Miles Smith daydreamed his way through school Tuesday at Ligonier Valley, imagining himself on the mound in a must-win situation. When his eighth-period class came around, the junior lefty could clearly see the Rams’ baseball field through a classroom window along the front of the high school building.
He was itching to get out there.
When he finally did, Smith tossed a masterful two-hitter with eight strikeouts to stymie Mt. Pleasant and help Ligonier Valley gain a split of the two-game series and claim the final WPIAL Class 3A playoff berth with a 10-0 Section 3 victory in five innings.
“It’s exciting,” Smith said, flashing a wide smile. “It was a very long day of school, trying to get through a lot of classes. I couldn’t tell you what we were learning today.”
Smith also drove in two runs with a pair of hits for Ligonier Valley, which totaled 14 against two Mt. Pleasant pitchers.
Sophomore starter Bob Smithnosky, trailing 2-0, left the game in the bottom of the second with an apparent lower leg injury before the playoff-bound Vikings fell apart.
The game, a turnaround from Mt. Pleasant’s 5-1 home victory Monday, was stopped with two outs in the bottom of the fifth because of a 10-run rule when Ligonier Valley (10-9, 6-6) scored four.
“Our backs were against the wall. It’s been that way for several weeks now,” Ligonier Valley coach Jason Bush said. “If we didn’t win this, we very well could have been out of luck.”
But the Rams are in, joining Mt. Pleasant in Class 3A’s 16-team playoff field. The WPIAL will reveal pairings Friday.
Mt. Pleasant (11-8, 8-4) entered the series having clinched a spot weeks ago. Despite Tuesday’s loss, the Vikings finished runner-up in the section to undefeated No. 3 Freeport.
“We sort of took the easy way out today,” Mt. Pleasant coach Chris Firmstone said. “It’s disappointing, but they’re 14-to-18-year-old kids. They don’t understand the importance of competing for every single thing you’ve got. If you’re not here to win, then why are we here?”
Ligonier Valley won for the sixth time in eight games and fifth in the past six in section play. Austin Harr was 3 for 3, including a pair of doubles, for the Rams.
Jacob Petalino, Cooper Hegan and Rocco Harris joined Smith with two hits each for Ligonier Valley.
Smith allowed four runners, yielding singles to Smithnosky and Colten Keefer and twice plunking Cole Hart. He did not issue a walk.
“He mixes his pitches so well. He’s not afraid to pitch behind,” Bush said. “That’s two straight shutouts for him. He had 11 K’s against Southmoreland (on April 28) and eight today.”
With Ligonier Valley and Yough deadlocked in the section standings and battling for the final playoff spot, LV settled things by winning the series finale with Mt. Pleasant and neutralizing Yough’s sweep of Deer Lakes less than a month after having swept the Cougars in a two-game series to hold the tiebreaker.
“We just talked about (Tuesday),” Bush said. “(Monday) was a tough loss. We didn’t play our best baseball. But the reality is if you come here today and win, you win five of your last six section games and you’re in the playoffs. That’s what we talked about: the positive. Let’s look at the positive, not the negative of (Monday’s) loss. But let’s go get (Tuesday’s) win, and we’re going in riding high.”