Palmyra hits the ground running

Pappariella's mound work supported by timely hitting

Pitcher Lewis Pappariella was superb for Palmyra, tossing a compete-game four-hitter.

Christopher Millette / Of the Patriot-News

Mike Deiter delivered a bold message to the Palmyra High School baseball team long before the first pitch of the regular season.

The Cougars' assistant coach was blunt and to the point, telling the senior-laden ballclub it should be happy with nothing less than a state title in 1999.

Yesterday on a picture-perfect afternoon for baseball at RiverSide Stadium on City Island, Lewis Pappariella and his Palmyra teammates indeed settled for nothing less.

The Cougars jumped on Waynesburg early and often and never looked back in claiming a 7-2 victory in the PIAA Class AA championship game before an announced partisan throng of 6,010.

The victory gave Palmyra (25-3) its first-ever PIAA title in a team sport and helped pave the way for an unprecedented three-game sweep for the Mid-Penn Conference in yesterday's title games.

Highly regarded Waynesburg, which saw a last-minute pitching change backfire, managed just four hits off Pappariella to close out the season with a 19-5 record.

Palmyra's senior right-hander closed out the campaign a perfect 11-0 on the mound, including a phenomenal six complete-game victories in the playoffs.

"We're proud that we can do something like this for our school," said Pappariella following a 110-pitch masterpiece that included three strikeouts against five walks.

"When you jump up a couple of runs like we did, it's easier to relax and throw strikes."

The Cougars put their vocal fans at ease early in this one, collecting four of their eight hits in the bottom of the first inning to grab a 3-0 lead against senior Waynesburg right-hander Nathan Gayman.

Gayman turned out to be a surprise starter for the Western champs.

Waynesburg was expected to send senior righty Derek Fritz (6-2) to go opposite Pappariella.

First-year Raider head coach Chris Haines said he had a change of heart late Friday night, opting instead to go with his staff s No. 2 hurler and keep the same rotation thanvas on a 7-0 run upon its arrival yesterday in Harrisburg.

"Nathan had 10 strikeouts against Brookville in his last outing [in the Western semifinals]," informed Haines. "He was undefeated for me this year, and he was a senior.

"They just jumped on his fastball today. I really thought it was going to be one of those slugfest things, but their pitcher held us down. They held us to four hits, and you can't win with just four hits."

Palmyra gave Waynesburg's starter something to think about in first inning.

Clean-up hitter Bryan Yohn followed back-to-back singles from Steve Schmehl and Justin Hileman with a two-run triple to right-center.

"It was waist-high and a good pitch to hit," said Yohn, Palmyra's senior catcher who's heading to Division I High Point (N.C.) in the fall on a baseball scholarship.

After Gayman (4-1) collected a strikeout for the second out of the first frame, Pappariella plated courtesy runner Phil Schiavoni with a double for a 3-0 lead.

"I thought after the first inning we were going to have a pretty good game," said Yohn.

The Cougars went up 4-0 in the second inning. Dave Hoffsmith led off with a triple and scored on a two-out wild pitch from Gayman.

When Gayman started the bottom of the third by issuing three straight walks, Waynesburg called Fritz in from shortstop to stem the tide. The switch almost paid a huge dividend when Fritz got a comebacker to the mound.

After taking the throw at home from Fritz for the forceout, however, Waynesburg catcher Jeremy Gayman overthrew first base on the double-play attempt, allowing both Schiavoni and Jason Reigle to score for a 6-0 Palmyra advantage.

Though Fritz proved himself more than capable of matching Palmyra's potent lineup the rest of the way, the damage was done.

Among the paltry three hits Fritz surrendered over the final four innings, one was a bizarre inside-the-park homer from Hileman leading off the bottom of the fifth inning.

Waynesburg right fielder J.W. Kayla never saw Hileman's deep fly ball until after it hit in the right field corner and trickled into the bullpen area.

Hileman's homer was his 16th of the season and record-setting 59th RBI.

"I'm telling you what, that Fritz kid was tough," said Palmyra head coach Tim Gingrich afterward.

The Cougars's third-year skipper needed only to point out his team's fast start as the key to victory.

"It was huge for the simple fact that we've played that way all the way throughout the playoffs except for the last two games," said Gingrich.

Star shortstop Justin Hileman (10) leads the Palmyra Cougar on a victory lap.

Christopher Millette / Of the Patriot-News

"I think we got the feeling in our previous two games that the pressure was on us. Lew's only given up five runs in a game all year, so I felt pretty good when we had that big lead there at the end."

Waynesburg finally got to Pappariella in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI double from leading hitter Lee Fritz and a sacrifice fly to right field that plated Jeff Klinefelter.

"Going out as seniors and being able to say you didn't lose your last game, we'll never forget that," said Palmyra third baseman Tony Garosi.

Victory Parade in Palmyra

Photograph by Bill Garrett