The Lakeland Chiefs came into PNC Field undefeated and the top seed in the District 2 3A Tournament. Their opponent would be the Holy Redeemer Royals who came in as the three seed. The Chiefs went with Brad Richards. The Royals would send Jordan Choman. Both pitchers threw no-hitters in their last start. The no-hit bid for Richards ended with a Tim Cavanaugh one out single. After a strikeout, Adam Retzbach would throw out Cavanaugh trying to steal second for the third out. Choman would throw a 1-2-3 first inning to keep the game scoreless after one. Choman would draw a one out walk, but a fielder's choice and a popout would end the Royals half of the inning. Choman threw a second consecutive 1-2-3 inning for the Royals. Richards threw a 1-2-3 inning for the Chiefs, highlighted by a diving catch by Christian Cicio. Mike Romano led off by getting hit by a pitch to give Lakeland their first base runner of the game. Romano would move to second on a Billy Lavelle sacrifice bunt, but a strikeout and a groundout would keep the game scoreless after three. Cavanaugh would draw a one out walk but Richards would retire the next three batters to keep the Royals off the board. Retzbach would draw a one out walk but his courtesy runner would get thrown out trying to steal second on the next batter. A groundout would keep the game scoreless after four. Richards would throw another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth for the Chiefs. Shane Novitsky would draw a leadoff walk then Jordan Art would get hit by a pitch to make it first and second with no outs. Romano would reach on a single and Novitsky would score on a throwing error for a 1-0 Lakeland lead. After a strikeout, Cicio would hit an infield double to score Art for the 2-0 Chiefs lead. A lineout to short would cause a double play to end the fifth. Sean Wills would lead off with a double to left center. The Chiefs would go with Dom Verrastro in relief. Verrastro would get the three batters to keep the two run lead. Retzbach would hit a one out single but Choman would get a 4-3 double play to end the sixth. Cade Flanley would draw a leadoff walk, then Jordan Choman hit a single to get the tying run to first. Dean Ambosie came in to courtesy run for Choman. After a strikeout, Rob McClay would hit a double to deep left center to score Flanley and Ambosie to tie the game at 2. After a popout, Sean Wills would bring home McClay to make it a 3-2 Royals lead. Tucker Ell would get hit by a pitch but a flyout would end the Top half of the seventh. Novitsky would hit a leadoff single and would be lifted for Colin Walsh as a pinch runner but Choman would strike out the side to give the Royals the District 3A Crown with a 3-2 victory over previously undefeated Lakeland.
Thoughts on the game: This was the most impressive game of the weekend. Despite both teams qualifying for the State Tournament, both teams wanted to win this game. The Royals in the seventh were determined to take the lead and broke the Lakeland scoreless streak in the postseason. Despite the defeat, Lakeland was very impressive. I still believe they can go deep into the State Playoffs. For the Royals, Jordan Choman pitched a great game, despite giving up two runs, he struck out eight, including striking out the final three batters of the game to get the Royals first District Title since 2012. Sean Wills had a great game at the plate, he went 2 for 3 and almost went 3 for 3 if it weren't for a great defensive play by Christian Cicio.
Holy Redeemer 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
Lakeland 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
Holy Redeemer
SS Ell 3 0 0 0
2B Cavanaugh 3 0 0 0
C Borum 3 0 0 0
3B Flanley 2 1 0 0
P Choman 2 1 1 0
RF Molitoris 3 0 0 0
CF McClay 3 1 1 2
1B Bozentka 3 0 0 0
LF Wills 3 0 2 1
2B Wills, McClay
Lakeland
2B/SS Piraino 3 0 0 0
1B Hayes 3 0 0 0
C Retzbach 2 0 1 0
SS/P Verrastro 3 0 0 0
LF Novitsky 2 1 1 0
PR Walsh 0 0 0 0
3B Art 2 1 0 0
CF Romano 2 0 1 0
P Richards 0 0 0 0
DH Lavelle 1 0 0 0
DH Mizak 1 0 0 0
RF Cicio 2 0 1 1
2B Cicio
Pitching
Holy Redeemer
Choman (W) 7 IP 26 BF 2 R 2 ER 4 H 8 K 2 BB
Lakeland
Richards 5+ IP 18 BF 0 R 0 ER 2 H 4 K 2 BB
Verrastro (L) 2 IP 11 BF 3 R 3 ER 3 H 1 K 1 BB
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