Freedom junior Boden Hilliard silenced Our Lady of the Sacred Heart hitters throughout Wednesday’s WPIAL Class 2A championship, but there was something holding the Bulldogs back from announcing themselves as champions.
They didn’t have any runs.
So, this teen with a strong right arm took things into his own hands, delivering the Bulldogs a run and eventually a first title.
Hilliard fired a two-hit shutout and drove in the game’s only run via a sixth-inning single to help Freedom make history courtesy a 1-0 win against OLSH at EQT Park in Washington.
What was going through the head of an obviously excited Freedom coach Dan O’Leary following the game?
“Seriously? Relief,” he said. “We battled. No one believed in us but us. These guys stuck together. They fought hard. They worked hard. They practiced every day knowing that we don’t get credit for anything. We won big games during the year, nothing was said.”
So, No. 8 Freedom (15-7), which knocked off No. 1 Neshannock in the semifinals, spoke up for itself, announcing itself as WPIAL champ for the first time by beating No. 2 seed OLSH (15-8), which was also trying to capture its first championship.
The game featured a terrific pitchers’ duel between Hilliard and OLSH senior southpaw Iseia Schulz. Each kept the opposing team off the scoreboard the first five innings. But it was Freedom that finally broke through against Schulz in the sixth. Nick Fessler reached on an error to begin the inning and Tommy Ward followed with a single. Following a strikeout, Hilliard shot a ball into center field that scored Fessler.
“I was sitting fastball the whole time,” Hilliard said. “Once I saw everyone else looking at fastballs, I realized I needed to sit fastball way more and it’s going to come to me.”
Schulz pitched to one more batter before hitting the 105-pitch limit and being removed. A Point Park recruit, Schulz gave up four hits, the unearned run and two walks while striking out 11 in 5⅔ innings. O’Leary said that building up that pitch count was the plan facing Schulz, who fell to 8-1 on the season.
“We told the guys pregame working up to this, no gifts,” O’Leary said. “Don’t swing at balls, make him put the pitch in the strike zone and bang it. And I thought we did a fantastic job of working the count, running the count up, fouling off pitches. I knew in the fourth inning his pitch count vs. Boden’s, and I said, ‘We’ve got this.’”
Hilliard was exceptional while improving to 6-2 on the season. OLSH’s only hits came on a single by Chad Minton in the second and a triple by Gino Williams in the third. Hilliard then retired the final 13 hitters of the game, setting down the Chargers in order in each of the final four innings. He walked two and struck out five, and needed only three pitches to get through the final inning.
“Boden is a big-game pitcher,” O’Leary said. “He was in control. He kept his pitch count down. He controlled the game. And like all year, we made the plays behind him.”
Added Hilliard, “I’m just proud of the team, so proud of myself for executing at the plate and pitching amazing for our team. And it just feels amazing to see that we’ve gone so far as a team.”
Freedom won despite mustering only four hits. In addition to singles by Ward and Hilliard in the sixth, Mason O’Donnell singled in the first and Colten Blank singled in the second. Fessler reached base three times, including twice on walks.
This title was a long time coming for Freedom, which lost in its only other championship appearance in 2017. The Bulldogs went just 6-12 two seasons ago and lost in the first round of the playoffs a season ago.
“It’s about team, teammates,” O’Leary said. “I’ve got 18 guys. And these 18 guys, they live, eat, breathe, sleep baseball together. When they say family, they mean family. They do stuff together.”
And on Wednesday, they won the school’s first WPIAL championship together.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.