COAL TOWNSHIP - Whether or not you believe in moral victories, it's an indisputable fact that Lourdes Regional's baseball team came off the field with its eighth straight loss Wednesday, but feeling much better about itself.
When you had to scramble just to have a team, and you've lost your first seven games by a combined score of 73-12, to lose a game by one run with the winning run on base in the bottom of the seventh inning has to pump you up a little.
To be sure, Shenandoah Valley (2-8) is probably not heading to the postseason either, but the Blue Devils, who held on for a 10-9 win over the Red Raiders at Bunker Hill, can at least field an entire lineup of kids who have played baseball before.
"We have five kids who have never played before," said Lourdes head coach Dave Olsheskie. "This was actually a big step up for us. Our biggest problem other than that before this was that we weren't hitting. We were getting two, three hits a game. Today the bats finally came alive a little."
Lourdes actually outhit Shenandoah Valley 14-9, but the Red Raiders committed seven errors and had some plays that, while they didn't go in the book as errors, were damaging.
Such as the two-out pitch Tyler Craig hit off Lourdes starter Grier Melick in the first inning after Melick struck out the first two batters. The liner to right sailed over the head of rightfielder Bill Stewart, who never moved an inch because he never saw the ball in the sun, which was shining right at him. Craig rounded the bases for a home run. Blaise Breslosky followed with a double on a ball to left-center that probably should have been caught and Chris Palubinsky hit a run-scoring single to make it 2-0, when Melick by rights could have recorded four outs.
Lourdes bounced right back. Freshman Mike Gilger, who went 5-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBI, doubled to lead the Raiders off, Mike Menapace hit an infield single, and Anthony Pennypacker drove both in with a single. Pennypacker went 4-for-5 and drove in four runs.
Lourdes went ahead 4-2 against Shenandoah Valley starter Kayin Herb in the second. Herb got wild, walked three straight batters, gave up a two-run single to Gilger and walked Menapace before being lifted for reliever Chris Marconi, who finished the game and got the win for the Blue Devils.
Melick, like Herb, ran into problems. After retiring four of the previous five batters, Melick gave up a walk, a run-scoring single by Breslosky and walked Palubinsky to get the hook for Menapace, who finished for Lourdes and took the loss.
Ironically, both Marconi and Menapace gave up five runs, just one earned, but an error on a ball hit by Brandon Swantek allowed Shenandoah to take a 6-4 lead, and that extra run eventually proved big.
The Devils tacked two more runs on in the third. with a run-scoring double by Tyler Marnell, who scored on a single by Breslosky, who went 3-for-4.
Gilger singled and went to second on an error to lead off the fourth for Lourdes, and scored on a single by Pennypacker.
Lourdes tied the game at 8-8 in the sixth. Gilger again led off with a single, stole second and scored on another single by Pennypacker. Melick drove in Pennypacker with a single, and scored the tying run on an error.
Four walks and an error helped Shenanadoah Valley take a 10-8 lead in the top of the seventh.
In the bottom of the inning, Lourdes' number nine hitter, Neal Khanna singled and went to second on Gilger's fifth hit. Nick Taylor, running for Khanna, was thrown out at third on a single by Menapace, before another weird play.
Pennypacker hit a ball up the middle which got by the pitcher but hit umpire Leroy Zalewski, Gilger scored, but Zalewski ruled the other runners had to go back a base, and Marconi retired Melick on a grounder to second to end the game.
SHENANDOAH VALLEY (AB-R-H-BI) - Marnell 5-1-1-2, Herb 0-0-0-0, Marconi 1-0-0-0, Fogarty 0-0-0-0, Chisick 3-0-0-0, Craig 3-2-1-1, Breslosky 4-2-3-3, Palubinsky 2-2-1-0, Rakus 3-0-1-1, Gallo 0-1-0-0, Keller 3-1-0-0, Swantek 2-0-0-0, Szczyslak 4-1-2-0. Totals 30-10-9-7.
LOURDES (AB-R-H-BI) - Gilger 5-4-5-2, Menapace 4-1-2-0, Pennypacker 5-1-4-4, Melick 4-1-1-2, Holleran 3-0-1-1, Williams 2-1-0-0, Stewart 2-1-0-0, Sowash 3-0-0-0, Taylor 2-0-0-0, Khanna 2-0-1-0. Totals 32-9-14-9.
Shen. Valley 204 200 2 - 10 9 2
Lourdes 220 103 1 - 9 14 7
2B - Breslosky, Marnell; Gilger. HR - Craig.
IP H R ER BB K
Shenandoah Valley
Herb 1.1 4 4 4 3 2
Marconi (W) 5.2 10 5 1 3 5
Home
Melick 2.1 4 5 5 2 4
Menapace (L) 4.2 5 5 1 6 5