Penn-Trafford overcomes early Moon homers to advance into Class 5A quarterfinals
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Wednesday, May 15, 2024 | 10:43 PM
Penn-Trafford’s Chuck Fontana celebrates his RBI triple against Moon during their WPIAL Class 5A playoff game on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at Gateway.
Penn-Trafford’s Carmen Metcalfe scores past Moon catcher Cole Fletcher during their WPIAL Class 5A playoff game on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at Gateway.
Penn-Trafford’s Tyler Freas is greeted at the dugout by Brody Hoffman.
Penn-Trafford pitcher Hunter Brown pumps his fist after defeating Moon in their WPIAL Class 5A playoff game.
Penn-Trafford couldn’t break a tie in a tight, four-team Section 1-5A race for first place.
But the Warriors had no problem snapping a knotted score in the first round of the WPIAL Class 5A baseball playoffs.
Once they did, it was on to the next round.
The seventh-seeded Warriors battled back from a pair of Moon home runs, pulling even with the No. 10 Tigers before stringing together a slew of singles to post an 8-2 victory Wednesday at Gateway.
“They battled all year,” Warriors coach Lou Cortazzo said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down one or up one. They know what they have to do. We have a lot of senior leadership, and it shows.”
Third baseman Tyler Freas went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, Brayden Stone and Brody Hoffman had two hits each and Chuck Fontana drove in a pair for the Warriors (17-3), who will meet No. 2 seed Fox Chapel (14-6) in Monday’s quarterfinals.
“We needed to respond right away today, and that’s what we did,” Freas said.
Brandon Roher was the winning pitcher, allowing three hits while striking out seven and walking four.
“Roher kept them in check,” Cortazzo said.
Moon (10-8), which had won six straight, started the scoring in the second when Nate Barr sent a fastball over the fence in left for a solo home run.
Penn-Trafford tied it 1-1 in the third on an RBI single by Freas.
With Roher in apparent control, the Tigers struck again with another long ball to the same spot. Marco Chenet turned and clubbed his first homer to give Moon a 2-1 lead in the fifth.
But a monster fifth inning put the Warriors ahead to stay, any sense of panic undetected.
Freas started the rally with a squeeze bunt to make it 2-2, then Fontana ripped a two-run single. Brody Hoffman, Jason Sabol and Ian Temple followed with RBI singles to push it to 6-2.
“That (squeeze) was the most important part,” Freas said. “That got us started.”
Stone got in on the act in the sixth, as he and Freas lined singles to center to keep the base paths moving and increase the advantage to 8-2.
The second hit came after Moon pulled lefty starter Coleman Fletcher for Chris Sandor.
“Their lefty kept us off balance,” Cortazzo said. “But we got the bats rolling. We need to be more aggressive with our swings. I thought we ran the bases well. From Day One, the goal is to put pressure on the defense, and that’s what we did.”
The Tigers, who had not qualified for the playoffs since 2018, were limited after the early fireworks.
The defense scooped up grounders, and Sabol made a terrific diving catch.
Penn-Trafford, a WPIAL semifinalist a year ago, had won 13 straight before dropping its final two section games to Franklin Regional to close out the regular season.
Penn-Trafford and Fox Chapel, who tied with Plum and Franklin Regional for first in the section, split during the regular season with a pair of one-run games.
“We’re so excited to play them again,” Freas said. “We want to show that we’re the better team.”
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
Tags: Moon, Penn-Trafford
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