This time last spring, Indiana’s players could do nothing but choke back tears and wonder about what could have been after coughing up a four-run lead in a heart-wrenching loss against North Catholic in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game.
What a difference a year makes.
With one loud crack of Charlie Manzi’s bat in the bottom of the 11th inning, the Little Indians (22-1) erased their painful memories of yesteryear and replaced them with pure joy and jubilation, as Manzi swatted a walk-off, two-run home run over the right-field fence to clinch a rain-soaked 4-2 win over Elizabeth Forward (16-4). His teammates poured out of the dugout as Manzi trotted around the bases before mobbing him at home plate, with the celebration spilling out into the infield as Indiana basked in the glory of its first WPIAL championship.
“I made contact and I blanked out until I was rounding third base,” Manzi said. “I’m on cloud nine. … That home run trot was sweet. I’m going to remember that until the day I die.”
Referred to affectionately as “Playoff Charlie” by his coaches and teammates, Manzi lived up to his namesake on Tuesday, finishing 2 for 5 with a double and the walk-off homer. Adding to the lore, Manzi is barely a week removed from a broken nose he suffered in the team’s WPIAL quarterfinal win last week.
“It must be [my good luck charm],” Manzi said about his newly repaired nose. “This is every kid’s dream. To be able to represent my school and bring home a WPIAL championship to my school, it’s incredible.”
Texas Tech recruit Greg Minnick got the start for the Little Indians in the championship game for the second year in a row — and although he didn’t have his best stuff, Minnick battled his way through 3⅔ innings while giving up two runs on three hits and striking out five. Ryan Okopal, Brady Oakes and Mark Collinger then teamed up to toss 7⅓ scoreless innings of relief, with Collinger pitching the final four innings to pick up the win.
“We’re just used to really good games against really good teams,” said Indiana coach Dan Petroff. “My hat goes off to Elizabeth Forward. … They deserved it just as much as we did.”
Senior left-hander Cy Herchelroath put up a valiant effort on the bump for the Warriors, allowing one earned run on six hits and two walks while striking out seven in 6⅓ innings of work. Junior J.B. Crovak pitched the final four innings in relief, and he also went 3 for 5 with a walk, and RBI and a run scored.
Even in the immediate aftermath of allowing the walk-off home run, Crovak still took it upon himself to congratulate Manzi as he rounded third base in a heart-warming display of sportsmanship.
“That was a great baseball game,” said Elizabeth Forward coach Frank Champ. “I just said to them, ‘I’m as proud as I can be of you guys. How can I possibly complain about your effort and everything that you did?’
“That’s a great baseball team, but I feel like we can play right with them. … Congratulations and hats off to them.”
After allowing a leadoff walk followed by an infield single to the first two batters he faced, Minnick worked his way out of trouble and stranded a pair of runners to get out of the top of the first unscathed. The Little Indians then struck first after leadoff hitter Tim Birch came home to score after reaching on a throwing error.
Indiana had a chance to do even more damage, but Crovak made a great throw from foul territory in right field to cut down Carter Putt at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
Minnick faced another scare in the second inning when runners reached second and third, but the senior right-hander escaped the jam with back-to-back putouts to end the threat. His luck would run out in the third inning, though, as Crovak led off the inning by reaching on a dropped third strike, then came home to score the tying run for the Warriors on a sacrifice fly by Herchelroath.
The following inning, Minnick loaded the bases with a pair of walks sandwiched around a hit-by-pitch, then Crovak knocked in the go-ahead run by beating out an infield single. With the bases still loaded and two outs, Petroff then turned to Okopal, who induced an inning-ending flyout by Herchelroath to keep it a one-run game.
“I’m not making excuses for anybody. But when the balls are wet and you don’t have a good feel, as a hard thrower, it’s hard to get comfortable,” Petroff said. “For Greg’s standards, he was disappointed, but Greg is the man. He’s a dog on the mound. … You can’t rattle him. You can’t get to him. He’ll start locating. He’s got great off-speed [pitches]. He’ll battle anybody.”
The teams traded zeroes for the next two innings, with the Little Indians struggling to mount any sort of offense against Herchelroath. The crafty southpaw pitched all the way into the seventh inning, but he reached the 105-pitch limit with runners on first and third and one out. Crovak then came on in relief to face Birch, who beat out what would have been a game-ending double play on a grounder to second to bring home the game-tying run.
“We had a possibility of a double play there to possibly end it, and we just weren’t quick enough on that,” Champ said. “We played really well. It’s just unfortunately silver instead of gold.”
With the game going to extra innings, momentum seemed to be shifting in Indiana’s favor, but the Little Indians missed several chances to scratch the winning run across as Crovak kept Elizabeth Forward’s hopes alive. Then, with a runner on first and one out in the bottom of the 11th, Manzi stepped to the plate with only one thing on his mind — making history.
Mission accomplished.
“I can’t say I predicted that [ending], but that game is how we’ve played all year,” Petroff said. “We’ve been in some battles all season long. … Just keep it close and come up with some big hits. But I’m not going to lie, when the game ended, I was just like, ‘Wow, what just happened?’
“I wasn’t giving a second-place speech again, so we had to win.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at [email protected].
