaker Valley’s Jack Cindrich scores past South Park catcher Ryan Spitznagel during their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
Quaker Valley’s Ryan Finamore pumps his fist as he rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam against South Park during the sixth inning of their PIAA Class 3A state quarterfinal on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at Plum.
South Park’s AC Miller
AC Miller reached base in each of his first three at-bats in Thursday’s PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal against Quaker Valley at Plum High School.
The South Park senior got on with a fielder’s choice in the second inning and scored the Eagles’ first run, and he was the beneficiary of a pair of throwing errors in his next two plate appearances.
While he was glad to be on the basepaths, he was hoping for one more chance to deliver a big hit.
That opportunity came in the bottom of the seventh.
With the tying run on third and the winning run on second, Miller delivered perhaps the biggest hit of South Park’s season so far.
He drove an offering from Quakers reliever Oscar Roig to the wall in left field. Alex Hale, pinch running for Troy Miller who had singled, scored to tie the game, and William Hays, who had reached on a fielder’s choice, slid home with the game winner that ignited a celebration.
AC Miller was mobbed by his teammates who stormed the field, and South Park’s rally for a 6-5 victory lifted the Eagles to a chance for redemption Monday in the state semifinals.
“He gave me three balls, and I check swung at that one,” AC Miller said. “But I felt really good. So, I felt I was going to go up and crush the next pitch. That was my mentality. There were two guys on with the game on the line. I wanted to end the game right there. It felt amazing to come through like that.”
AC Miller and his Eagles teammates will face WPIAL champion Riverside on Monday at a site and time to be determined with the winner advancing to the championship game at Penn State next Thursday.
Monday’s game is a rematch of a classic pitchers’ duel in the WPIAL semifinals at Plum won by Riverside, 1-0 in 12 innings.
South Park improved to 17-7.
“When we finished up at this field and they beat us 1-0 in 12, (Riverside’s) coach said to the media that they would see us again in the state playoffs,” Eagles coach Corey Fischer said.
“We went really hard at the Mohawk (WPIAL) third-place game to be in position to potentially see Riverside in the state semis. Riverside is the team to beat in the state right now, but getting them in the semis is something we were looking forward to. We got the job done here today, and now we will be ready to go on Monday.”
Quaker Valley, the WPIAL runner-up which exploded for 22 runs in a rout of District 5 champion Bedford on Monday, closed its season at 16-8.
Quakers’ third-year coach Rich Garbee said the postgame talk was highly emotional.
“The seniors, I told them I love them,” Garbee said. “They’ve been with me for the three years I’ve been with them. It was really hard to see it end this way. That is the emotion after they battled so hard to keep this going.”
“For the underclassmen, I want them to make an imprint of what it took to get to where we are today and what the keys to success are for the future. Though this hurts right now, it is something we’re going to learn from so we can get back to championship situations for years to come.”
Ryan Finamore started the bottom of the seventh on the mound for QV. He came on in the bottom of the sixth in relief of starter Nolan Wagoner.
Finamore had just crushed a grand slam over the left field fence in the top of the sixth to give Quaker Valley a 5-1 lead. He gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth, but the Quakers were still sitting in good shape up three runs.
Finamore hit Ryan Spitznagel to begin South Park’s seventh. Andrew Mittleider followed Spitznagel with a single before moving to second on an error. Troy Miller singled to score Spitznagel and move Mittleider to third. Mittleider raced home on a wild pitch to pull the Eagles to within one run at 5-4.
Hale, pinch running for Troy Miller, moved to third on a wild pitch, and William Hays reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second to set up AC Miller’s dramatic hit.
“Everyone has contributed, and we’re here because of an all-around effort,” AC Miller said. “I was just in the right place and got a barrel on the ball. I am proud of all the guys. Now we’re going to try to get a little revenge on Riverside.”
South Park left nine runners on through six innings.
Said Fischer: “I said to the guys that for the past four games, it just felt like we had been lacking that ball in the gap that would clear the bases. We had crowded the bases, but just didn’t get that big hit. I was confident that we were going to get the big hit in that situation. I give so much credit to the guys for pulling each other together. They chipped away in the bottom of the sixth like I asked them to with that one run, and they put themselves in position to win it in the seventh.”
South Park finished with 10 hits. Bryce Berzansky, who started at short but got the win in relief, collected a pair of singles.
Berzansky came on in relief of Robert Lenzi (four innings, 85 pitches). He shook off the Finamore home run from the sixth by retiring three of four QV hitters in the top of the seventh to keep it at a three-run deficit.
QV collected nine hits. Roig singled twice, and Finamore added a double in the first inning to his big sixth-inning home run. The Quakers left nine runners stranded.
Defensively, the Quakers committed a total of five errors.
“We all knew that as the errors piled up — we had not been an error-prone team this year — we were kind of playing on some borrowed time, and the arms were a little bit tender,” Garbee said.
“The formula that we’ve used, which is Nolan and (Finamore) for the past couple of games, didn’t come to fruition this time. Part of that is because they had to throw extra pitches. That’s hard, but that’s reality. We were confident that we could get people out in the seventh, but we just couldn’t give away free bases. If you look at errors, a few walks, passed balls and wild pitches, it added up.”
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
Tags: Quaker Valley, South Park
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