Keystone Denies Late Selinsgrove Challenge for 4-2 Section 3 Title

AdminJuly 19, 2019Last Updated: July 19, 2019

4 minutes read

WOODWARD TOWNSHIP – The Keystone Junior All-Stars held off a scrappy Selinsgrove team for a hard-earned 4-2 Section 3 Championship win and a berth in the state tournament.

Everyone knew that Selinsgrove would not go quietly as they nearly battled back for a late win in their first meeting with Keystone in a rain suspended game that spanned 2 days, falling to Keystone 15-13. Selinsgrove put up 7 runs in that final inning to close the gap. Then Selinsgrove had to turn around and battle Wellsboro in an elimination game directly following, defeating Wellsboro 17-7 in six innings.

This win didn’t come easy for Keystone, they had to battle Selinsgrove from wire-to-wire, right up to the very last out.

Keystone was leading 4-2 with Selinsgrove up for their last at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning. Gabe Johnson had been strong on the hill for the entire game and managed to get the first Seals batter to pop out to left field for out No. 1. Then Johnson gave up a walk for the next batter at which point he surpassed the maximum number of pitches continue.

This is when the game became really interesting. The kind of situation that can stimulate hair loss for coaches and test the nerves of anxious parents.

Levi Schlesinger came on the mound to close out the final two outs. Schlesinger got off to a bad start, hitting the next batter with the first pitch thrown. Then it was a walk for the next Selinsgrove batter to load the bags. Now a big hit by Selinsgrove could force another game to settle the Section 3 Crown.

Schlesinger dug down deep and struck out the next batter using only four pitches. Keystone needed only one more out.

With a full count, the final Selinsgrove batter pounded a ground ball to Johnson who took over the defensive duties at first base, stepping on the bag to end the Selinsgrove threat and the game for a trip to Du Bois and the Pennsylvania Junior Little League Baseball tournament.

Keystone had taken an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Braylen Corter led off with a base hit. Then with two outs on the board, Corter would successively steal second, then third base and was driven home on a base hit by Kelvin Probst.

Selinsgrove responded quickly using two Keystone errors, a base hit and a hit batsman to take a 2-1 lead after one inning of play.

There would be no further scoring until the top of the fourth inning when Keystone’s Luke Bowman reached base on a Selinsgrove error, Gavin Burnell worked a walk followed by a single from Mason Miller to load the bases. Colin Simander would next earn a base on balls that would force in a run. Then a base hit by Corter would plate Burnell, giving the lead back to Keystone, 3-2.

Selinsgrove would threaten that narrow Keystone lead in the bottom of the fifth inning with two runners on base and two outs when deep fly ball was heading to center field and looked to be sure trouble for the defense. That’s when Colby Keen stepped up, sprinting at full speed snagging the would-be game changing hit from the sky in full stride to end the threat.

Keystone scored their final run in the top sixth inning when Miller led of with big triple and Colin Simander followed up with a solid RBI single to center field extending the Keystone lead to 4-2. That run would prove to be very valuable.

This was the first season for many of the Keystone players to compete on a full size field, many on the roster were on the Pennsylvania Major State Championship team that competed in the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Bristol, CT in 2018.

“You hit the ball hard and you get out 50 percent of the time,” said Patrick Johnson, the Keystone manager, “It’s more of a mental thing for the kids, knowing you can drive the ball and still be out a regular percentage of the time.”

Keystone earned they District 12 title the old fashioned way by a workmanlike effort to win five consecutive games.

“We’d like to not do that again,” said Johnson, “But, I think that situation really helped the team to start coming together and learning about each other.”

“I can’t say enough about the new guys on the team,” Johnson said praising his players coming off the bench, “Mason Miller with some big hits, Colby Keen with the catch of the year in center field and Colin Simander with a big RBI single. I love games like this when it feels like everybody contributed,” Johnson added.

“That’s a really good baseball team,” Johnson said of Selinsgrove, “I see some really good high school games between these two teams coming up in the next couple of years,” Johnson predicted.

Keystone racked up 10 hits in the game with Corter (RBI) and Miller both contributing 3-4 efforts. Probst (RBI), Johnson, Bowman, and Simander (2 RBI) had 1 hit each.

Johnson allowed 5 hits, 2 walks and strikeout 4 Selinsgrove batters in 6 1/3 innings of work on the mound. Schlesinger worked the final two outs with 1 walk and 1 strikeout.

This isn’t the first state tournament rodeo for this group and their coaches, they know the hard work and potential obstacles that may come their way and are prepared to face that situation.

“I think, for the most part, we need to keep playing our game,” Johnson said how he would advise his team for their next challenge, “Just have fun. We tried to make this year more fun, last year there was a lot of pressure to make it a lot of fun. Close games like this make it hard to have too much fun.” Johnson said describing their most recent win.

Keystone (7-1) will next see action when they face Section 4 champion, Indiana on Wednesday, July 24 at 11 a.m. in DuBois.