Baseball postseason rundown: On a night of nail-biters, No. 1 seed North Allegheny falls, No. 1's Pine-Richland, Indiana survive

As usual, Indiana’s pitching staff was terrific in Monday’s WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinals, limiting opposing Ambridge to just one hit and three baserunners in nine innings of play.

But in a game in which Indiana was getting little offense itself, the Indians found themselves in an extra-innings tie and their season in the balance.

That’s when Sully VanHoose decided enough was enough.

VanHoose delivered a run-scoring single with one out in the bottom of the ninth to help No. 1 Indiana edge No. 9 Ambridge, 1-0, at Gateway.

The win advanced Indiana (20-1) to the semifinals for the third year in a row. The Indians will meet No. 5 Beaver (11-9) on Tuesday with a spot in the championship game on the line.

On a night in which seven of the 12 WPIAL playoff games were decided by one run and five went to extra innings, Indiana survived and advanced. Carter Putt led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and stole second before moving to third on Ethan Shank’s groundout. Putt then scored when VanHoose ripped a single to right field.

Indiana has given up only 41 runs all season, and that fine pitching was on display again Monday as Texas Tech recruit Greg Minnick gave up one hit and one walk while striking out 17 in 7⅔ innings. Ryan Okopal then struck out two in 1⅓ innings of hitless relief.

But Ambridge (9-11), which closed the regular season with five straight losses, was outstanding on the mound, as well. After shutting out Knoch, 5-0, in the first round, Ambridge held Indiana off the board for the first eight innings. Starter Joe Leseiko allowed four hits, one walk and had nine strikeouts in eight innings before being relieved by Adam Fernandez, who had the team’s lone hit.

Other Class 4A quarterfinals

• Winning pitcher Parker Lind surrendered three hits while striking out 11 in 6⅔ shutout innings to vault No. 5 Belle Vernon (16-6) to a 5-0 win against No. 4 Beaver (11-9) at Burkett Park. Jaden Johnson scored the game’s first run in the third and added a two-run single in the fourth. Alonzo Wade chipped in two hits and also scored a run.

• No. 3 Elizabeth Forward (15-3) struck for seven runs in the first two innings before holding on to defeat No. 11 Ringgold (11-11), 8-5, at West Mifflin. Elizabeth Forward’s Cy Herchelroath had three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs. He was also the winning pitcher. Charlie Nigut added three hits, including two doubles. Tyler Fisher had two RBI’s for Ringgold.

• Blake Heater’s run-scoring single in the 11th lifted No. 7 Central Valley (12-10) to a 3-2 win against No. 2 West Mifflin (15-6) at Burkett Park. It was the second RBI of the game for Heater, whose first came on a run-scoring single as Central Valley took a 2-0 lead in the third. Jayvon Thompson had two of West Mifflin’s six hits and reached base four times.

Class 6A

• In a game that included only three total hits, Chase Damaska and Lucas Harshman scored on a fielder’s choice in the fifth to give No. 8 Hempfield (9-12) a 3-1 upset of No. 1 and defending champion North Allegheny (14-7) at Boyce Mayview Park. Winning pitcher Josh Cayer went the distance, giving up two hits and striking out eight. Nico Varlotta gave up one hit in 6⅔ innings but picked up the loss.

• Mason Fisher’s RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth gave No. 3 Seneca Valley (15-6) a 4-3 win against No. 6 Mt. Lebanon (8-13) at North Allegheny. It was the seventh win in a row for the Raiders, who were eliminated by Mt. Lebanon the previous two seasons. The Raiders led, 3-1, before Mt. Lebanon knotted the score with two runs in the top of the sixth.

• Sebastian Shulsky gave up three hits and struck out nine over 6⅔ scoreless innings and MJ Maruschak recorded the final out to earn the save as No. 2 Canon-McMillan (15-6) claimed a 3-0 win against No. 7 North Hills (8-13) at Boyce Mayview Park. Teddy Burke had two hits and scored a run for the Big Macs, who tallied all three of their runs in the first inning.

• Jake Sincak scored on a throwing error with one out in the bottom of the ninth to help No. 4 Norwin (13-7) rally for a 5-4 win against No. 5 Butler (11-9) at North Allegheny. Norwin trailed, 4-2, before scoring runs in the sixth and seventh to force extra innings. Tristyn Tavares had two hits and an RBI for Norwin, while Penn State recruit Nolan Stefaniak homered for Butler.

Norwin players celebrate their 5-4 win against Butler in Monday’s WPIAL Class 6A quarterfinals at North Allegheny. (Emily Matthews/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Class 5A

• Jackson Stocker’s fourth hit of the game came via a walk-off single in the 10th that gave No. 7 Peters Township (15-7) a 7-6 win over No. 15 Mars (9-11) at Gateway. Stocker hit a home run in the first for the Indians, who got a two-run triple from Nathan Skroupa. The Indians also won their first-round game by one run, beating Baldwin, 5-4.

• Colby Weber gave up three hits and struck out 14 over seven innings to power No. 3 Shaler (15-6) to a 6-1 win against No. 11 Connellsville (14-6) at Plum. Weber added two hits and two RBI’s, including a run-scoring double that highlighted a three-run Shaler first. Luke Schiffhauer also had two hits and a pair of RBI’s for the Titans. Connellsville had won six games in a row.

• Ryan Petras scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to give No. 4 Bethel Park (18-4) a 5-4 walkoff win against No. 5 Thomas Jefferson (15-5) at West Mifflin. Bethel Park scored its first four runs in the second before Thomas Jefferson countered with four in the third. Noah LeJeune and Nick Rillo each had two hits for Bethel Park. Luke Kosko had two for Thomas Jefferson.

• No. 1 Pine-Richland (19-3) scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat No. 9 Latrobe (15-7), 8-7, at Plum. Anthony Annichine tied the score at 7 with an RBI single and Drew Boivin followed with the winning sacrifice fly. Anthony Mengine led Pine-Richland with four hits and an RBI. Latrobe’s Luke Nipar-Smith had three RBIs and Brody Rumon added three hits.