Charleroi advances with win, Belle Vernon next

Charleroi Legion uses four-run first inning to vault itself to a 6-3 win over Smithfield-Fairchance.

It doesn’t matter how you score runs in an elimination baseball game, it’s just about putting up more than your opponents.

Charleroi Post 22 took advantage of several mistakes from Smithfield-Fairchance to win the deciding game three of their Fayette County American Legion Baseball league quarterfinal series 6-3 on Friday. The victory sets up a best-of-three series between Post 22 and Belle Vernon starting Monday.

“You’ve gotta take what teams give you, especially when you’re not hitting the ball that well,” Charleroi manager Luke Mollis said. “We had a few timely hits, but nothing big today. In a big game, runs are at a premium. We were aggressive on the bases and ran well. We got a lot of breaks with passed balls and stuff like that, but you’ve got to be ready to take advantage.”

The victors did just that, scoring four runs in the opening inning despite putting up no hits. No Charleroi (11-7) batters managed multiple hits as just two of their runs were earned with an RBI from Ben Shields and Dan Verscheran.

Eddie Frizzell earned the win on the mound with a strong start, allowing six hits and three runs in six innings before eclipsing the 105-pitch quota. He struck out five and walked three.

Gavin Kovach pitched the last inning and quickly put the game to rest, walking one but allowing no hits.

Smithfield-Fairchance (5–10) was led by Robbie Wilson- Jones offensively as he had two hits and an RBI. Matt Malinsky added two RBIs in the loss.

Evan Weakland opened the action with a single before Frizzell sat Smithfield down 1-2-3 to put his squad on offense.

After a leadoff groundout, Tyler O’Neil reached first on catcher’s interference and made it to second on a balk to set up Frizzell at the plate. The pitcher hit a hard ground ball to short that hopped over Wilson-Jones’ glove and resulted in an error, putting runners on first and third.

Shields then opened the scoring by hitting into a fielder’s choice at second, but he reached first as another error stopped Smithfield from turning two. Spencer Behrendt then reached first on a dropped third strike as the throw to first went into right field before Shields scored on a passed ball.

Post 22 continued to take advantage of Smithfield mistakes as Behrendt and Joe Campbell, who had walked, also scored on passed balls to make it 4-0 despite having no hits in the first.

Smithfield-Fairchance opened the second with a base knock from Wilson- Jones, who managed to take second on an error in the outfield before a balk put him at third with no outs.

Malinsky then drew an RBI and used an error to reach first safely on a ball hit to third, opening the account of his squad to make it 4-1. From there, Frizzell battled back to strike a batter out and force two groundouts to retire the side.

After Charleroi put some pressure on but came up scoreless, Smithfield did the same. It wasn’t until the third inning that Post 22 brought some fireworks, starting with Shields.

He crushed a single to left center that got past Jason Myers on an error. As the ball reached the furthest part of the outfield fence 410 feet from home, Shields was rounding second with his eyes on home plate. Charleroi’s shortstop, who earned the win on the mound in game one of the series, did just that, making it 5-1 by himself.

Post 22 came up with one more run before it was retired as Verscheran singled to score Behrendt and give his team a 6-1 advantage.

After a scoreless fourth, Smithfield got a single from Kaiden Brady, but they were quickly shut down by Charleroi. Ethan Carr hit a hard grounder that worked out perfectly for Verscharen to turn a 4-6-3 double play before Frizzell forced a pop out to Behrendt at first one pitch later.

Smithfield-Fairchance made some noise before it took to the batter’s box in the top of the sixth as they acknowledged that they had nothing to lose, and they played like it early in the frame.

Cyrus Potkol singled to lead things off before Gino Valenti walked. Myers then singled to load the bases with no outs as Frizzell found himself in a bind.

Wilson-Jones stepped up and hit a single back at the mound that got to center field, making the score 6-2. Malinsky then drew a walk to bring another run home before Frizzell managed a punch out of Brayden Andrews for the first out of the stanza.

With the bases still loaded, Brady crushed a liner right into the glove of O’Neil to put two down before Carr grounded out to first to end the Smithfield rally at 6-3 entering the home half of the sixth.

“That made us nervous because he was getting to the pitch count, but he wiggled out of it,” Mollis said. “We didn’t want to make a move during the inning if we didn’t have to, and it worked out like that. It was gutsy for (Frizzell) to get out of it though because it could have gone sideways with no outs.”

Jace Pager doubled for Post 22, but he was stranded at third as Smithfield-Fairchance brought the top of its lineup to the plate with the season on the line.

Charleroi entered Kovach for Frizzell, and he forced two outs before walking Valenti. In his first pitch to Myers, Kovach forced a pop out to himself to end the contest at 6-3 to move Post 22 to the next round against Belle Vernon.

Charleroi and Belle Vernon will play Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, if necessary, to determine a winner.

“We played them tough last game, but unfortunately we had the craziness,” Mollis said, describing the blown home-plate call and its aftermath in the last matchup between both teams on June 27. “We consider them rivals because they’re close and they’re good, but none of that had to do with either of the teams. It’s pretty cordial between us. We’re playing to go to a championship, so it’ll be intense.”

Junior Legion Belle Vernon 7, Ligonier Valley 6

Belle Vernon Junior Legion scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to capture a 7-6 victory over Ligonier Valley in its playoff debut Friday night.

Ligonier Valley (5-11) went up 6-5 in the top of the sixth before Belle Vernon (9-6) responded in the home half. Chace Petrosky singled to score Freddy Cirlos and then managed to score himself on an error to flip the score to 7-6 in favor of the home team.

Petrosky went 2 for 4 in the victory while Maddox Ceccarelli went 1 for 1 with a tworun home run and a walk. Nate Kostelnik also added an RBI.

Three BV pitchers combined to give up just two hits, but 10 walks as well. Vincenzo Francia started the game and went 3 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and two unearned runs. AJ Watson relieved him and went 1 1/3 frames, giving up one hit and three unearned runs with five walks. Petrosky finished the game on the hill with 2 1/3 innings of hitless ball.

Ligonier Valley’s Issac Leighty and Russell Tinkey put up RBIs.