Shenango’s rally falls 1 run short in PIAA Class 2A championship

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, June 18, 2021 | 1:51 PM

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UNIVERSITY PARK – At 67, Shenango coach Larry Kelly was four years younger than his state championship counterpart in the other dugout Friday.

Scott Buffington has coached Schuylkill Haven for 44 years, or a nice round 50 if you add his six seasons as an assistant. And Buffington celebrated his first state title Friday, proving just how hard winning one can be.

Yet, Kelly, in his first season, came close.

WPIAL champion Shenango nearly overcame an early five-run deficit Friday but a last-at-bat rally fell one run short in the PIAA Class 2A baseball final. The Wildcats scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, but District 11 champion Schuylkill Haven escaped with an 8-7 victory at Penn State’s Medlar Field.

“I’m 67 years old, and we just played in the state championship,” Kelly said. “And my team came up one run short. I can live with that.”

Two weeks earlier, Shenango (23-3) won the first WPIAL title in team history. Now, the Wildcats were making their first state finals appearance.

That wasn’t lost on Kelly.

“We win like champions and we lose like champions,” he said. “This one loss after 21 wins in a row should not and cannot tarnish what they’ve done. They are the best team to ever play at Shenango High School.”

Schuylkill Haven (25-3) was the state runner-up twice before, each time losing to a WPIAL school. In 1983, the Hurricanes lost to Riverview, and to Greensburg Central Catholic in 2002.

Said Buffington: “I don’t think my feet have hit the ground yet.”

One dismal inning derailed Shenango’s title hopes.

Schuylkill Haven scored five runs in the second with three hits, a walk and, most importantly, three Shenango errors. The uncharacteristic miscues included a collision between the Wildcats’ middle infielders.

Schuylkill Haven led 6-1.

“It’s a seven-round fight,” Kelly said. “The fight isn’t over in the second round, boys. That’s what I told them. This is a seven-round championship fight. I knew my guys were going to score.”

Shenango rallied with three runs in the third, one in the fifth and two in the seventh. Senior Shane Cato went 2 for 3 with four RBIs and a run scored. His two-run triple keyed Shenango’s three-run third inning.

Tyler Kamerer had two hits including a triple and scored three runs. Cre Calabria scored twice.

“We weren’t going to stop fighting,” Cato said. “We had to come back. We were going to fight any way we can.”

Both coaches started their ace pitcher on three days’ rest but with different results.

Schuylkill Haven senior Mason Ulsh, a Quinnipiac recruit, went six innings and allowed seven hits and six runs, only one earned. Kelly lifted Cato one out into the second inning after giving up five hits and five runs, three of them earned.

“I was locating for the most part, but they were hitting me,” Cato said. “And we made a few errors that probably cost us in the long term.”

Zach Herb relieved Cato and allowed three runs in the final 5⅔ innings. He walked five and struck out three.

“We were going to take a look at Shane, see what kind of velocity he had, see what his velocity was,” Kelly said. “They were hitting him pretty good, and nobody hits Shane like that.”

Buffington pointed to the pitchers’ workload in the semifinals. Cato threw 108 pitches Monday. Ulsh threw only 80 in relief.

“If Ulsh would have had to go seven innings and maxed out at 105 or 106 (pitches), he really would have struggled (in the championship),” Buffington said.

But the longtime coach wasn’t surprised to see Cato on the mound Friday.

“It’s the state championship,” Buffington said. “You’re going to take the ball and just give it all you have, and he did.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

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