HAZLE TWP. — Paul Zaffuto has been around high school baseball long enough to know that a win in the first week of April doesn’t make or break a season.
But Pittston Area’s veteran coach also has been chasing Hazleton Area long enough to realize that any win over the six-time defending Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champion-Cougars should be celebrated, especially when it comes on their home field.
Such was the case on Thursday, when Chase Montigney’s two-run single in the top of the sixth inning lifted the unbeaten Patriots to a 6-4 victory over Hazleton Area in an early-season WVC showdown at Schiavo Field.
“Any time you come against (Cougars coach) Russ’ (Canzler’s) team, you’re expecting a dogfight,” Zaffuto said, reflecting on games he’s coached against Hazleton Area back to when Canzler was a Cougar star player in the early 2000s . “If you want to be the best team in the area, you’ve got to beat the best team in the area. That team over there (Hazleton Area) has been the best team in the area for a long time, and we’re trying to get to that standard.
“When I look at the scoreboard and I see that we had 10 hits (actually eight) against top-tier pitching and some calls didn’t go our way, yet we didn’t back down and we kept our composure. … that’s what counts with me. We proved that we could play with the big boys.”
The Patriots (6-0, 2-0 WVC) took leads of 1-0 and 4-1, but the Cougars rallied to tie both times. However, in the top of the sixth, Elijah Barr walked, Silvio Giardina singled and Jake Aftewicz walked to load the bases with one out. Hazleton Area reliever Chris Peters fanned Beau Widdick for the second out, before Montigney lined an 0-1 pitch into right-centerfield for the eventual game-winning hit in the game’s most shining example of the Patriots delivering in the clutch.
Of Pittston Area’s eight base hits, seven came with two outs; five of those came with two strikes.
“It’s a daily routine: two-strike, (two-out) hitting is what we talk about all the time. … and making sure that we’re comfortable being uncomfortable,” Zaffuto said. “We we get buried (in the count), it’s OK to take a strike.”
The Patriots struck first against Hazleton Area starter Dom Marino in the third inning. Barr drew a leadoff walk and raced safely into second on Giardina’s fielder’s choice grounder on a bang-bang play. Marino retired Afetwicz on a popup and Widdick bounced into a force play for the first two outs. Montigney then fell behind Marino, 0-2, before singling home courtesy runner Stephen Barnic with the game’s first run.
“Tip your caps to Pittston. They played very well… They (had) tough at-bats. They grounded their way through some of those (at-bats). That’s what they always do, and they came up with some big hits during the game,” Canzler said.
The Cougars (2-2, 1-1) showed their own spunk in the home third. Bryant Diaz was plunked by a Barr pitch and hustled to third on Logan Hearity’s perfectly placed single to left on a hit-and-run. Ryan Racho then squeezed Diaz home with the equalizer, but Barr wiggled out of further trouble, even after another hit batsman and intentional walk loaded the bases.
Pittston Area worked its two-out magic with three runs in the fourth to reclaim the lead. Two hit batsmen wrapped around two outs gave the Patriots runners at first and second. Giardina stroked the go-ahead RBI single on a 1-2 pitch and Aftewicz greeted Peters with a two-run double for a 4-1 Patriots advantage.
Back came the Cougars in the bottom of the inning with their own two-out lightning. A walk to AJ Collevechio, Diaz’s single and another walk to Racho loaded the bases ahead of a Nick Ledger two-run single to right. Although Racho was thrown out at third on the play, Hazleton Area was back within 4-3.
After Peters quickly retired the Patriots in order in the top of the fifth, Hazleton Area tied the game without a hit in the bottom half. Two walks, Chris Knelly’s sacrifice bunt and Marcos Gil Pena’s sacrifice fly drew the Cougars even.
“Our guys did well against Elijah (Barr, Pittston Area’s junior ace),” Canzler said. “We put some hits on the board against a really good arm and ended up the tying the game. I was really proud of the way our guys battled. Ultimately, we were just a couple hits short.”
Given a two-run lead, Widdick settled down after his shaky start to allow only one infield single in his three innings in relief of Barr. He worked around one-out base runners in both the sixth and seventh innings to nail down Pittston Area’s hard-earned win.
“It’s a very big win for us,” Widdick said. ‘They’re a good team, but we’ve practiced a lot for this. … We were ready.”
Like his teammates batting with two strikes, Widdick maintained his composure on the mound to thwart every one of the Cougars’ latest comeback bids and perhaps make their team the one to beat in the WVC Division 1 title chase in 2025.
“I just had to stay confident in my team, let them make plays and me find the (strike) zone,” Widdick said. “This does a lot for my confidence; I’m really confident now.”
So, too, are the Patriots.
Even if the calendar still read April 3 at game’s end.
“Even if we would have lost this game, we still saw signs that are going to help us down the road,” Zaffuto said. “Win or lose, it doesn’t matter; but the way that we played was up to par for me.”
Meanwhile, Canzler also found some silver linings in his own team’s performance, namely the job that Marino and later Peters did on the mound to keep Pittston Area batters off-balance and in the way the Cougars scrapped after falling behind, right until the last out.
“There were a lot of positives to take away,” Canzler said. “We’ve just got to shake this one off, reset and get ready to play against a really good Spring-Ford team on Saturday and get back after it. You never like to lose, but you can use it as a motivator. We want to figure out how to win these close games and play our best baseball in pressure situations.”
Game Summary
PITTSTON AREA (6) — Barr p-2b 1 1 0 0, Barnic cr 0 2 0 0, Giardina ss 5 2 2 1, Aftewicz c 3 0 1 2, Cerasaro cr 0 0 0 0, Widdick 2b-p 4 0 1 0, Montigney 1b 4 0 3 3, Budzak pr 0 0 0 0, Tonte 3b 3 0 0 0, Kroski dh 3 1 1 0, Mead rf 3 0 0 0, Innamorati cf 4 0 0 0. Totals 30 6 8 6.
HAZLETON AREA (4) — Hearity lf 3 0 1 0, Racho 1b 2 0 1 1, Ledger c 3 0 1 2, Schmidt cr-pr 0 1 0 0, Higgins 2b 3 0 0 0, Marino p-dh 2 0 1 0, Knelly cf 3 0 0 0, Gil Pena 3b 3 0 1 1, Collevechio rf 2 1 0 0, Diaz ss 3 2 1 0. Totals 24 4 6 4.
Pittston Area (6-0, 2-0) 001 302 0 — 6
Hazleton Area (2-2, 1-1) 001 210 0 — 4
E — Pittston Area 1, Hazleton Area 1. LOB — Pittston Area 11, Hazleton Area 8. 2B — Aftewicz. SB — Widdick, Kroski, Hearity, Schmidt 2. S — Racho, Knelly. SF — Gil Pena.
Pittston Area IP H R ER BB K
Barr 4.0 5 3 3 3 3
Widdick W 3.0 1 1 1 3 3
Hazleton Area IP H R ER BB K
Marino.2 4 4 4 1 2
Peters L 2.0 4 2 1 2 2
Esposito 1.1 0 0 0 1 2
HBP — by Marino 3 (Mead, Kroski, Barr), by Peters (Barr), by Barr (Diaz, Ledger).
Time — 2:22.
