HS BASEBALL: Nativity nips Notre Dame-ES in 8 innings
May 23—POTTSVILLE — It's been a year of transition for the Nativity baseball team with only two seniors on a roster full of underclassmen.
Tuesday, one of the Hilltoppers' promising freshmen put Nativity in the District 11 Class A title game for the sixth straight time.
Ryan Grabowski's single up the middle in the bottom of the eighth inning plated Ryan Strauss with the game-winning run as Nativity edged Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg 3-2 in a Class A semifinal at Steidle Field.
The victory advanced the second-seeded Hilltoppers (7-14) to Saturday's championship game against top-seeded Marian, a 10-0 winner over Weatherly in the other semifinal. Game time is 1 p.m. at Schuylkill Haven's Scott Buffington Field.
"We have two seniors and they're very good players, but we're sophomore and junior heavy with a couple of freshmen starting on the left side of the infield," Nativity coach Chris Polm said. "They manned it all year and they've both come up with big hits all year. Today, Ryan had the big one."
Grabowski's hit ended a game between two young teams that are mirror images of each other.
Nativity's starting lineup Tuesday featured two seniors — first baseman Cameron Strauss and designated hitter Ryan Sickle — five juniors, one sophomore and two freshmen.
Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg (4-17), which battled Tri-Valley tough in the first round in last year's tournament, started three seniors, one junior and five freshmen.
The Hilltoppers and Spartans played like young teams at times, combining for eight errors and each stranding eight baserunners. Both teams left the bases loaded twice, in the fifth and seventh innings. They also each got clutch performances at key times to keep the game close.
Polm went with No. 1 pitcher Nolan Ferhat, and the junior right-hander didn't disappoint. Ferhat gave up three hits, walked three and struck out 11 in 6.2 innings before reaching the PIAA postseason 105-pitch limit. Sophomore left-hander Nathan Cooper pitched in and out of a seventh-inning jam, then struck out three straight hitters in the eighth to get his first win of the season.
Ferhat's only bad inning was the fourth, when NDES combined an infield single with a single to right, a misplayed bunt, a bases-loaded walk and a dropped fly ball to score two unearned runs. Ferhat got out of the bases-loaded jam with a strikeout and lineout to keep the game tied 2-2.
"I just wanted to throw strikes," Ferhat said. "They had a couple of good hitters and I had to work around them. We had to make the routine plays and eventually we got the job done."
Added Polm: "He's our No. 1. ... In the semifinals, you're asked why you go with your No. 1 against a team you should handle. I don't want to be out cutting the grass in July thinking about what could have been. I had to (go with Ferhat). I had no choice."
Nativity scored a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Cameron Strauss, then added a run in the second on two errors and a single by Ryan Grabowski.
The Hilltoppers, however, wouldn't score again until the eighth. NDES starter Malcolm Naughton gave up just four hits, walked three and struck out two, but got eight fly-ball outs and a line-drive double play to shortstop to keep Nativity off the scoreboard.
"That was probably our best game of the year," Notre Dame-ES head coach Kevin Hezel said. "We're freshman heavy. We've learned a lot over this entire season. Today we put it all together and fell just short.
"We left a lot of runners on base. Our outfield is sometimes suspect, but this game they were perfect."
Naughton also lasted 6.2 innings before reaching the pitch limit, with reliever Will Ferguson inducing a two-out groundout with the bases loaded to keep the game alive. He wasn't as lucky in the eighth, when Ryan Strauss led off with a single, stole second and took third on a wild pitch.
After a flyout and walk, Ryan Grabowski hit a 1-2 curveball up the middle to win it.
"I was a little nervous but I just knew I needed to get a hit and bring in the run so we could win," said Ryan Grabowski, who finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs. "I kind of thought he was going to throw me a curveball because he threw me three straight fastballs. I was looking for it."
Entering Tuesday, Nativity had won its first District 11 playoff game in each of the past five tournaments, then fell to Tri-Valley in the District 11 final. With Tri-Valley moved up to Class AA this season, the Hilltoppers hope their streak of championship game losses changes.
They'll face a Marian squad they defeated 7-3 in 2021 and 9-4 last year, but lost 6-2 to the Colts in their Schuylkill League Division II-III crossover game May 17.
"We've been here the last two years," Ferhat said. "Obviously Tri-Valley is gone, so we're going to hope for the best."
Contact the writer: lboyer@republicanherald; (570) 628-6026; @pubsportsboss on Twitter
