Mike Vukovcan WEST MIFFLIN– Tonight in the WPIAL baseball quarterfinals, it was a battle of Vikings and fortunately the better Viking won.
Behind another masterpiece from senior Kingston Krotec and big nights from Charlie Smetana and Logan Triscila, the Hopewell Vikings defeated the No. 3 seed Valley, 7-1.
Hopewell softball and youth baseball is sponsored by Lisa McCoy, your neighborhood State Farm agent.
Despite it viewed from many baseball observers as an upset, this was no upset as this Hopewell team is really good and have proven that over the last 2 months. With this win, Morgan Singletary’s squad improved their overall record to 16-5 and have won 15 of their last 17 games.
This win advances Hopewell to the WPIAL semifinals on Wednesday against No. 2 seed Elizabeth Forward. Site and time of the game hasn’t been announced yet.
This game was billed as a matchup of two big-time pitchers, as Krotec went up against Valley’s Dominick Dunkel.
Dunkel, who throws in the upper 80’s to low 90’s and has been dominant all season. However, the Hopewell lineup was able to get to him early, scoring 4 runs in the first three innings to grab the early lead.
With Krotec on the mound, that 4-0 lead likely seemed like a 14-0 lead to Valley, who couldn’t get anything going against him all game.
Hopewell’s Kingston Krotec
Krotec pitched another complete game, going 7 innings, allowing only 1 earned run, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. For the game, King threw 86 pitches, 62 of which were strikes.
Offensively, Smetana led the way with a perfect night, going 3-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Triscila, hitting from the cleanup spot, went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.
Hopewell’s Charlie Smetana
With Krotec only recording 3 of the 21 outs via strikeouts, he needed his defense to be strong and they were, committing only 1 error.
HOPEWELL/VALLEY GAME RECAP:
-Top of 1st: With 1 on and 1 out, Smetana hit a line drive single to center, advancing Krotec to second. Triscila stepped to the plate and took a 1-0 pitch to center as well, driving in Krotec. Hopewell 1-0.
-Bottom of 1st: An easy 1-2-3 1st inning as Krotec induced two ground ball outs and a line drive to Payton Korker at third.
–Top of 2nd: RF Jake Knobloch led off the inning with a double to left field. Then with 2 outs, Krotec was hit by a pitch, and Smetana came through with a clutch RBI single to left, which brought in Knobloch. Hopewell then took advantage of some sloppy Valley defense, as an error allowed Krotec to score. Hopewell now led 3-0.
-Bottom of 2nd: After Valley singled with 1 out, Krotec shut things down with a pop up to Collin Davis at second base and a strikeout.
-Top of 3rd: James Gill reached to start the inning as he was hit by a pitch. After stealing second base, Gill would score on a double to left by Drew Donovan, Hopewell led 4-0.
-Bottom of 3rd: Valley got a 2-out double but couldn’t bring him in as the next batter grounded out to Donovan at shortstop. Hopewell 4-0.
-Bottom of 4th: Valley got 2 runners on but with 2 outs, the inning ended on a pop up to Donovan at short.
-Bottom of 5th: Valley scored their only run of the game with 2 outs and were threatening to score more as they had 2 runners on, but Krotec limited the damage by getting a fly ball to McDonald in center field.
-Top of 6th: Hopewell responded and plated 2 runs in the sixth to put the game on ice. One again with 2 outs, Smetana came through with an RBI single to score Davis. Lindsey pinch ran for Smetana and could score as Triscila swung at the first pitch of the at-bat for an RBI double. Hopewell 6-1
-Bottom of 6th: Valley tried to get back in the game as they got 2 runners on with 1 out, but Krotec did what he’s done all season, came up big for his team. With 2 on and 1 out, Krotec fielded a comebacker to the mound, threw to Donovan at short, who fired it to Triscila at first for a 1-6-3 DP. Hopewell 6-1
-Bottom of 7th: Hopewell scored their 7th run on a passed ball, so Krotec went to the final inning with a 6-run lead.
The final frame stared with a pop up to Donovan, followed by a fly out to McDonald and fittingly, Krotec ended the game with a strikeout.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 7 VALLEY 1
WINNING IS FUN!!!
After the game, Vikings Sports Now caught up with HC Morgan Singletary, who went over the win and game his thoughts on his team advancing to the semifinals.
“We played a great game today,” said Singletary. “We executed our game plan at the plate and did very well against a very good pitcher. Kingston did what he has done all season.
on the mound and our defense was outstanding.”
Hopewell senior James Gill
“That was a team win. I’m really proud of what they did tonight. If you look back on the game, every senior contributed in a big way. They are stepping up and leading. This is their season. As for next round, we will start preparing our game plan tonight and get at it at practice tomorrow.”
As mentioned earlier, Hopewell will take on #2 seed Elizabeth Forward, which defeated West Mifflin, 5-1. In the other semifinal matchup, it’ll be #1 seed Indiana vs. Derry. Indiana squeaked by Knoch, 1-0.
