Apr 30, 2024 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

One call doesn’t change the outcome of a baseball game, but it can create plenty of “what ifs.”

A strikeout call was made, reversed and ruled a strikeout a second time during the third inning of Tuesday’s Class 5A Section 2 showdown with Bethel Park and Trinity at Ross Memorial Park.

The controversy occurred with one on and one out and Bethel Park holding a two-run lead.

The home-plate umpire ruled the Hillers’ Gibson Havanis struck out swinging, but Trinity coach Jon Stack argued the catcher dropped the ball after Havanis raced to first base.

The call was reversed and Black Hawks coach Pat Zehnder made his case for the out call.

The call was reversed and Zehnder made his case for the out call. The umpires conferred and called Havanis out, which prompted Stack to protest a second time.

“It was a momentum shift for sure,” Stack said. “Typically, when you see a play overturned, the umpires usually just eat that call and they live with it, and that is the first time I’ve seen a call overturned and overturned again.”

Bethel Park (7-3, 9-5-1) got out of the inning without allowing a run and scored two more in the fourth for a 6-4 victory that clinched the section championship.

“Right now, we’ve met our first goal of the season,” Zehnder said. “We will be satisfied with wherever we are in the playoffs, and we expect to win every game that we play, and that won’t change regardless of where we are seeded in the playoffs.”

The Hillers (5-5, 7-7) have qualified for the WPIAL playoffs, but will be the third-place team out of the section when the postseason brackets are revealed.

“You always want to win a championship, but I think we are set up well with the playoffs,” Stack said. “We are getting some arms healthy and we have been hitting the ball better. I think we are in a good spot heading into the playoffs.”

The Black Hawks increased their advantage to 6-2 with two runs on three hits in the fourth. Jack Bruckner bunted for a base hit and scored on Ryan Tierney’s triple to right field. Tierney scored from on a wild pitch.

“When you have a call like the one in the third inning, the emotions are running high and you don’t know how the kids are going to respond, so we told our guys before the fourth to stay focused and be ready to go,” Zehnder said. “They did a nice job of scoring those two runs and being able to hold on for the win. I can’t say enough about Nick Rillo coming in at catcher for Ethan Stanhoff about he had to leave the game with an injury. That is the hardest position and he already had his gear on and was ready to go when I looked for him.”

Trinity got one run back in the bottom of the inning when Cameron Schofield and Cole Carl reached on back-to-back singles, and Schofield scored when Mekhi Bouman reached on an error on a bunt attempt. Schofield had three hits and walked once.

The Hillers got within two in the sixth after Matthew Robaugh walked, moved to second and third on wild pitches and scored on Jonah Williamson’s base hit to left.

“The one positive I can take out of this is our team fought completely to the end,” Stack said. “I am proud of them for that.”

Bethel Park scored two runs on one hit in the top of the first. The Black Hawks benefited from two Trinity errors.

Tierney walked, moved to second on an error and scored when Ethan Stanhoff reached second via error. Stanhoff scored on Dylan Paul’s single to left.

The Hillers responded with two runs on one hit in the bottom of the first. A Bethel Park error contributed to Trinity’s second run.

Robaugh walked, stole second and discord on Kaden Hathaway’s single to center. Willamson walked, moved to third on Hathaway’s hit and scored on an error.

The Black Hawks got the two runs back in the second on Noah LeJeune’s lead-off home run to left and Ryan Petras’ RBI single to left for a 4-2 lead.

Trinity had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth, but Bethel Park pitcher Dylan Schumacher got out of the jam by forcing an inning-ending double play.

Black Hawks starter Ryan Walsh yielded three runs (one earned) on five hits in four innings. He struck out and walked five.