NTL BASEBALL: WYALUSING DROPS SEMIFINAL GAME TO SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT (2022-05-24)

BY GARRETT CARR
Northern Tier Sports Report
CANTON — Wyalusing pitcher Blake Morningstar was cruising. The Wake-Forest bound junior had retired the first nine South Williamsport hitters and looked dominant. His pitch count was in the low 30’s through three innings, too, and with Wyalusing out to a 1-0 lead, it looked like they may have already scored enough to win. But, South kept battling and turned the tide, slowly but surely tightening their grip on this PIAA District IV, Class AA Baseball semifinal contest in Canton as Southside rallied to beat Wyalusing, 1-0.

It was a battle of two of the top flamethrowers in all of District IV. Morningstar hit as high as 94-mph  on the radar gun for Wyalusing and South Williamsport senior and Bloomsburg-bound pitcher Landon Lorson hit as high as 92-mph. And, for a while it looked like one run would be all that would be required to advance to the championship game. 

After both teams went down in order for the first inning-and-a-half, it was Wyalusing who got the all-important first run. 

Jake Bruyn led off the bottom of the 2nd for the Rams and hit what looked to be off the bat an innocuous chopper heading for foul territory. But, the ball stayed fair and clipped the chalk down the left field line, good enough for a leadoff double. 

After Kevin VanDeMark was hit by a pitch, Wyalusing had two on and no out. After a strikeout, Nick Vanderpool Jr. was hit by a pitch to load the bases. 

Then, on an 0-2 pitch, a curveball in the dirt got away from South Williamsport catcher Kayne Jones. Jones corralled it, though, and threw to Lorson covering home in what looked to be in plenty of time to nail Bruyn at home. 

But, Lorson dropped the ball on the tag, and Wyalusing led 1-0. Lorson would work out of the 2nd and 3rd with one out jam without any further damage, and Wyalusing led 1-0 after one. 

Wyalusing looked to be in total control. Already out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third in a game most figured to be very low scoring, the Rams had back-to-back singles by the top two hitters in their order in Trehnon Hugo and Hunter Moss with no outs and the 3-4-5 hitters up. It felt like the dam was going to break for a South Williamsport team that had not yet had a baserunner one time through the order against  Morningstar. 

But, the dam held. Landon Lorson struck out three of the next four batters, sandwiched around an intentional walk to four-hitter Jake Bruyn, and South Williamsport kept the deficit at one. 

“We had second and third with nobody out. And then we had bases loaded one out, with the middle of the order coming up there and they struck out our three, five and six hitters. That was a spot where we needed to put some runs across,” Wyalusing coach Nick Vanderpool said. 

Morningstar recorded his third straight perfect inning in the third, setting up the aforementioned Wyalusing rally that wasn’t, and it went to the fourth inning with Wyalusing up 1-0. 

It was time for South Williamsport to get something going, and they were going to do it using the same strategy that Casey Waller has used over his illustrious career spanning three decades in district IV. 

Lorson led off with a single, bringing up the two-hitter in Kaden Shay. The diminutive Shay is in the two hole to bunt, walk and run, but Wyalusing seemed surprised when he did indeed drop a bunt down the third base line.  

Wyalusing got the out at first, but in the process left third base uncovered and Lorson went all the way from 1st to 3rd with just one out. The next batter was Makai Day, and he bunted to the first baseman in a well-executed safety squeeze and the Mounties tied the game up at one heading to the bottom of the fourth. 

Lorson seemed to get a second wind after the game was tied and he retired three straight Rams after a leadoff error by the Southside defense and it was tied at one after 4 innings.

Both teams went down in order in the fifth with a combined five strikeouts between the two aces, but South Williamsport was ready to hit again. 

Once again, Lorson got to lead off, and once again he laced a ball for a base hit, this time between 1st and 2nd in a two-strike count. Lorson didn’t stop at first, though, and legged out what appeared to be a routine single into a hustle double to set the stage for Kaden Shay. 

Once again, Shay delivered. Shay lined a ball the other way into left field to score Lorson and South Williamsport had their first lead at 2-1. Wyalusing would prevent any further damage, but that turned out to be the winning run. 

After Lorson shut down the Rams in order again, South Williamsport looked for insurance runs. DJ Gantz turned around a Morningstar fastball down the left field line for a leadoff double. After a wild pitch, Grant Bachman hit a ground ball to 2nd base that was good enough to score Remington Minier, who was pinch running for Gantz, and South led 3-1 with Wyalusing down to their last three outs. 

Lorson continued to excel, working around a CJ Carr single to get the first two outs of the 7th before being lifted due to pitch count. Makai Day, arguably the ace of the Mountie staff, only needed three straight strikes to get the last out, and South Williamsport won, 3-1. 

South Williamsport advances to play Muncy in the district finals Saturday at Bowman Field. 

Wyalusing caps their season at 17-3 and champions of NTL Large School. 

PHOTO CAPTION: Wyalusing’s Blake Morningstar (right) and catcher Nick Vanderpool Jr…PHOTOS BY LANCE LARCOM