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MOOSIC — There was no sense in worrying about how they got there.
The Dallas Mountaineers had their closer on the mound with a lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, playing before what was probably the largest crowd in the program’s history, needing just three outs to claim their first district baseball title in 16 years.
Josh Lydon made sure the moment did not get away.
On a day when simply throwing a strike turned into an extreme challenge for the Dallas pitchers, the junior right-hander delivered a routine 1-2-3 inning and the Mountaineers secured the District 2 Class 4A title with an 8-7 victory over Valley View Sunday at PNC Field.
“We’re still fighting at the end of the game with the puzzle pieces in place where we want them,” Dallas coach Ken Kashatus said.
The Mountaineers did not take a conventional route to PNC Field or to a one-run lead in the bottom of the last inning once they got there.
Dallas has won nine straight since a 2-6 start, including a playoff for the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 title along the way.
Once there, it made little difference that the Mountaineers walked 12 batters or blew a seven-run lead before asking Lydon for one more inning with the title on the line.
“We managed to have a 1-2-3 inning, which was amazing and felt miraculous,” Kashatus said.
Kashatus said he usually tells Lydon to get up and start walking around in the fourth inning to begin the gradual process of getting loose to finish up the game on the mound.
This time, Lydon was needed in the fourth inning as the third pitcher trying to slow a five-run Valley View rally that was the result of three walks, a hit batter with the bases loaded, a wild pitch that allowed a run to score and an error handling the throw back to the plate on that wild pitch.
Lydon arrived on the mound with a 7-0, third-inning lead already reduced to 7-5 with two runners on and only one out in the fourth. He got one out, shrugged off an infield error and got another to keep Dallas ahead, 7-6.
“He knows his job on this team is our finisher,” Kashatus said. “ … We had to stop the bleeding in that spot with the game on the line and go to our best guy.
“We thought first-and-third, up two and they’re in the middle of the lineup. We felt like we had to go to him right there because sometimes the biggest spot in the game is in the fourth and fifth inning.”
Lydon still had one more big one with which to deal while earning the win with 3 2/3 innings of relief.
By then he was in control, retiring the final five batters in a game where Dallas scored the first seven runs, then still needed one more to break a tie in the sixth.
“The adrenaline was much higher knowing I had a shot to give my team a shot to win the district title,” Lydon said. “It was good defense behind me and we got the job done.”
Starting pitcher Nick Kocher did not allow a hit for his first 3 1/3 innings, but he struggled with his control. He left the mound after seven walks with Valley View well into its comeback.
Kocher, however, was not done.
With the game tied in the sixth – and Dallas hitless since building the seven-run lead with one out in the third – Kocher’s single through the left side produced the winning run, driving in Darren Kerdesky, who had walked and stolen second.
“I knew I didn’t have my best stuff early,” Kocher said. “I couldn’t throw a strike, for whatever reason.
“But, I knew if I was lucky enough to get in position to get those runs back that I gave up, I knew I couldn’t let that chance slip by.”
Kocher, who finished the game in left field, also made an overhead catch toward the line for the second out of the seventh inning.
Mike Luksic reached all four times he was up for Dallas, going 2 for 2 with a double, two walks and a run.
Christo Huntington also had two hits, including single in the two-run second.
The Mountaineers scored five times in the third when a three-run triple by Mike Collins knocked Valley View starter Joe Castellani out of the game.
Although it may have seemed to build a comfortable lead at the time, there were still challenges ahead from Valley View, which lost in the district final for the fourth time in five years.
“We let them get to close, back into it, but we stayed with it,” Collins said. “You could just feel it in the air, the tension was very high.
“You just have to stay in the game and work with your team to come out with the win.”
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Dallas 8, Valley View 7
Dallas`AB`R`H`BI
Kerdesky cf-p`4`1`0`0
Barrett 2b`3`1`0`0
Luksic 3b`2`1`2`0
Kocher p-lf`3`1`1`1
Collins rf`4`1`1`3
McCrum ss`4`2`1`1
Giacometti dh`3`1`1`1
Lewis lf-cf`0`0`0`0
Lydon p`0`0`0`0
Mathers c`3`0`1`0
Huntingdon 1b`3`0`2`1
Totals`29`8`9`7
Valley View`AB`R`H`BI
Regan cf`3`1`1`2
DBlack ss`1`0`0`1
Kilmer 3b`2`0`0`0
MBlack 2b-p`4`0`0`0
Pezak lf`3`0`0`0
Seprasky dh`3`2`1`0
Combs pr`0`0`0`0
Howanitz rf`0`0`0`0
Cwalinski 1b`4`1`1`0
Castellani p-2b`1`2`0`0
Savkov pr`0`0`0`0
Boyle c`1`1`0`1
Totals`24`7`3`4
Dallas`025`001`0`—`8
Valley View`001`510`0`—`7
Dallas`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Kocher`3.1`1`4`4`7`1
Kerdesky`0`1`2`0`1`0
Lydon (W)`3.2`1`1`1`4`3
Valley View`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Castellani`2`5`6`4`2`4
MBlack (L)`5`4`2`2`4`4
