NTL BASEBALL: WYALUSING ROUTS SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, CLAIMS PROGRAM'S FIRST DISTRICT TITLE (2023-05-28)

Northern Tier Sports Report
WILLIAMSPORT — Wyalusing knew they could make history this year. And on Saturday, they did, beating South Williamsport 10-1 in the District IV, Class AA baseball title to give the Rams their first district title in school history.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the boys,” said Wyalusing coach Nick Vanderpool. “I told these boys when they were 7-8-9 years old, and this is what they were trained to do. I never dreamed that I’d be the man standing here when they did win it, but I had no doubt they were capable of it. And, having my son on the team makes it special, but every one of these boys are special. I love every one of them, I’ve been coming most of them since they’ve been 8-9 years old, so it’s just awesome.”

Wyalusing picked a good time to break out of their slump, pounding out 12 hits against four different South Williamsport pitchers. 

“It was huge,” Morningstar said about this team’s fast start, and consistent offense. “(Trehnon) Hugo starting that game off with a double was just the perfect start, the best thing we could have asked for in that situation. It really put some pressure on them right off the bat to come out, and they’d have to play a really, really good ball game to get back in and take the lead.”

Blake Morningstar continued to be dominant on the mound, going the distance with nine strikeouts, two walks, one hit, and one unearned run on 99 pitches.

In the final four innings he retired 10 of the 12 batters he faced, while the defense behind him turned two double plays to end threats.

“It took me a little bit to get it going,” said Morningstar. “I’ve been out short rest the last couple of days, and I was a little amped up to start the game. I kind of settled in there in like the fourth, fifth inning, then carried it on the rest of the game.”

Wyalusing knows the intimidation factor helps them out, too, when they’re hitting the ball well.

“They know that he’s a really good pitcher, and they’ve got to hit him, and we got some runs on the board early, and they got a little nervous,” said catcher Nick Vanderpool Jr.

Kenny Mapes led the way, going 3-for-5 with 4-RBI and two doubles, while Hugo was 2-for-4 with a double, three runs scored, and an RBI.

Robert English (2-for-4) scored twice and drove in two runs, as Vanderpool Jr. (2-for-4) had 2-RBI and a run scored.

Morningstar (1-for-4) and CJ Carr (1-for-4) each scored a run, as Isaac Shaffer scored two. Parker Petlock (1-for-3) would have a hit.

Hugo led things off with a double in the top of the first, then was moved to third on a Vanderpool single. Mapes brought him home on a hit for a 1-0 lead.

South would get an infield fly and a double play to get out of the jam, but were still down 1-0.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the second when South led off with a double. After two strikeouts and a walk an error allowed a run to come in to knot the game up at 1-1.

“I try to have a short memory, and I just shook it, I flushed it as soon as I came into the dugout,” Morningstar said about that Mountie run. “I was already looking ahead to the third inning, and  hopefully just go out and give my team a chance to win the game.”

The Rams answered in the top of the third as Shaffer was hit by a pitch. Hugo then reached on an error, putting runners on first and third. 

That set up Vanderpool’s sacrifice fly that scored Shaffer to make it 2-1.

Then came Wyalusing’s first big inning, the top of the fourth when they scored four runs with two outs.

English and Petlock had back to back 1-out hits. Petlock would get forced out at second on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Shaffer.

However, Hugo got things going again with a hit that brought in English. Vanderpool then hit in Shaffer for the 4-1 lead.

Mapes then powered one off the wall for a double that scored Hugo and Vanderpool to make it 6-1 Rams.

“The top of the order has been productive all season,” Mapes said. “Junior and Trehnon have been on base every day. That’s my job is to just get them in. Even a seeing-eye-single would have done it for me, just looking for a base knock to get Trehnon in.”

It’s the type of offense they have to find to win games in the post season.

“Isaac running out that double play ball, making it a fielder’s choice,” said Vanderpool Jr. “And me and Trehnon getting back to back singles, and then Kenny with that one that almost went out.”

They poured on three more runs in the fifth as Morningstar had a lead-off single. That was followed by Carr doubling to put runners on second and third.

English would bring them both in with a hit to make it 8-1. After a walk and two outs English would score on a wild pitch for the 9-1 Wyalusing advantage.

Their final run came in the seventh as Hugo was hit by a pitch, then driven in on a 2-out Mapes double for the 10-1 lead.

“It’s amazing,” Mapes said about being apart of a district title team. “This was the year to do it. We’ve got our ace pitcher that we needed. He’s graduating, obviously, we’re losing three seniors, but I feel like we’ll be back next year.”

“It’s incredible,” added Morningstar. “This is something we’ve been working for for two, three years now. It’s been the biggest team goal that we’ve had for the last three years, and to finally get here to Bowman and then make it happen, it’s special.”

The team’s adamant that they’re not done, either. They open state play a week from Monday, with the possibility of a home game, or, at least a game that doesn’t involve a 2-hour bus ride to get to.

It will be a long time off, though, with over a week before their next game.

“Seven days off is huge,” coach Vanderpool remarked. “I don’t know if I love seven days off for the competitive side of baseball. We’ll probably try to jump in if Elk Lake pulls off the district title there Monday. We may try to get him in some, but for Blake to be able to have seven days off, he’ll be coming in the first round gunning, so let’s run all the way to the finals.”

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PHOTOS BY LANCE LARCOM