Wyoming Area’s Matt Little looks up at the home plate umpire for the safe call as the ball gets away from New Castle catcher Nick Rodgers in the third inning of Friday’s PIAA Class 4A championship in State College.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
New Castle rallies from three-run deficit to win 7-3 at end of historic Warriors season
Wyoming Area starting pitcher JJ Hood pitched 5.1 innings in the Warriors’ loss, fanning seven New Castle batters.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Jake Kelleher is embraced by Wyoming Area coach Rob Lemoncelli during the silver medal ceremony after losing to New Castle 7-3 in the PIAA Class 4A championship game Friday at Penn State University.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Warrior Nation was out in full force as they cheer on pitcher JJ Hood after he recorded one of his seven strikeouts in the PIAA Class 4A state championship game Friday at Penn State University.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Hunter Lawall hits one of his two singles for Wyoming Area.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Evan Melberger (1) rounds third base, watching New Castle third baseman George Joseph’s toss to first base. Melberger later scored Wyoming Area’s first run of the game.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
STATE COLLEGE — Similar situation. Different result.
Four days earlier, Wyoming Area was able to keep its baseball season alive with four runs in the seventh inning. Needing four more to keep playing in Friday’s PIAA Class 4A championship game, the Warriors instead went quietly in their last at-bats.
The difference was opposing pitching. New Castle starter Rocco Bernadina and reliever Anthony Miller combined to strike out the last five Wyoming Area batters as the District 7 champion defeated the Warriors 7-3 at Penn State University.
Coach Rob Lemoncelli said the loss didn’t damper Wyoming Area’s accomplishments. The Warriors (14-7) won a District 2 championship for the first time. They also made their first appearance in the state playoffs and were ahead 3-0 in the championship game before New Castle (18-9) chipped at the deficit and used a three-run sixth inning to put them in a hole.
“I very proud to say I am the coach at Wyoming Area,” Lemoncelli said. “I’m proud of the school, I’m proud of this team and I have no problem saying that this is the greatest team that ever played at Wyoming Area. It was a privilege to coach these guys. We expect to be back in this position sooner rather than later.”
Wyoming Area made it to the title game by rallying for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Bonner-Prendie 5-4 in the semifinals. The Warriors, though, benefited from five consecutive walks followed by an error — all with two outs — to win.
New Castle’s pitching wasn’t as generous in the seventh. Bernadina, a Kent State recruit, struck out the first Warrior looking for his 10th strikeout. He reached his pitch limit so Miller, a Notre Dame recruit, took the mound. He got a swinging third strike and a caught-looking third strike to end the game.
Bernadina allowed five hits, but four came in Wyoming Area’s three-run third inning. And two of those were on bunts. Only two more Warriors reached base all game — Jason Wiedl on a throwing error in the fourth and Hunter Lawall with a lined single to left in the fifth. Wiedl was thrown out stealing and Lawall never got past first base.
“We didn’t have much of an idea on the way they were going to attack,” said Bernadina, a 6-foot-5 righty. “We understood some simple stats. They had a .270 batting average going into the game. They had a couple key batters hitting like .433 but with no real power numbers.
“We never saw any of their guys. We didn’t have an understanding of their strengths … but we had to attack weaknesses we saw just through warmups and the process of the game.”
Evan Melberger started Wyoming Area’s three-run third with a single to left. He moved to second on a wild pitch and to third when Casey Noone bunted for a single. Jake Kelleher plated Melberger with a sac fly for a 1-0 lead.
JJ Hood followed and reach on a walk. Lawall cracked a single to left for another run. New Castle then tried to turn an inning-ending double play on John Morgan’s grounder. Morgan was safe and Matt Little, running for Hood, broke for home. Little would have been out, but catcher Nick Rodgers couldn’t hold onto the ball.
Jack Mathis then reached on a bunt, sending Morgan to third, but Bernadina came back with another strikeout.
New Castle then chipped away at the deficit, using bunts in the third and fourth innings to score.
“Our mentality is to take the lead and win each inning,” New Castle coach Bill Cook said. “Well, this time we had to change this up. We talked about it and told them early in the game it’s 3-0, and we’ve scored more than three runs in a game.
“Our goal was to chip away and we did, one run at a time. And then the bats just got really hot.”
Bernadina’s two-out double down the left-field line made it 4-3 in the fifth. Five singles in the sixth plus a fielding error gave the Hurricanes three more runs in the sixth and, eventually, the school’s first state championship.
PIAA Class 4A Championship
New Castle 7, Wyoming Area 3
Wyoming Area`AB`R`H`BI
Melberger cf`4`1`1`0
Noone 2b`4`1`1`0
Kelleher c`2`0`0`1
Hood p`2`0`0`0
Little cr`0`1`0`0
Lawall 1b`2`0`2`1
Morgan rf`3`0`0`0
Mathis 3b`2`0`1`0
Novakowski dh`2`0`0`0
Supey ph`1`0`0`0
Sorick lf`0`0`0`0
Wiedl ss`3`0`0`0
Totals`25`3`5`2
New Castle`AB`R`H`BI
Micaletti 2b`3`1`1`1
Fornataro cf`4`0`1`1
Miller ss`3`1`2`0
Bernadina p`4`0`1`2
Cade lf`2`0`0`1
Gibson 3b`3`1`2`0
Kelly rf`3`0`0`0
Joseph 3b`3`1`2`0
Hunt pr`0`1`0`0
Lutton cf`0`0`0`0
Rodgers c`3`2`2`1
Totals`28`7`11`6
Wyoming Area`003`000`0 — 3
New Castle`001`123`x — 7
E — WA 2, NC 3. LOB — WA 6, NC 6. 2B — Bernadina, Gibson. SAC — Micaletti, Cade. SF — Kelleher. SB — Miller 2, Joseph. CS — Wiedl.
Wyoming Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Hood L`5.1`9`7`3`1`7
Lawall`0.2`2`0`0`0`0
New Castle`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Bernadina W`6.1`5`3`2`3`10
Miller`0.2`0`0`0`0`2
HBP — Lawall (by Bernadina).
