Peters Township breaks the ice with 3-run homer in win over Chartiers Valley

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 | 10:23 PM

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Chartiers Valley and Peters Township not only had to battle each other in a big Section 2-5A district baseball game Tuesday, they had to deal with the elements as well.

“Conditions were not great. We just got back from a week in Florida where it was 85 (degrees) every day,” Peters Township senior shortstop Colin Stofik said. “This was our first game back, and it felt like 19 (degrees), so that’s definitely not ideal and definitely hard to play in.”

Stofik had the hot bat for the Indians as he delivered two of his team’s seven hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth inning that was the difference as Peters Township came back to edge Chartiers Valley, 3-2.

As seen on #HSSN: @ColinStofik smashes a 3-run homer to give @PetersTwpSports the lead and eventually the section win 3-2 over Chartiers Valley today.

ARCHIVE: https://t.co/5j6VVt1YN2 pic.twitter.com/HapRlyR5jZ

— TribLive HSSN (@TribLiveHSSN) April 9, 2025

With the mercury in the 30s and a wind chill that made it fell like temps were in the 20s, the Colts struck first with a pair of unearned runs in the second inning off Indians starter Jack Stewart.

Jake Federouch walked and when Brady Schaming bunted, Stewart fielded it and threw the ball away at first base, putting runners at second and third.

Another Peters Township error on the third baseman scored Federouch and Jackson Schultz reached on a bunt single to third base when Brad Bucci fielded it but decided to eat the ball instead of a risky throw to first base that loaded the bases for Chartiers Valley.

One out later, Colton Prosperi had an infield single in the hole at short that plated Schaming and left the bases loaded with one out.

One of the key plays followed as Colton Koza popped the ball up in the infield, Indians first baseman Brody Takacs settled under it, but then dropped it. The batter had been called out on the infield fly rule with the bases loaded and one out, but Drake Steding tried to score on the drop and was out on the throw from Takacs to catcher Zach Miner to keep the score 2-0 Colts.

“We were very fortunate to minimize (the damage) and keep it at two runs,” Peters Township coach Rocky Plassio said. “It could have really gotten bad there, and if that lead would have been larger, it feels like that’s a bigger mountain to get back into the fight.”

Stewart settled down after that rocky second inning, allowing no more runs and only two hits over his next three innings of work. He improved to 3-0 this season and lowered his ERA to 0.70, walking two, hitting a batter, striking out five and allowing four hits in six innings.

“Jack is a kid that has really stepped into a big role for us this year,” Plassio said. “Coming into this winter, we could not say for sure who our No. 2 guy is behind Zach Miner. We needed somebody to step into that role, and (Stewart) was given that opportunity, and he hasn’t let us down one bit.”

The problem for the Indians was their offense was frozen by the pitching of Chartiers Valley right hander Jules Prozzoly.

The Colts junior had kept the Indians off the board by only allowing four hits over the first four innings.

“Their pitcher is really good, and we knew that coming in,” Plassio said. “I had watched him pitch before, and I knew the kid was going to battle really hard. He works quickly and with a lot of confidence and on a cold day, he was throwing really well.

The Peters Township offense finally cracked the ice in the bottom of the fifth inning when with one out, James Tygard and Miner singled to right field. Jackson Stocker lined out to right field to set the stage for some frigid heroics.

Stofik went the opposite way and drilled a Prozzoly outside fastball over the right-field fence for a three-run home run that gave the Indians their first lead.

“It felt good, but I didn’t know if I got it on this cold day,” Stofik said. “I saw him going back, and I knew it was over his head and that it had a shot. It felt good to finally get an outside pitch and hit it where it’s pitched. I turned around, pumped up the boys, and there’s no better feeling in a huge section game like that.”

Chartiers Valley came back though in the top of the sixth inning to load the bases on a hit batter, a single and another Indians error with one out, but a strikeout and pop out ended that threat.

In the seventh inning against Peters Township closer Michael Alspaugh, the first two Colts were retired before Michael Switala struck out but reached first base when the ball got away from the catcher. Miner nearly threw him out at first base from the backstop, but Switala was ruled safe.

Jared Pryor and Federouch both walked to load the bases again.

“Just relax and I have to reset,” Alspaugh was told after a big meeting at the mound.

He did just that as he induced Schaming into a chopping ball to Tygard at second base, who made a difficult play and his throw to first base just beat the runner to end a cold but solid ballgame.

Peters Township improved to 2-1 in Section 2-5A and 7-3 overall while Chartiers Valley fell to 1-4 in the section and 4-6 overall.

The teams will conclude their section series at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Woodville Field.

“This is a really big win,” Alspaugh said. “We split with Moon last week, which we were not hoping to do. We come back from Florida, and this is a huge win mentally.”

Tags: Chartiers Valley, Peters Township