Bethel Park righty silences Seals' bats

Jun. 18—UNIVERSITY PARK — Bethel Park righty Evan Holewinski seemed to have the perfect delivery for the lefties in the Selinsgrove lineup.

With a three-quarter arm slot and a little bit of a sling in his delivery, it seemed as if a lot of Holewinski's pitches would be in a left-handed hitter's wheelhouse.

However, the Kent State bound-junior said he salivates at the thought of seeing a lefty in the batters box.

"I'll be honest, I love facing lefties," Holewinski said. "I think facing lefties is 10 times easier than facing a righty. In my opinion, my best pitch is my changeup. It just dives away from them. I just feel like I've had a lot of success against lefties."

Leadoff hitter Josh Domaracki — one of those lefties — had two singles for the Seals, but that was it for the Selinsgrove offense against Holewinski, who needed just 77 pitches to finish off Selinsgrove. The Black Hawks topped the Seals 5-0 to win their second consecutive state title

"He could hit his spots," Selinsgrove catcher Gannon Steimling said. "Most fastballs, right away, were on the outside corners, low and away, and a lot of us weren't looking to hit right away. He had a little change-up that kind of stayed back, and got you out in front (of it)."{p class="p1"}Bethel Park coach Pat Zehnder added: "Evan Holewinski is a guy that a lot people say, 'He isn't overpowering,'" because he doesn't get a lot of strikeouts. He's a guy that could strike everybody out, if he wanted to, but he's a pitcher.{p class="p1"}"He understands he has a really good defense behind him, and we are at our best if he can be efficient, and throw the whole game."{p class="p1"}Holewinski threw first-pitch strikes to the first 13 Selinsgrove hitters. After Domaracki was caught stealing after he singled to open the bottom of the first, only a hit batter in the third inning stopped Holewinski from retiring 17 straight Selinsgrove hitters before Domaracki singled with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.{p class="p1"}"He had a funky arm slot. He knew how to pitch to contact and let his fielders do their thing," Selinsgrove senior shorstop Teague Hoover said. "Sometimes you don't need that overpowering, 90-plus (mph) arm. You've got a kid that can spot well and has a pretty decent off-speed pitch, and, yeah, he shut us down."{p class="p1"}Bethel Park junior catcher John Chalus — who also caught his brother Eric Chalus' complete-game victory in the 2021 state title game — probably had the best view in the house of Holewinski's gem.{p class="p1"}"We struck with our plan, the whole way. We wanted to keep it low-and-away," Chalus said. "We feel like if we can score one run, we'll win with Ethan on the mound. We have a great defense."{p class="p1"}So when Cody Geddes hit a solo homer in the fourth inning off Selinsgrove's Ryan Reich to give the Black Hawks a 1-0 lead, Geddes, a senior third baseman — who also had a two-run triple to break a 2-2 tie in last year's championship game win over Red Land — felt his hit probably gave his team its second straight state title.{p class="p1"}"He just fills up the zone, and we make the plays," Geddes said of Holewinsky. "He's been so good all year, and he was on today. We thought one run will stand up."{p class="p1"}Holewinsky finished the game with five strikeouts and didn't walk a hitter. In fact, he only went to a three-ball count twice, both coming in the sixth inning.