Peters Township plays hunch, and it pays off
Petes Township’s John Salvitti, center, is greeted by teammates after hitting a two-run home run to take a lead against Johnstown in the seventh inning of an elimination game at the Pony League World Series at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Sunday.
Petes Township’s Jake Orsi makes the tag on Johnstown’s Mike Marinchak at second base during a Pony League World Series elimination game at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Sunday.
Peters Township celebrates after its win against Johnstown Sunday.
Chris Peters has been around baseball long enough, including six years as a pitcher in the major leagues, to know what “the book” says to do in the kind of situation Peters Township was in during the seventh inning Sunday afternoon at the Pony League World Series.
Peters Township trailed Johnstown, 4-3, and had its leadoff hitter, Shane Bartczak, on first base as the potential tying run with no outs.
Playing it “by the book,” would mean for Peters Township to bunt Bartczak into scoring position and play for the tie. Peters, the Peters Township manager, instead opted to play a hunch and let John Salvitti, the No. 2 hitter in the PT lineup, swing away.
It proved to be a game-changing decision.
Salvitti hit a 3-1 pitch from Johnstown reliever Mike Marinchak over the fence in right field for a go-ahead two-run homer. Peters Township would tack on an important insurance run on a passed ball and then cut short Johnstown’s comeback in the bottom of the seventh for a stunning 6-5 victory at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park.
“I know you should bunt there, but did I consider it? Absolutely not,” Peters said. “Kids at this level are not used to bunting and John can handle the bat well. Really, I was looking for a home run. When their relief pitcher was setting us down, I said somebody will get on and then run into one.”
Bartczak led off the seventh with a single to center field. It was only the second hit allowed by Marinchak, who entered the game in the fourth inning and retired eight consecutive PT batters at one point.
Salvitti, who struck out against Marinchak in the fourth, jumped ahead in the count at 3-0. After taking a strike, Salvitti delivered his stunning two-run homer.
“I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it,” Salvitti said. “I thought he’d throw me one just to get it over the plate. I thought I’d swing and try to at least get the runner over to second base. I was trying to hit it to the right side.”
What he did was change the game and help send Peters Township to its first win in Pony League World Series history.
“Bartczak had a great at-bat and then Johnny crushes one. What a great moment for Peters Township,” Peters said. “It really was pretty special.”
But it still wasn’t enough. PT scored what turned out to be the game-winner later in the seventh. Daniel Boehme followed Salvitti’s blast with a single and Ryan Magiske followed with a walk. This time, Peters called for a bunt and Matthew Levy’s sacrifice put runners on second and third with one out. Boehem scored on a passed ball to give PT a 6-4 lead.
Johnstown, which defeated Peters Township 12-1 in the Host Area championship game last Monday, battled back. With two outs, a single by Ben Wolfe moved Jake Felton to third base. Marinchak then hit a roller to no-man’s land on the right side of the infield that went for a single as Felton scored to cut PT’s lead to 6-5.
Bryce Rearick, after fouling off three two-strike pitches from PT reliever Jake Orsi, flied out to deep left field to end the game.
The win sends Peters Township to an elimination game 10 a.m. today against Los Mochis, Mexico. Johnstown is eliminated.
“This was about revenge,” said Peters, whose team gained entry into the world series as a replacement for the Dominican Republic, which could not get visas for eight of its players in time to participate.
“I told the kids this is what you want, a chance to send a team home that, only last week, we thought had sent us home.”
Johnstown, which had six errors in a loss Friday to Chesterfield, Va., committed four more miscues in the field, had a runner thrown out at second base in the sixth inning and one at home plate in the third. Johnstown left eight runners on base including four in scoring position.
“We didn’t play clean baseball and it came back to bite us,” Johnstown manager Josh Day said. “We had defensive and baserunning mistakes and you can’t do that in any game, especially one that is magnified by being in the world series.”
Johnstown scored twice in the first inning on only one hit, a leadoff double by Alec Supanick, who scored on an error. Peters Township tied it at 2-2 in the second, getting a pinch-hit single by Vinny Knight for one run and an error that led to the second run.
A groundout by Levy scored Boehme from third base to give PT a 3-2 lead in the top of the third. That didn’t last long as Mike Marino led off the bottom of the third with his second homer of the series. Rearick’s two-out single later in the inning scored Wolf from second base and gave Johnstown a 4-3 lead.
“We struggled driving in runs with two outs,” Day said. “It caught up with us.”