North Star squeaks past Northern Bedford in 5-2A baseball semifinal
May 25—FERRELLTON — North Star hasn't had to play from behind much lately, but down by one late in the District 5 Class 2A semifinals, there was no reason for the Cougars to lose their cool.
Glendon Griffith singled in the tying run and scored what wound up being the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth, and Connor Yoder secured the final four outs on the mound to rally North Star to a 4-3 victory over Northern Bedford County on Wednesday afternoon.
"At times, the bats weren't working great today, so we had to kind of manufacture runs on passed balls and being aggressive on the base paths," North Star coach Jake Klukaszewski said.
"We just trusted ourselves. I had confidence in us to do that."
The win propelled the second-seeded Cougars to the district final for the second consecutive season. After suffering a 7-0 loss to eventual Class 2A state champion Everett in the 2022 title game, they'll look to fare better against No. 1 seed McConnellsburg on Tuesday
Junior Connor Yoder swiped two bases, scored two runs and notched the final four outs to earn the victory in relief as North Star (15-4) ran its winning streak up to eight straight. Cayden Turner started and threw 5 2/3 innings, conceding three runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts compared to three walks.
Northern Bedford's Josiah Bowser launched a solo home run to left field off Turner in the top of the sixth to break up a 2-all tie and give the Black Panthers a short-lived lead.
Yoder reached on an error and stole second to open North Star's sixth inning. Griffith dropped a single into right field over the head of Northern Bedford second baseman Ben Gable, allowing Yoder to trot home and re-tie the game.
Griffith swiped second base and moved to third on a groundout before scoring the deciding run via a wild pitch by Black Panthers reliever Eion Snider.
"I was just ready to move," said Griffith. "We practice base running almost every practice, and I was just putting in the work."
The Black Panthers had their chances to build a lead, especially in the early going, but left five runners on base over the first four innings.
"We had opportunities early, and we didn't cash in," Northern Bedford coach Ryan Cherry said.
"We let them hang around. They came through in the sixth inning when they needed to. Credit to them for doing a good job putting the ball in play and making things happen."
Turner had a pair of singles in his first two at-bats. Andy Retassie singled and scored a run for North Star.
Griffith ripped an RBI single to score Yoder, who reached on a fielder's choice, in the first to provide the Cougars with an early 1-0 advantage.
The Black Panthers responded in the second when Snider doubled into the left field gap and eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Eli Cherry.
Retassie and Turner led off the third with back-to-back singles and each advanced on a passed ball to put themselves in scoring position with nobody out.
Following back-to-back popouts, Braden Livingston singled to center to score Retassie, but Northern Bedford center fielder Cullen Lloyd cut down Turner at home plate to limit the damage to one run.
Black Panthers starter Reece Musselman suffered the loss after tossing 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits to pair with two strikeouts and a walk.
