Pine-Richland had already left the bases loaded three times, but that’s not what Jake Waddell was thinking about when he came to the plate in seventh.
"You’ve got to have a next-pitch mentality,” said Waddell, who drove in the winning run with a two-out, bases-loaded single as Pine-Richland outlasted rival North Allegheny, 9-8, to clinch the section title Thursday with a walk-off win.
In all, the Rams had 22 batters reach base. But the runners they’d left stranded were inconsequential once junior Anthony Mengine scored the winning run on Waddell’s long flyball that landed down the left-field line.
"This is a game of failure,” Waddell said of his team’s resilience. "It’s a long game, seven innings or more. You’ve just got to move on and have a short memory.”
Pine-Richland had leads of 3-0 and 8-5, but saw North Allegheny rally back each time. The Rams could’ve pulled away, but ended the first, second and fourth innings with the bases loaded.
"We’ve left guys on base all year long,” Pine-Richland coach Kurt Wolfe said. "I told the boys, ‘Just keep getting guys on base, get guys in scoring position and we’ll get the hit.’ And we did.”
The walk-off win gave Pine-Richland (16-4, 10-2) the Section 1-6A title outright after sharing it the past two seasons.
The race for the section title came down to the last game of the regular season. This was the third game in their section series and the teams had split the first two.
Pine-Richland won the opener, 10-8, on Monday, and North Allegheny won, 5-3, in Game 2 on Tuesday. The third game turned out to be the closest yet.
Both teams had already qualified for the upcoming WPIAL playoffs. North Allegheny (13-5, 9-3) finished alone in second in the section.
"It’s been a grind,” Wolfe said. "I gave them three days off (after this win). They’ve earned it. They deserve it.”
Pine-Richland closer Tristan Farrar earned the win in relief by recording the final seven outs while allowing only two hits and one run. A pinch-hit double by North Allegheny’s J.D. Costanzo created an 8-8 tie in the sixth before Farrar retired the final five batters in order.
Pine-Richland’s seventh-inning effort started with consecutive one-out singles by Mengine, sophomore Logan Plummer and senior Peyton Ford to load the bases against NA reliever Will Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, but this time Pine-Richland capitalized when Waddell put the ball beyond anyone’s reach in left field.
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"There were a little nerves, but I tried to fill that with excitement,” Waddell said. "He hung a slider and I just ripped on it.”
Pine-Richland had 12 hits — all singles — and was helped by seven walks, one hit batter, a couple of North Allegheny throwing errors and a wild pitch. Mengine, the Rams’ leadoff batter, reached base four times and scored three runs.
"We didn’t help ourselves, let’s put it that way,” North Allegheny coach Andrew Heck said. "Pitching and defense are two things I’m not happy about in this series. We have to be better in those aspects of the game without a doubt.”
Pine-Richland took an early 3-0 lead with three runs in the first. North Allegheny answered with five runs in the second before Pine-Richland scored five more in the third for an 8-5 lead.
The long innings took a toll on both starters and their pitch counts.
Pine-Richland’s Nathan Kush was chased in the second inning after allowing five runs on four hits and a walk. North Allegheny’s Jackson Walsh was pulled in the third after allowing eight runs on seven hits and five walks.
North Allegheny had eight hits in all. Mason Smith, who reached base twice and scored two runs, had a two-run triple in the second. A two-run double in the fourth by Matt Parreaguirre cut Pine-Richland’s lead to 8-7.
The bullpens slowed the scoring. Pine-Richland reliever Chase Caricato allowed two runs in 3⅓ innings before giving way to Farrar. A junior, Farrar struck out three and walked none. Farrar was helped by his defense when Ford made a leaping catch at the fence for the third out in the seventh.
Fitzgerald recorded 12 outs in relief without allowing a run — including 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth — before surrendering Waddell’s walk-off hit.
Pine-Richland’s field measures 360 feet down the lines, leaving a lot of grass for corner outfielders to cover. Waddell was optimistic his flyball might clear the fence, but said he was excited for a game-winning single nonetheless.
"In this field with this wind, this is a tough field to cover,” Wolfe said. "It’s tough to really judge where to play, especially for left and right fielders. MLB doesn’t have 360 feet down the line.”
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Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.
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