WPIAL Baseball Championship: Seneca Valley 5 - Mt. Lebanon 3

I learned a few weeks ago, that Anthony Paladino, the son of old friend, Frank Paladino, is the starting third baseman for the Mt. Lebanon High School Blue Devils, and that last night, Mt. Lebo would be playing Seneca Valley for the WPIAL Quad-A championship.  Now, I did face a possible conflict since nephews Zach and Nate Stoner attend Seneca Valley, but since neither of them play on the baseball team, I cast my lot with the Blue Devils, and headed down to Consol Energy Field in Washington, PA last night, along with other old friends Roger Hansen and Jim Hinerman, to watch what promised to be an epic tilt.  I even wore a blue & gold shirt for the occasion.


It was an exciting atmosphere and it was a lot of fun to be there and watch these kids playing in this game last night.  Unfortunately for Mt. Lebo, Seneca Valley prevailed and won by a score of 5-3.  Senior SV pitcher Matt Smith was just too much for the Devils to overcome last night, as he struck out 10 batters in the seven inning complete game. Despite giving up seven hits and walking four, he was dominant, and made the difference in the game.


Of special excitement for us was a stellar defensive play that Anthony made in the first inning.  With a man on and two outs, Seneca Valley's best hitter, Austin Bream, son of former Pirate Sid Bream, hit a screaming line drive that had "run scoring double" written all over it, but young Mr. Paladino snared it in a fashion that had "Brooks Robinson" written all over it. That was one of several very nice defensive plays that Anthony made in the game. 


It was a great effort on the part of both teams, and a fun evening at the ballpark.  I'm glad that I was there.


By the byzantine workings of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, despite losing last night, Mt. Lebanon has still qualified for the State Championship tournament, so best wishes for success to the Blue Devils as they advance in the States.


Now, a couple of other Grandstander-type observations....

• When you are used to watching baseball only at the major league level, you take for granted what a difficult game it is to play well.  Watching a high school baseball game, even a high level game as last night's one, you see that what would be routine plays in a major league game, do not get made in these games.  You may say that is not fair to compare high school players to major leaguers, and you would be right, and that is not my purpose here, but I have seen this same occurrence in minor league games in Altoona, Erie, and State College that I have attended over the years.  I suppose that my point is that when a guy gets to the major leagues, you can be sure that he is a very good baseball player.
• The game last night used a Designated Hitter; pitchers did not come to bat.  Now I have nothing to back me up on this, but I would guess that in many, if not most cases, the pitcher on a high school team might be the best player on any given high school team and very likely the best hitter, so what is the point in not allowing him to hit in the game?
• The coaches for each team last night wore full baseball uniforms.  Why?  For that matter, why do professional and major league managers wear full uniforms.  I guess the answer is "because they always have."