Sports

H.S. Baseball

By Derek Levarse dlevarse@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter
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PINE GROVE — The spark was there for a moment. Ken Durling launched Wyoming Valley West’s best-hit ball of the evening well over the fence in right, and the Spartans finally had something to cheer about.

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Wyoming Valley West pitcher Kris Moules trudges back to the dugout after being pulled from the mound in the fifth inning of Thursday’s PIAA playoff baseball game against Parkland in Pine Grove.

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George Alles of Wyoming Valley West delivers a pitch to the plate in Thursday’s PIAA playoff baseball game against Parkland in Pine Grove.

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But that big blow didn’t come until the top of the sixth inning. And by the time the seventh started, the Spartans had surrendered two unearned runs.

The rally had been snuffed out, and along with it, Valley West’s impressive season.

Parkland pitcher Casey Cooperman held down the Spartans’ potent offense, while the Trojans offense made the most of its opportunities in a 7-1 thumping of Valley West on Thursday in the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals at Walter Stump Stadium.

The Spartans, who won their third straight District 2 4A championship to go with their fourth consecutive Wyoming Valley Conference Division I title this season, finished their campaign at 15-3.

District 11 champion Parkland will continue its quest for the program’s first state title on Monday against the winner of today’s West Chester East-St. Joseph’s Prep contest.

“I thought we had a chance,” Valley West coach John Milius said of his feeling after Durling hit his solo shot. “This team doesn’t quit. Maybe it didn’t look like it today, or the score doesn’t indicate that, but I knew down deep they weren’t about to roll over.

“Durling I thought was gonna ignite them, and it just didn’t happen. It was just a little flicker. It was no blaze.”

Parkland (20-6) did a good job of putting out fires all game long. Cooperman allowed just five hits and walked two, and when the Spartans did put some runners on, the defense quickly erased them.

The Trojans turned a double play in the second and fourth innings, and narrowly missed another one in the top of the first.

Other than Durling’s homer, the Spartans managed to get a runner to third base just once.

“He pitched a heck of a ballgame,” Milius said of Cooperman’s performance. “Plus, we hit it right at them. They turn two double plays, we leave six guys on base, we didn’t get a hit when we needed it. That was the difference in the ballgame.”

Kris Moules took the loss on the mound for Valley West, giving up eight hits and five runs (four earned) in 4 2/3 innings. The Trojans seemed to have a bead on his fastball from the early going, picking up three hits in the first inning.

Parkland got on the board first with an unearned run in the second after a Sam Zaccaro RBI double. Jon Gabriel added an RBI double of his own in the third to make it 2-0, but the score stayed there heading into the bottom of the fifth.

That’s when M.J. Miorelli (3-for-4) led off with a home run for some insurance and things began to crumble for the Spartans. At 3-0, the Spartans and their bats seemed to still be right in the hunt.

But a balk with runners at the corners brought in another run and Luke Jaindl added an RBI single with two outs to chase Moules.

Reliever George Alles got out of the inning without further damage, setting up Durling’s homer.

Two more errors in the bottom of the sixth increased the deficit to five runs, however, and it was too much to overcome.

“The balk changed the whole complexion of the game because we were right there,” Milius said. “You get a balk and get him sort of riled up a little bit, and he starts fighting and forcing the ball instead of letting it flow.

“It just snowballed. One mistake led to another.”

PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals

2B – Zaccaro, Gabriel; HR – Durling, Miorelli