Palmyra’s Jonathan Meley steals home and is safe on an errant throw to the plate for the go-ahead run. Meley scored twice for Palmyra.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area 3rd baseman Dominic Innamorati gets up high off the turf, tossing out Palmyra’s Braeden Sommer at 1st base.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Gavin Wardecki manages to get to 1st base after being hit by a Jonathan Strohecker pitch for Palmyra.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Aiden Willard got Palmyra on the scoreboard at the top of the 4th inning with an RBI knocking in teammate Luke Risser.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Palmarya 2nd baseman Julian Meley eludes Pittston Area’s Jake Aftewicz’s attempt to break up double play in the first round of PIAA D2 5A State playoff game at Hughestown on Monday.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Palymra’s Jack Santana barely gets back to 1st base ahead of the Pittston Area 1st baseman Chase Montigney’s tag.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
HUGHESVILLE — One bad inning can change everything in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association baseball playoffs.
Pittston Area had one in Monday in a Class 5A first-round meeting between two of the top teams in the state.
The Patriots were done in by an assortment of issues that resulted in Palmyra handing the District 2 champions their only loss of the year, a season-ending 7-3 defeat.
Palmyra, which was unbeaten until the District 3 final, used some timely hitting, a bit of good fortune and a dash of daring baserunning to score five times in the fifth inning.
The Cougars (23-1) had four hits in the fifth after having three through the first four innings. None was bigger than Jack Santana’s bloop two-run single to center where three Patriots chased the fly, but none could get to it.
Earlier in the inning, Julian Meley made a delayed steal of home when Pittston Area catcher Jake Aftewicz threw the ball back to pitcher Silvio Giardina.
“You need a little bit of luck when it goes on,” Pittston Area coach Paul Zaffuto said. “Luck just wasn’t with us. Balls fell in. We preach all the time we can’t fall asleep and we fell asleep for a second and they got us.”
Nate Osteen and Aiden Wallace added RBI singles for Palmyra in the five-run inning that erased a 3-2 deficit. To put the scoring in perspective, Pittston Area allowed fewer than five runs in 18 games.
The Patriots had first-and-second with one out in the seventh, but Palmyra turned its second 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
“One thing is for sure,” Zaffuto said. “These guys gave everything we asked all season and I couldn’t be more proud. Coming to an end right now is just really tough because of the group.
“Not because of the loss, but because of the kids that we’re not going to be with anymore.”
Pittston Area took a 2-0 lead in the first. Dom Innamorati opened with an infield single and Elijah Barr followed with a walk. Beau Widdick’s two-run single with two outs brought them home.
The Patriots had three hits in the first, but only four more the rest of the game. Palmyra pitcher Jonathan Strohecker settled in after a 31-pitch first inning.
“Jonathan is a really calm, cool, collected player,” Palmyra coach Justin Hileman said. “It got to him our last district game (an 8-2 loss to Lampeter-Strasburg). It was the first time in three years I’ve seen him get a little bit rattled.
“There might have been a little bit of that left over. We had a two-hour trip and then you run our here quick and play a game.”
The only other run-producing hit for Pittston Area was an RBI double by Nick Innamorati in the fourth to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead.
Even though Strohecker could have pitched into the seventh, Palmyra elected to use Brayden Bown to get the final three outs.
“ (Strohecker) might have had 10 pitches (left),” Hileman said, “but it’s nice to get a reliever a clean inning and not come in with maybe guys on base and such.”
Nick Innamorati was the only Pittston Area player with two hits.
Elijah Barr finished up with 2 2/3 innings of relief. He struck out one, gave up two hits and was not charged with a run.
The Patriots, who also won the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title, finished 22-1.
They entered the state tournament with the best record in Pennsylvania and as one of only two unbeatens, both of which were in Class 5A. Still, they wound up in a matchup of teams with two of the best three records in the 16-team bracket.
Central Mountain, the other unbeaten, also drew a tough district runner-up and lost. Pine-Richland (21-4) from District 7 knocked out Central Mountain 8-5 in a game at Lock Haven University.
