ORWIGSBURG - Rarely is finishing tied a positive thing.
While it wasn't ideal for either Pine Grove or Southern Area in Wednesday evening's Schuylkill-Berks Legion contest, there was plenty that both clubs could take away from their 3-all draw.
For one, the Grovers inched closer to the top seed in the North Division playoffs.
Also, Pine Grove (9-2-1, 9-2-1 SB) held its own after having a few days off due to Monday's All-Star Game and rain Tuesday evening that wiped out practice.
"I didn't tell this to the guys. I only told them in the fourth inning, but I was almost expecting this. Show up to the game like this because of not being able to get onto the field," Pine Grove coach Frank D'Agostino said. "We had a couple days off with the All-Star thing, and then we were going to practice last night and didn't get on the field because of the rain.
"You don't want them to think that you lower your expectations, but in the fourth inning I said, 'I expected this. We're still up yet. Let's go make the plays now.' Hey, it's baseball. High school kids, not on the field for three or four days ... it happens."
Southern Area, on the other hand, continued to "close the gap" on mistakes from earlier in the season.
The A's (8-4-3, 7-3-3) also took some learning points away and noticed some things that need to be cleaned up before the postseason starts July 6.
"We've got to close that gap," Southern Area coach Jerry Freiwald said. "From where we were at the beginning of the season to where we are now, we've got to start doing the small things better. We've got to start getting our bunts down; not get picked off; we've just got to start doing the small things better and we'll be fine.
"That's what we did not do tonight, and we hung in there."
Wednesday's draw was frustrating at times for both squads, but ultimately there were some positives taken away.
Southern Area missed several scoring opportunities, stranding 13 runners on base.
The A's left the bases loaded in the first two innings, getting a single run on a bases-loaded walk to Dean Stramara in the second for a 1-0 lead. Southern Area didn't collect a hit, drawing six walks off Grovers' starter Nevin White and benefitting from an error.
"That was the goal, to make the pitcher work," Freiwald said.
"Make him go deep in the count. Foul off the corners. Try to hit a mistake. Run him deep. He threw a lot of pitches in the first inning ... which is big. Knock him out early. Try to get in their bullpen early."
Pine Grove responded with two runs in the third as Nick Cataldo reached on an error and eventually scored on Brett Kreiser's grounder. Kreiser later scored on the A's third error of the inning.
The A's tied it on Stramara's sacrifice fly in the fourth that scored Brett Moore, who singled to lead off the inning. Moore then put Southern Area ahead 3-2 in the fifth inning with a single to center field.
Moore also tossed a complete game, striking out four and allowing just two hits on 110 pitches.
"Brett pitched an awesome game. He pitched a great game," Freiwald said. "He held us in there. He looked like he got stronger at the end. His last inning was the best inning he pitched.
"He pitched a great game. We couldn't have asked for anything more. In the seventh inning, it was the best inning he threw. He still had a lot of pop on his ball yet."
Holding a two-point lead in the standings, Pine Grove used some small ball to tie the game in the sixth inning and ensure the point in the standings.
Steve Zimmerman drew a one-out walk, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Brian Reichert drew a walk to put runners on the corners before Marcus Brown laid down a safety squeeze bunt down the first-base line to score Zimmerman.
"We executed late," D'Agostino said. "We made the plays in the last inning on defense. We executed that safety squeeze because that's a matter of us tying or losing.
"At this point, they need to beat us and need more points. At this point, we're up so ties are just like wins, especially against Southern Area because they need to beat us."
Now, both teams will try to close out the last week of the regular season strong and gain some momentum entering the playoffs.
"I told the guys tonight that we've played a pretty good two-thirds of the season - sharp, solid," D'Agostino said. "Now we want to finish that way because you don't want to be going the other way at the end of the year; you want to be peaking."