Seneca Valley rebounds after stumble, beats North Allegheny in extras
JACKSON TWP — Regardless of the situation, remain centered.
Heeding those words of advice, Seneca Valley senior second baseman Nick Parrotto awaited the third pitch of his eighth-inning at-bat on Tuesday evening.
“”One thing Coach (Eric Semega) always preaches that I really like is to always be between five and seven,“ said Parrotto, who barreled Cole Suba’s offering down the right field line, plating classmate Kallen Durbin to seal an 8-7 Senior Day baseball win over arch rival North Allegheny. ”What he means by that is if you do something really good, you’re a 10. You’re excited, nothing’s going wrong.
“Or you’re a one. You’re sad. Everything’s going wrong. No matter highs or lows, stay between that five and seven. Stay focused. I think, today, we did a great job of that.”
The Raiders (7-5-1, 4-4 WPIAL Section 1-6A) didn’t trail on the day until giving up three runs and falling behind by a run in the top of the seventh inning.
“You don’t really want to know what I was feeling, to be honest with you,” Semega said. “Those feelings have regenerated themselves too often this year because we’re doing everything we can to give us an opportunity to win — and we’re finding ways to lose.
“Today, all that matters is that we found a way to win.”
To begin their half of that frame, the 7-8-9 batters in Seneca Valley’s order — Parrotto and fellow seniors Tyler McNany and Aiden Leiendecker — worked three straight walks. Charles Mau, a Penn State pledge and the visitors’ fifth pitcher used, struck out the next two challengers before Mike Delduca worked a four-pitch walk; scoring Parrotto, tying matters at seven apiece, and forcing extras.
Durbin went 4-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. He led off the home eighth with a single and moved to second on Owen Malak’s sacrifice bunt before Parrotto called game.
“I saw some highs and lows and — when it was all said and done — we had someone that came through for the first time in a big situation,” Semega said.
Thanks in part to Durbin’s two-RBI double, the Raiders scored four runs their first time up and chased North Allegheny starter Greg Schmidt from the mound before the initial inning was through. Durbin stole home in that frame and added another run on his second double in the following one.
The Tigers tacked one run on the scoreboard in both the second and fourth innings. Seneca Valley senior Luke Anderton answered the latter by scoring on a North Allegheny error that resulted from a hit-and-run.
Senor Zyler Freedman started on the hill for the Raiders, striking out five and walking three on 102 pitches. He gave up four runs, the latter two before being yanked in the sixth.
Delduca rebounded from a rough seventh on the mound by stranding runners at first and second in the eighth.
The defeat was the Tigers’ first in the conference this go-round. They’re now 7-1 in-section and 10-3 overall. Mason Smith, August Maslo, Jackson Walsh, and JJ Mancuso had RBI hits for North Allegheny.
North Allegheny 010 102 30 — 7 12 1
Seneca Valley 410 100 11 — 8 7 0
W: Mike Delduca 2.1IP (1K, 1BB). L: Cole Suba 0.1IP (0K, 0BB).
North Allegheny (10-3, 7-1): Mason Smith 2B 1B RBI, Matt Parreaguirre 2B 2-1B R, Owen Schall 2-1B R, Connor Fadgen R, JD Costanzo 2B 2R, August Maslo 1B 2RBI, Nico Varlotta 1B R, Charles Mau 1B 2RBI, JJ Mancuso 1B RBI R
Seneca Valley (7-5-1, 4-4): Andrew Malichky R, Luke Anderton 1B 3R, Mike Delduca 1B, Ryan Piekutoski R, Kallen Durbin 2-2B 2-1B 3RBI 2R, Nick Parrotto 1B 2RBI R
Thursday: Seneca Valley at North Allegheny
