Tough day for Chartiers-Houston, Carmichaels
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Chartiers-Houston’s Ryan Mele pitches in the first inning against Shady Side Academy Tuesday, May 17. Shady Side Academy won 5-2.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Chartiers-Houston’s T.J. Johnston tags Shady Side Academy’s Eric Yoest in the first inning of Tuesday’s game.
McKEES ROCKS – Slow starts might not be a factor in a marathon.
But for a baseball team competing in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs, it’s usually devastating.
Shady Side Academy jumped on starting pitcher Ryan Mele for four runs in the first inning and that proved to be the difference in a 5-2 victory over Chartiers-Houston in a first-round game at Burkett Complex Tuesday afternoon.
The win sends Shady Side Academy (11-8), the Section 3 champion, against Neshannock, a 2-1 winner over Charleroi, in the quarterfinals at a site, date and time to be determined.
Chartiers-Houston, the second-place team in Section 2, finishes with a 14-6 record. But expectations are high as only three seniors are on the roster.
“This has been our Achilles all year long,” said C-H head coach Vince Capozza. “We’ve been slow starters all year. They did nothing different than in other games. The problem was we were facing a quality pitcher who was pounding the zone and spun it a little. We were used to coming back but we just didn’t come back.”
Mele was shaky in that first inning, allowing five hits that produced four runs. He walked the leadoff hitter, Luke Keenan, gave up a single to Kirk Olander, and an infield single to Killian Cavanaugh to loaded the bases.
One run scored when Eric Yoest lined a single to right and another on a single to right by Tyler Gorse. Ben Kosbie tripled to knock in two more and make it 4-0.
A brief visit to the mound by Capozza seemed to calm Mele and he was nearly untouchable the rest of the way, striking out eight and not walking a batter.
“I told Mele that this is your last inning, so you’d better do something with it,” Capozza said. “And he did. He was great after that.”
Meanwhile Ryan Tarasi pitched a strong game, holding the Bucs to one hit over four innings. Chartiers-Houston reached Tarasi for a run in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk to T.J. Johnston and another in the sixth on a RBI-single by Cam Hanley.
The Bucs’ defense seemed to relax as game wore on and made three outs at home plate, two in the first inning and one in the third.
Tarasi labored into the seventh, walking two and surpassing the 100-pitch count. With his 110th pitch, Tarasi got Mele to ground out to third base to end the game.
“We’ve had big innings (this season) but it may not be the first one,” said SSA head coach Bob Grandizio. “Our big thing is can you sustain that for seven innings. We’ve been talking about that all year. We’ve done it in some games but not in a lot, which is why our record is a little disappointing. We’ve had big innings but usually not the first.”