Warrior Evan Melberger (1) rounds third base watching New Castle 3rd baseman George Joseph’s toss to first base. Melberger later scored Wyoming Area’s first run of the game.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Hunter Lawall is shown cracking one of his two hits on the day for the Warriors. The first baseman was 2-2 with one RBI against New Castle.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Wyoming Area’s Matt Little looks up at the home plate umpire for the safe call as the New Castle catcher dropped the ball after the tag.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Wyoming Area starting pitcher JJ Hood pitched 5.1 innings in the Warrior loss fanning six New Castle batters.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Warrior Nation was out in full force as they cheer on their pitcher JJ Hood has he fanned one of his six strike outs in the PIAA AAAA state championship game Penn State University on Friday, June 18.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Wyoming Area’s final batter in the game Jake Kelleher questioned the call strike three as the New Castle team celebrates in the background taking the victory 7-3 to capture the PIAA AAAA state championships.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
An emotional Jake Kelleher is embraced by Warrior head coach Rob Lemoncelli during the silver medal ceremony after losing the New Castle in the state championship game at Penn State University.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
UNIVERSITY PARK — New Castle took a steady approach to attacking Wyoming Area’s three-run lead in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 4A baseball state championship game.
The Red Hurricanes closed the gap with single runs in the third and fourth innings, took the lead with two in the fifth and built on it in the sixth.
By the time New Castle was done scoring three runs in the sixth, it had created a comfort zone for a well-pitched game to result in a 7-3 victory and a state championship at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Rocco Bernadina, who ran out of pitches with one out in the seventh inning, and Notre Dame-commit Anthony Miller, who finished up, combined on a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts. They fanned the last five Warriors, three of them on called third strikes.
Wyoming Area got four of its five hits in the top of the third to open the scoring and take a 3-0 lead.
Evan Melberger led off by lining a single to right field for Wyoming Area’s first hit.
Melberger took second on a wild pitch and Casey Noone’s bunt single gave the Warriors runners on the corner with none out.
Jake Kelleher drove in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly to right field and a throwing error allowed Noone to take second.
After J.J. Hood walked, Hunter Lawall singled to left field to drive in the second run.
When Johnny Morgan beat the throw to first, preventing a potential, inning-ending double play, courtesy runner Matt Little, who had started the play on second, tried to score.
New Castle catcher Nicholas Rodgers tagged Little as he slid into home, but Rodgers dropped the ball for an error and Little scored the third run.
Bernardina got a strikeout to strand two runners, avoiding a bigger inning and beginning a stretch in which he retired 10 of the last 12 batters he faced, allowing just a single and a batter who reached on an error. He got seven of his 10 strikeouts during that time.
Miller came in front shortstop to finish the strong pitching.
By then, the New Castle offense had joined in to create a cushion.
The Red Hurricanes scored their first run off a George Joseph lead-off single, a passed ball, a stolen base and a Dante Micaletti squeeze bunt.
An error and two more stolen bases set the stage for another squeeze bunt, this one by Donald Cade, to make it 3-2.
“Our goal was to chip away and we did, one run at a time,” New Castle coach Bill Cook said. “Then, the bats just got really hot.”
Winning pitcher Bernadina, who is committed to Kent State, also had the game-winning hit. His two-out, two-run double down the third-base line in the bottom of the fifth, scored Rodgers and Micaletti, who had singled.
The Red Hurricanes then added five singles in the sixth to take a more comfortable lead into the final inning.
Hunter Lawall led the Wyoming Area offense, going 2-for-2 with an RBI single and reaching in his other plate appearance when he was hit by a pitch.
Lawall got the last two outs on the mound for the Warriors. He allowed two hits but was not charged with a run.
Hood, throwing more than 100 pitches for the second time in four days, went 5 1/3. He gave up nine hits, seven runs (three earned) and one walk while striking out seven.
