24/04/19/24 Mirror Photo: Patrick Waksmunski/Center catcher Britton Marko congratulates pitcher Mason Byler after the win as third baseman Lucas Black looks on.
Written by Michael Boitim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Over the years, Central has become accustomed to competing against larger schools in the Altoona Curve Classic Championship, and the Scarlet Dragons are extremely proud of this opportunity.
On Friday afternoon, Central University went all out against the Dragons in the semifinals, with smaller school Northern Bedford University finding itself on the other side of the coin.
The Black Panthers rallied from a five-run deficit to take a one-run lead in the top of the sixth inning, but Central, with the help of its seniors, defeated Northern Bedford 10-8 at PNG Field.
“I was really happy,” Central coach AJ Hoenstein said. “I think it's because of our seniors. We have a lot of underclassmen. We only have five seniors on our team, but they're great leaders, they take responsibility, they push the panic button. There's no pushing.”
After Northern Bedford committed an error in the bottom of the sixth inning, Hunter Smith walked and Griffin Snowberger singled to load the bases with no outs. Britton Marko's walk with the bases loaded tied the game, Troy McNichol's sacrifice fly put the Dragons ahead, and Baron Dionis' fielder's choice resulted in an insurance run.
“It's a cool environment here,” Snowberger said. “We have a history here. We've played a lot of big games here and it's a really fun experience to come here every year. Winning this is definitely on our list of goals. We're pretty high on the list. We aim to win every year, and it would be a huge accomplishment if we could win this year.”
Snowberger finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Marco hit two sacrifice flies and had three RBIs.
Central took control of the game in the bottom of the fourth when Wyatt Dilling started with five consecutive singles. That included two bunt hits and a hit end run by relief pitcher Mason Byler. .
“That was huge,” Heenstein said. “The first few innings, and even after that, we hit the ball hard, but we were hitting it right at people. That inning started with a bang to start things, and that kept us on track. I think he got it going. Wyatt Dilling swung the bat really well for us. He started that inning.”
Northern Bedford, which defeated Bishop Guilfoyle in overtime in the first round, continued to battle the Scarlet Dragons the right way for the majority of the match.
“We played well, but we had a bad fourth inning,'' Northern Bedford coach Ryan Cherry said. “We allowed five points and they bunted and turned the ball over. We were in position to make plays, and that was the difference in the game. We hit them hit-for-hit, and it ended up being the difference. It was the difference in the game.”
The Black Panthers got back into the game by scoring three runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth.
In the fifth inning, Rece Dibert and Josiah Bowser had RBIs, and in the sixth inning, Eion Snyder hit a game-tying two-run triple, before Dibert's RBI hit put Northern Bedford ahead 8-7.
“Northern Bedford has a really great team,” Heenstein said. “You find that a lot of those kids are two- or three-athletes. They're gamers and Coach Cherry runs a great program. We love them so much. I respect.”
The lead didn't last long, thanks to some pathetic errors in the bottom of the inning.
“When you start an inning with an error that should have resulted in an out, it hurts you and it just snowballs from there,” Cherry said. “Even in that fourth inning, we just didn't make the plays. We were able to fight back and I'm proud of our team for doing that, but we've got to get rid of those big innings and those big mistakes. .”
Northern Bedford fell to 5-4 on the season.
“I think we've played well the last few days,” Cherry said. “We started well, but with the rain we had a bit of a lull and our bats were quiet as well. We're getting some really good hitting back and I think this will help us next week.”
Central will face Altoona in the championship game at noon Saturday at PNG Field.
“They’re really looking forward to this,” Hohenstein said. “We're trying not to get too carried away because we have big goals, but we often play Hollidaysburg and Altoona in the championship as well. Beating either of those teams would mean a lot. ”
North Bedford (8): Bowers 1B 402, Horsch 2B 311, Musselman cf 321, E. Snyder SS 412, Dibert RF 412, Bowser P-3B 302, Free CR 020, Gable 3B-LF 211, Watson 3B 200, Cagalise c 400, A. Kochara LF-P 000, N. Kochara DH 400. Total — 33-8-11.
Central (10): smith 1b 231, snowberger 2b 433, marco c 100, mooshulian cr 000, mcnicol rf 301, harbaugh p 000, rooks cf 000, dionis dh 300, hohenstein cf-lf 401, dilling ss 412 , black 3b 211, beiler lf-p 321. Total — 26-10-10.
Score per inning
North Bedford 000 233 0– 8 11 4
Central 002 503 X–10 10 4
EE. Snyder, Bowser, Musselman, Cagalise, Smith 2, Harbaugh, Dilling. 2B – Bowser, Dibert. 3B-E. Snyder. RBI-E. Snyder 2, Dibert 2, Bowser, Marko 3, McNicol 2, Smith, Dionis, Byler.
pitching
Northern Bedford: Bowser (L) – 5 IP, 9H, 3BB, 1K, 10R, 7ER, 101 pitches. A. Kochara – 1 IP, 1H, 1BB, 0R, 0ER, 12 pitches.
Center: Harbaugh – 5 IP, 8H, 3BB, 5K, 5R, 4ER, 89 pitches. Byler (W) – 2 IP, 3H, 1BB, 3R, 0ER, 35 pitches.
Umpires: Dave Gildea (HP); Bill Wolf (bass).
Record: Northern Bedford (5-4). Central (9-1).
