SAINT CLAIR — With only 10 players in his dugout, there weren’t many moves that Upper Dauphin County manager Aaron Wenger could make as Monday’s District 24 Little League 9-10-year-old semifinal game against Saint Clair/Port Carbon/New Philadelphia played out.
It turned out his best move happened before the game.
“I guess I did one thing right today. I won the coin flip,” Wenger said.
He chose last at-bats, a decision that paid off with Upper Dauphin County’s seven-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to pull out a stunning 8-7 victory over SPN.
The win boosts Upper Dauphin County into the District 24 finals against Ashland at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Elizabethville. Ashland defeated Minersville 10-8 in Monday’s other semifinal.
Another game for Upper Dauphin hardly appeared likely for most of its game at Saint Clair’s George “Rock” Mikalauskas Little League Field.
Coming off a 5-3 loss to Pine Grove in its final Pool 4 game, Upper Dauphin trailed
7-1 with three outs remaining and SPN’s Nick Chivinski cruising through the lineup. After Landon Mace singled to open the bottom of the sixth, Chivinski tossed a strikeout, leaving SPN two outs shy of victory.
But everything changed when Cruz Banda lined a single down the right-field line to score Mace.
Banda’s hit was followed by singles by Nathan Cole and Konner Walker, whose RBI hit went past the left fielder to allow Banda to score. Max Nestor, who had struck out in his only other at-bat, then pounded a double down the left-field line to score Cole and Walker on Chivinski’s last pitch as he met the maximum 75-pitch limit allowed by Little League rule.
Victoria Fuss relieved, but could not stem Upper Dauphin’s momentum. She threw two wild pitches, allowing Nestor to score with the second. That cleared the bases with two outs to get.
But Jordan Zerby singled and advanced to third when Logan Williard posted his second single of the night. After Williard stole second base, Isaac Hepler reached on an infield single to load the bases.
Mace, the 10th batter of the inning, then grounded to shortstop, but after a brief hesitation, his throw to the plate was too late to prevent Williard from scoring the winning run.
“I don’t think there’s anything we could have done. They just hit the ball when they needed to and they ended up taking away the win,” SPN manager Bob Houston said.
Few could have seen it coming after SPN had dominated the game for the first five innings.
While Chivinski was masterful on the mound, completing two of his innings with just six and four pitches, SPN broke a scoreless deadlock in the fourth when Chivinski scored on a wild pitch.
Batting around the order, SPN then exploded for five runs in the fourth for a 6-0 lead. Helped by three of the 10 walks issued by Upper Dauphin pitchers in the game, SPN gained one of its runs on a single by Aidan Murhon, who later scored on a passed ball, and three others when Kieran Houston greeted reliever Cole by belting his second delivery for a double.
Upper Dauphin answered with a run in its half of the fourth. Mace, whose fly ball to left was ruled a trap instead of a catch after a long discussion by the umpires, scored on Cole’s fielder’s choice.
But SPN hiked the lead to 7-1 in the fifth when Murhon scored on an infield error, leaving SPN three outs from a win.
SPN could get just one as Upper Dauphin battled back to win.
“They gave us an inch and we took a mile, I guess, in that last inning,” Wenger said. “Hats off to them (SPN). They’re a great team. Their kids played their hearts out. They just had one bad inning and we capitalized.”
Of his team, Houston said, “Sometimes you learn from not winning than you do from winning.
“It was a great game. They can be proud of themselves. ... Now they go out and swim as much as they want or play Wiffleball as much as they want.”
Game Summary
District 24 Little League 9-10-year-old Semifinal At Saint Clair
SPN (4-1) 001 510 — 7 4 2
UDC (4-1) 000 107 — 8 11 3
One out when winning run scored.
Chivinski, Fuss (6) and Murhon; Hite, Mace (4), Cole (4) and Walker. W — Cole. L — Fuss.
HITS: Saint Clair/Port Carbon/New Philadelphia — Houston, Murhon 2, Matlock. Upper Dauphin County — Williard 2, Hepler, Mace 2, Banda, Cole, Walker 2, Nestor, Zerby.
2B — Nestor, Houston.