No. 1 Leopards upset by Blackhawk

Heading into the 7th leading by a run, the Cougars scored four insurance runs.

They say that records get thrown out the window when it comes to postseason baseball, and that was the case on Wednesday as No. 16 Blackhawk (8-10) pulled off a stunning 7-3 upset victory over No. 1 Belle Vernon (134) in the first round of the WPIAL Class 4A Playoffs.

Despite their record, Blackhawk found success in most series openers throughout the regular season behind ace pitcher Dylan Smith, and he came through for his squad in a big way during the upset win.

The junior went 6 1/3 innings and struck out seven batters while allowing five hits and two runs. He held the Leopards without a hit until the fourth inning. Offensively, he added two hits and three RBIs.

“Dylan is our rock,” Blackhawk coach Lou Wolber said. “He’s a great leader for us. He pitched really, really well today. We’ve relied on him all year, and he came through for us again.

“We didn’t have the greatest regular season, so they put us down there (at No. 16), and we told our guys it is what it is. We told them that it’s a brand new season in the playoffs. There’s always close games in the playoffs. Nothing is easy, so we had to make timely plays and we did that.”

Belle Vernon figured him out at the end of his outing, plating two runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh, but ultimately weren’t able to get runners home consistently.

“There’s no question that he’s one of the top pitchers in (Class) 4A,” Belle Vernon coach Tony Watson said about Smith. “He threw strikes, he commanded the zone, and we left a lot of guys on base. They were the better team today.

“At no point did I ever feel that this wasn’t a good season,” Watson said. “We won a section title, which was the fifth in school history, so that was something that we could be really proud of. We came in here today, and Blackhawk capitalized on our mistakes. That’s why I kind of jokingly said that they shouldn’t be a 16-seed, but they can actually go deep into the playoffs.”

Colton Lee was tagged with the loss after going 2 1/3 frames and giving up three hits and three runs. Parker Lind took over for him and settled things down before Blackhawk found its groove in the top of the seventh, scoring four runs.

The loss ended the highschool careers of John Bellissimo, Luke Bryer, Jake Gedekoh, Liam Hilling, Austin Hoffman, Max Kostelnik, Adam LaCarte, Lee, Carson Matusik, Tanner Moody and Alex Nash.

“(Colton) had some control issues in the first inning, and then we really settled down when Parker came in,” Watson said. “They just kept chipping away. We’d chip away, and they’d come back with two more runs. But I have nothing negative to say about this team, it was an honor to coach them.”

It was Blackhawk that managed to open the scoring with a strong two-out rally in the first.

Stephen Knallay reached first on a fielder’s choice before Logan Elich singled to left field. An error on that play allowed Knallay to cross home plate and Elich to reach second.

Smith then stepped up and singled to bring Elich home and make it 2-0.

After a scoreless second frame, the Cougars chased Lee out of the game in the third.

Owen Keister reached on an error to open things up before he moved to second on a balk and third on a wild pitch. Knallay singled to bring Keister home and make the score 3-0 before the Leopards got the first out of the inning.

After Lee walked Smith, Lind was called to the mound and got out of the inning with a strikeout and a groundout.

The Leopards had an opportunity to open their account in the bottom of the fourth, but they were unable to take advantage.

LaCarte opened it up with a walk before Gedekoh singled. Smith then threw over to first for a pickoff attempt, but no one was covering the bag. The throw hit into the fence past the first-base line as both baserunners moved up.

With runners on second and third and no outs, Lind continued his at-bat, but Smith eventually struck him out. Bellissimo and Hoffman had long atbats against Smith, but they were also fanned as Smith racked up his third and fourth strikeouts to strand two runners.

Lind made quick work of Blackhawk in the top of the fifth before Connor Bergman started the bottom half off with a walk, but the Leopards were unlucky on a hard hit ball from Kole Doppelheuer.

His rope found the glove of Smith, who was able to turn to second and get the first out of a double play. Smith then struck out another to send the game to the sixth.

With 2-3-4 up for the Leopards, Lucas Judy opened things up with a strikeout. LaCarte crushed a double to the gap in left center to give Belle Vernon some life, and Gedekoh matched his double to the gap in right center to make it 3-1.

Lind matched that with another RBI double down the first-base line to pull the Leopards within one run of tying the contest. Bellissimo then grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning before Hoffman singled to put runners on first and second.

Bergman then stepped up to the plate in a big spot, but he flew out to deep left.

Leading 3-2, Blackhawk opened the top of the seventh with two singles before the Leopards went to third for a close out on a fielder’s choice.

Elich then managed a walk to load the bases with one out, and Smith followed that with a 2RBI single that made the game 5-2. Later in the inning, Cody Woodward hit another 2RBI single to right field and capped the Cougars’ scoring off at seven.

“That just hasn’t happened most of the year,” Wolber said about his team’s timely offense. “We’ve been in tight ball games, and we’ve told the kids that they have to believe, but it hasn’t really come together all the time. Lucky for us, it did today.”

With three outs left before a premature end to their season, the Leopards continued to battle. Smith struck out Doppelheuer before his day ended.

Cole Matusik welcomed Blackhawk’s Aiden Gill to the game with a single before Nash stepped up and hit a double to bring him in and make the score 7-3.

From there, Gill managed to pick up two outs and complete the upset win for the Cougars. They move on to the quarterfinals to play No. 9 Indiana Monday.

“They’re fired up,” Wolber said. “But I told them, ‘Enjoy it today, because it’s back to work tomorrow.’ They have to come back down to earth and stay level moving forward.”