No. 1 Allegany falls to Goretti, 7-3, on walk-off grand slam

May 9—HAGERSTOWN — Allegany and St. Maria Goretti produced magic on the diamond in Cumberland last year, and the sequel may have topped the original.

Trailing 2-0 entering the seventh inning Monday, the Campers waged a rally. Caedon Wallace leveled the tally with a two-out, two-RBI single, and Griffin Madden stole home on a first-and-third play to give Allegany an improbable lead.

However, the Big Blue advantage was fleeting, as struggling Gaels senior Jacob Hill ended the proceedings with the grandest of all grand slams, willing a walk-off homer off and over the top of the right-center field fence to give Goretti a thrilling 7-3 victory.

"We've had a couple of games down the second half of the season where we wait too long to get some urgency," Allegany head coach Jon Irons said. "Every time you get a runner in scoring position, it's a golden opportunity.

"The kid on the mound was really good, and we can't waste opportunities against a team and a pitcher like that."

Allegany finishes the regular season with a 16-4 record and is the top seed in the Class 1A West Region I playoffs.

Northern (15-4) is the No. 2 seed, followed by Southern (9-7), Mountain Ridge (9-8) and Fort Hill (2-14). The Campers have a first-round bye and will host the winner of Mountain Ridge and Fort Hill in the region semifinals.

Goretti (17-2) also used a late-game home run to down Allegany last year.

Warner Harper struck a two-run big fly with two down in the ninth inning to help the Gaels win 4-2 in extras.

Harper didn't get a chance to repeat the feat this year, as Allegany chose to walk him and load the bases to face Hill. The Gaels tied the game on Garrett Gibson's RBI double one batter earlier.

Fittingly, one of Goretti's two seniors won it on Senior Night.

"Struggling all year, he's just a competitor and battler. Great student. Great person. Could not be rewarded with a greater memory," Goretti head coach Greg Eversole said of Hill's grand slam.

The Campers made a memorable comeback of their own a half-inning prior.

A lead-off walk by Josef Sneathen and a double in the right-center gap by Cayden Bratton placed two runners in scoring position with one out.

Goretti lefthander Colin Fulmer, in for the save, got the second out with a clutch strikeout on a fastball up in the zone, but Wallace came through with an opposite-field knock to shallow right field.

Allegany then scored the go-ahead run on a first-and-third play.

Wallace took off from first base before the pitch to force a rundown, and Goretti catcher Will Oates and Eversole pleaded with their infield to allow Wallace to take second base.

However, Goretti took the bait, and, after a short rundown, Griffin Madden broke for home and slid just under the tag to give Allegany a 3-2 lead.

"We have guys that are not afraid to be up in big situations, and they approach it the right way," Irons said. "They're just trying to do a job. They're not trying to win it with one pitch."

Allegany's comeback was necessary due to the performance of Goretti right-hander Andrew Kerns, the top uncommitted junior in the state by various outlets, who sat 87-89 miles per hour with his fastball Monday and touched 91 on a ball fouled off by Josef Sneathen.

Allegany had runners on base in every inning except the sixth and had runners in scoring position in three straight frames beginning in the second but couldn't capitalize.

The second and third innings were perhaps the Campers' best chances before breaking through in the seventh once Kerns was out of the game.

Bryce Madden kicked off the second with a double but didn't advance further due to three straight strikeouts.

The Campers had two singles, a walk and a hit by pitch an inning later; however, a costly pickoff at first after a lead-off single and a strikeout with the bases loaded stranded three on base.

Kerns pitched six scoreless on five hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.

Bryce Madden was nearly as good for the Campers, surrendering two unearned runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks in 4 2/3 frames of work. The Alco righty was pulled after hitting the 75-pitch mark to preserve his eligibility for later in the week.

"Today I thought he pitched," Eversole said of his 6-foot-4, 190-pound right-hander. "It wasn't power, power, power, but it was exciting to see that when he had to reach back for a little more, he could pop it.

"Respect to (Bryce) Madden. They challenged each other, and (Kerns) won the battle. ... They're a great team, and I wish coach Irons great luck with his playoff run."

Goretti struck first in the opening inning, aided by an error on a bad hop on a ground ball.

Parker Sweeney, a Virginia Tech commit who struck out 17 Campers last year in Cumberland, laced a single for an RBI, and Gibson made it 2-0 Gaels after a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

Neither team scored again for the next five innings until the clubs combined for eight runs in the ultimate frame.

The Allegany defense made a number of impressive plays.

Wallace stabbed a liner with a diving grab at first base in the fourth inning. One frame prior, the relay from right fielder Caden Long to Wallace to Sneathen cut down a Goretti runner at the plate to keep the deficit at two runs.

The Campers also nabbed a runner stealing with a rundown after a Goretti batter missed a hit-and-run sign.

"We played really well on defense," Irons said. "It's nice to see them execute that rundown. We work on that a lot. ... We're going to need that going into Saturday."

Goretti out-hit Allegany, 11-7. Alex Kennell topped Alco with two singles. Gibson, Oates and Sweeney all had three-hit days. Oates and Gibson doubled.

The Campers now turn to their first-round playoff game and could meet Mountain Ridge, which handed Allegany a 7-5 defeat last week.

"All I can think back to is our first-round game last year when we played Southern, and that wasn't exactly what you'd call an easy game," said Irons. "We're gonna make sure we're ready and approach it like it could be our last."

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.