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Youngstown Cene wins PONY Palomino East Zone title
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
Joe Campagna’s walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning scored Greg Popatak and lifted Youngstown Cene to a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the Chartiers Valley Colts in the PONY Palomino East Zone Tournament championship Saturday at Bob Cene Park.
Youngstown advances to the Palomino World Series, which begins Thursday in Compton, Calif., where it will play Puerto Rico in the opening round.
Popatak opened the inning with a double over center fielder Chandler Palyas’ head and advanced to third on Billy Krull’s bunt single to set up Campagna’s game-winner.
“I’ve been in this situation many times before and I take the same approach, just wanting to get the bat on the ball and put it in play,” Campagna said. “With nobody out, he [pitcher Reno Rainey] threw me a fastball on the outside corner of the plate and I was able to drive it to the opposite field. This is the first time that a team from our league will be heading to the Palomino World Series, so for me, it’s really cool to be a part of a history-making squad.”
Popatak struck out, flied out and hit a sacrifice fly in his previous three at-bats, so he was just looking to reach base.
“I wasn’t getting my bat on the ball like I wanted to in my previous at-bats so with it being lefty on lefty, all I wanted to do was drive the ball and hope that it would fall,” Popatak said. “While on second, I wanted to make sure that Billy [Krull] got the bunt down in order to get to third base. Joe [Campagna] then delivered the big blow.”
Krull, who singled in the sixth frame and later scored to knot the game at 2-2, said he expected to get the bunt signal from manager Andy Timko.
“My mindset was to look for the bunt signal and then get the ball down in order to advance Greg over to third base,” he said. “It’s special that we are the first local team to be going to the Palomino World Series. It’s nice to be a member of the team that sets precedent for the others to follow.”
Youngstown (4-0) drew first blood in the third inning when Riley Campbell led off with a single, advanced to third on Scott Sada’s single and raced home on Popatak’s sacrifice fly. It was Campbell’s sixth consecutive hit in as many at-bats to start the tourney.
The Colts (2-2) left four runners stranded the first four innings, but sent seven players to the plate in the sixth inning to forge a 2-1 lead.
Youngtown tied the game at 2-2 in it half of the inning when Krull laced a one-out single, moved to second on Campagna’s groundout and scored from second base when Colts third baseman Brian Shaffer failed to field Dalton Davis’ sharp roller up the line.
“We beat an excellent pitcher today,” Timko said. “This lineup can hit from top to bottom and we had excellent pitching throughout the tournament. I’m pleased for the players because this is a team that always came to play. Not only are they good players, but they’re a great group of kids as well.”