Keystone shortstop Carter Frank plays a pitch in Wednesday night’s game against Mifflinburg. TIM WEIGHT/For The Express
Keystone’s Major All-Star team has proven that hitting is not only a deciding factor in winning or losing games, it is the primary factor. Other than running into a solid Mifflinburg team on Wednesday night, where Keystone fell behind early and couldn’t pull off a comeback, Keystone’s hitting has held them back in a big way.
But the truth is, making crucial hits at the right time is how Keystone plays best, and it’s how the team wins. Mifflinburg saw the ball faster and more efficiently than Keystone. With a timely strike, Keystone has shown its true character at some of the most critical times. If they take a page out of Mifflinburg’s game plan starting Wednesday, they’ll be in great shape.
The second-round loss to Mifflinburg wasn’t what Keystone and its fans hoped would be the outcome heading into Wednesday’s game. After a first-round blowout of Upper Dauphin, 11-3, the team was riding on its high horse. But even in a loss, Keystone still totaled six runs on six hits, making the game a five-run loss against what looked like an 11-run effort.
And if they can continue to show they can play well in tough situations, reaching Saturday’s championship game for a rematch with Mifflinburg isn’t out of reach. With three possible games ahead in as many days, Keystone has a shot at a Section 3 crown if it wins the rest of the tournament.
Winning the rest of the tournament would require not only three wins in three days, but beating a team three out of four times in less than seven days. That’s a lot to ask of a group of 12-year-olds, but it’s manageable.
In Wednesday’s contest, Mifflinburg came up big in the third inning with five consecutive hits. Similarly, Keystone hit singles in two of four at-bats and hit two three-run homers in the same inning that threatened Mifflinburg.
Five different Keystone players managed a hit in the sixth inning alone and a hit in the third for a total of six on the night. Between Evan Edwards, Logan Bower, Evan Batterson, Logan Daniel, Angelo Tarantella and Zavier Wadsworth, when back-to-back hits came, Keystone proved dangerous.
“That’s one thing about this team is they can pass the posts,” Keystone coach Cole Hanley said. “They can go from 1 to 12 and that helps a lot now that it’s a 12-man thing, so I’m really happy for them.”
Playing as the home team doesn’t always give a team an advantage, but what Keystone is taking advantage of is seeing what their rivals have in store. In Tuesday evening’s game against Upper Dauphin, Keystone fell behind by two runs in the top of the first, but fought back with four runs in the bottom of that inning.
After holding Upper Dauphin without a hit or a run in the second and just three hits the rest of the contest, Keystone was able to explode in the third and take command. Keystone put the game out of reach with nine runs on 13 hits.
Five different Keystone players recorded at least two hits in that game, including Camden Fuller’s 3-for-3 performance and a three-run homer in the team’s fourth at-bat. Specifically in the third inning, Carter Frank singled and Fuller took over to start a hitting party.
Two back-to-back singles, a walk and an RBI single and a two-RBI single was the beginning of the end for Upper Dauphin in the first round. The bats were hitting at the right time and Keystone was making plays.
Mifflinburg took that same approach Wednesday. With Keystone once again on the side of the game deficit, Mifflinburg held Keystone to no avail. After the road team jumped out to a 1-0 lead, Keystone didn’t answer until the sixth inning, a fightback that proved a little too late against a well-oiled machine.
Keystone tends to see success if they are able to get an early lead and hang with their pitching and defense behind them. Better yet, this team plays at its best with its back against the wall, but at this stage of the playoffs those tough situations have to be early in the game.
Wednesday night’s game was a good all-rounder that, with the talent and skill that the team possesses, got into it in a hurry. It’s clear that Mifflinburg is on a hot streak right now after defeating Keystone Wednesday and Athens, 12-4, on Tuesday. If Keystone gets its bats going early enough to where its opponent has to play from behind, other teams can struggle.
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