Rohaley delivered when Big Macs needed it most
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Big Mac's pitcher Zack Rohaley, during a game against Hampfield at Ross Memorial Park and Alexandre Stadium on Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Zach Rohaley seems to never be bothered by big-game, high-pressure situations. Instead, the Canon-McMillan sophomore pitcher and infielder thrives in such circumstances.
Perhaps that’s because Rohaley has been playing in big games for years. After all, he was a member of the Collier Township baseball team that advanced to the Little League World Series in Williamsport in 2013. Playing in front of tens of thousands of people and on national television when you’re a 12-year-old will get you battle-tested in a hurry.
Rohaley found himself in plenty of big games again this spring as Canon-McMillan made an unlikely second-half surge and went from sub-.500 team to the WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals in less than six weeks. And Rohaley, playing like a seasoned veteran, was often at the center of the Big Macs’ charge.
As a pitcher, Rohaley won seven of his first nine decisions, including a pair of double-digit strikeout performances in Section 5-AAAA play, and threw a complete game as Canon-McMillan upset second-seeded Pine-Richland in the WPIAL quarterfinals.
As a hitter, Rohaley struck the blow that kickstarted the Big Macs’ comeback from the brink and also delivered the team’s biggest hit of the season, late in the night during a must-win game at Peters Township.
For his performance, Rohaley has been named the Observer-Reporter Baseball Player of the Year. He ended California’s four-year stranglehold on the honor.
Rohaley had plenty of competition for the award from C-M teammate Tanner Piechnick, Peters Township’s Tor Sehnert and California’s Louden Conte. It was Rohaley’s performances in games when the Big Macs had to win to keep their season going that was the difference.
“His biggest games came in the biggest ones,” Canon-McMillan’s first-year head coach Tim Bruzdewicz said.
Rohaley’s flair for the dramatic started when Canon-McMillan was at its lowest point. The Big Macs were 5-6 overall, had lost three in a row and were closer to the bottom of the section standings than the top. That’s when the whole season changed – in just one inning.
“We had just lost 10-3 to Peters Township and were 2-4 in the section,” Brudewicz recalled. “We were down to our No. 3 starting pitcher. We scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning against Mt. Lebanon and Zach hit a three-run homer to put us up 5-0. That spurred us on and we won 7-4.”
That victory gave C-M a sweep of the season series with Mt. Lebanon. The Big Macs, Blue Devils and Peters Township finished in a three-way tie for second place in the section.
Rohaley then pitched Canon-Mac to a 2-1 win at Upper St. Clair, striking out 16 Panthers. Five days later, he shut out Baldwin with 11 strikeouts. In his next outing, Rohaley blanked Bethel Park and suddenly the Big Macs had won six in a row and needed a victory at arch-rival Peters Township to secure a playoff berth.
In an epic game, Canon-McMillan pulled out a heart-stopping 6-4 victory as Rohaley hit a bases-loaded double in the top of the 14th inning.
“I remember, in the 14th inning, thinking that if I had gotten a hit in one of my previous at-bats, then we wouldn’t still be here,” Rohaley recalled. “My nerves were going when I got to the plate and I kept telling myself to stay clam. The pitcher threw a first-pitch fastball right down the middle and I thought I had just let the best pitch I’m going to see go without swinging. On the third pitch, I got another fastball and jumped on it.”
Once in the playoffs, the Big Macs forged a late-game rally that resulted in a walkoff victory over North Hills in the first round. In the quarterfinals, Rohaley stymied a potent Pine-Richland lineup, scattering seven hits and striking out six in a 5-1 victory.
“The best games I pitched were against Upper St. Clair, with the 16 strikeouts, and Pine-Richland,” Rohaley said. “Pine-Richland was a very good hitting team and I was able to keep them off balance.”
Off balanace because Rohaley developed a changeup this spring that helped him go from the Big Macs’ closer to a starting pitcher.
“Zach came to me in the offseason and said he’d like to opportunity start,” Brudewicz explained. “As a reliever, all he did was throw fastballs. I told him, to be a starter you need to have a good changeup. He caught on with it in the first month and it became his best pitch.”
The changeup, combined with a lively fastball and a changeup that is occassionaly a plus-pitch, made Rohaley difficult to hit. The right-hander gave up only 39 hits in 66 innings and struck out 75. He had an impressive 1.59 ERA. He allowed just one run in his last 21 innings of section play, when every game was a playoff-like contest for the Big Macs.
At the plate, Rohaley batted .306 and delivered in clutch situations. In Canon-McMillan’s 14 wins, Rohaley had the game-winning RBI in five of those.
“This year went really well,” Rohaley said. “From the beginning to the end, all the players and coaches helped and pulled together. It seemed like the second half of the season we had to win every game and we did.”