Rockwood no match for Southern Fulton in District 5 1A championship

EVERETT — After falling to Southern Fulton a year ago in the District 5 Class 1A baseball semifinals, top-seeded Rockwood sought a different result against the No. 2 Indians in the title game Wednesday at Everett.

It was not to be.

Southern Fulton (18-5) scored seven runs in the first two innings and rolled to its second straight district title with a 13-3 victory over Rockwood.

"Southern Fulton is a really good team," said Rockwood coach Steve Barto. "It seems like we've been battling them for the last four or five years, now. Great program and great coach. Like in any sport, if you let somebody that's really good get up on you, it's hard to battle from behind, and that's what we ran into today."

What it means

Despite the loss, Rockwood still qualified for the PIAA playoffs, which begin on Monday. The Rockets will be the District 5 No. 2 representative.

Cougars tamedNorth Star blanked by Everett in District 5 Class 2A championship

Key plays

Southern Fulton sent nine players to the plate in the first inning, tallying four hits. The Indians capitalized on Rocket errors to take a 3-0 lead. In the second, Southern Fulton produced four more runs on just one hit. Walks and hit batters proved costly for Rockwood.

By the numbers

Ethan Powell reached base five times and scored four runs for the Indians. Catcher Trayton Younker provided three hits and two RBIs. He and his courtesy runner, Levi Sounder scored three runs.

Southern Fulton had 13 hits in the game off starter Carson Modrak, who went 1-plus innings, and Jack Pletcher. In 4⅔ innings of work, Pletcher recorded seven strikeouts, but hit five batters and walked two.

No. 9 hitter Davis Bruening had two infield singles for Rockwood. Aaron Show and Carson Brown each had an RBI for the Rockets, who managed only five hits off Indians senior starting pitcher Holden Stotler. He went 4⅔ innings, allowing two runs on two hits, three walks while striking out four.

Barto elected to start Modrak over Pletcher, hoping for a similar result as he got in the semifinals against Berlin Brothersvalley, where he started his No. 3 pitcher Luke Beahr, brought in Modrak and closed with Pletcher.

Champs Somerset blanks Clearfield for 1st district championship since 2014

The plan did not go as hoped.

"We knew these guys could hit," Barto said. "We knew they were solid and strong so I decided to go with Modrak from the top then get him through and bring Jack (Pletcher) in to finish."

Up next

Southern Fulton will take on District 6 No. 2 seed Williamsburg (7-12) in the first round of the PIAA playoffs on Monday.

Meanwhile, Rockwood (15-5) will visit District 6 champion Bishop McCort (15-8) on Monday.

"We'll come, we'll show up, we'll play hard and see what happens," Barto said of the matchup against the Crimson Crushers. "They're well-coached like a lot of teams in the playoffs are now. There's no gimmes from here on out."

Adam Ripple is the Daily American sports editor. He can be reached at 814-444-5926. Follow him on Twitter @ARipple_DAsport. Follow Daily American Sports on Facebook and @dailyamericanmedia on Instagram.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Southern Fulton scores early, often in D5 title rout of Rockwood