Mt. Lebanon to face North Allegheny in WPIAL 6A baseball finals
Survival, rather than defending, was the name of the game for the Mt. Lebanon baseball team.
Now after overcoming an 0-8 start to the season, the Blue Devils find themselves in a position to repeat as WPIAL Class 6A champions.
By virtue of playoff wins against Pine-Richland, 3-0, and Seneca Valley, 2-1, Mt. Lebanon (12-10) will battle North Allegheny (16-6) for the district title at 7 p.m. May 31 at Wild Things Park in Washington.
“When you are 0-8, you are just fighting each day to survive, so any perception of being defending champs has been gone for months now,” said Lebo manager Patt McCloskey. “That’s why I love these kids, they are totally in the moment, nobody ever says a word about last year. They are completely present at all times, and I am so proud of them for having that mindset.
“Because I enjoy being around these kids, I couldn’t be happier for them and what they have gotten to experience.”
Thanks to pitchers Matt Delvaux and David Shields, the Blue Devils get to experience another run at a WPIAL banner, not to mention an opportunity to redeem their PIAA playoff appearance in 2022. Last June, Lebo lost its first-round state playoff after winning the district title with a 2-1 win against arch rival Upper St. Clair.
In the WPIAL semifinal game played May 23 at North Allegheny, Delvaux blanked the Rams. He pitched a complete game shutout, scattering two hits, striking out five and walking one, to knock off top-seeded Pine-Richland (15-7).
Lebo scored all of its runs in the fifth frame. Brock Stacy led off the inning with a double. Nate Girod put down the sacrifice bunt and reached base on an error. After Jake Tinnemeyer was hit by a pitch, Tyler Smith smacked a two-run single. Delvaux drove in Tinnemeyer on a sacrifice fly.
That one-bad inning negated a fine pitching performance by Jacob McGuire. He only allowed three hits, Tanner Donati had the other single in the third, but walked five.
In the quarterfinal game played May 22 also at NA, David Shields struck out 10 while allowing four hits. The University of Miami recruit, Shields is 4-1 overall with the one defeat coming against the Raiders during Lebo’s eight-game losing streak.
Lebo scored two unearned runs in the game. In the second stanza, Stacy tagged a two-out single. He moved to second on a balk and scored on Nate Girod’s misplayed ground ball.
Though the Raiders tied the game in the fifth, Lebo scored the game-winning run in the top of the sixth. After Tyler Smith reached second on a two-base error, moved to third on Delvaux’s single and scored on Nolan Smith’s sacrifice fly to right field.
With the victories, Lebo heads into the championship contest firing on all cylinders, especially since Shields and Delvaux are a strong 1-2 punch on the mound. With 77 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings and an ERA of 1.17, Shields is 6-4 overall. Delvaux has 37 Ks over 39 frames, an 0.92 ERA and a 4-4 record.
“We’ve gotten great outings from our starting pitchers,” McCloskey said. “We have also stayed calm and put together just enough offense to win games. Our defense has also been playing well and that includes the infield, the outfield and especially our catcher. Nolan (Smith) has been absolutely huge in both playoff games throwing out runners.”
Knocking off NA will be no easy task for the Blue Devils. The Tigers have won four in a row and feature West Virginia recruit Spencer Barnett. He was an all-section first-team infielder as was his teammate Andrew Hart. Pitcher JD Contanzo led the list of second-team selections that also included Owen Schall, Drew Dougherty and Harron Lee.
“NA is very good, extremely athletic with big kids that are very strong and very fast,” said McCloskey. “Their No. 1 pitcher is somebody we will have faced for the third straight game so we’ll have to be ready.
“There are a million cliches that I could draw from, but the most important thing we need to do is get some runners on base and put some pressure on them by putting the ball in play hard, bunting and running the bases,” McCloskey added. “They have a great lineup, so we’ll have to throw multiple pitches for strikes and play great defense.”