WILCOX — If there was any doubt whether No. 6 Elk County Catholic belonged in the District 9 Class A baseball semifinals, the Crusaders’ bats quickly put those thoughts to rest.
ECC (8-12) jumped on No. 2 Otto Eldred (10-5) with four runs in the top of the first. Sporadic offense the rest of the way, paired with six strong innings from starting pitcher Joe Tettis, led the Crusaders to a 10-5 win over the Terrors on Thursday.
It was ECC’s second-consecutive upset in the D9 postseason tournament. This one earned the Crusaders a spot in Monday’s Class A championship game in DuBois.
“It’s good to get on the board early,” ECC coach James Slay said. “We knew that if we put some pressure on (O-E), they’d have to do some catching up. We executed the way we asked them to.”
ECC’s offense wasted no time attacking O-E starting pitcher Jake Merry. A one-out walk, followed by an infield error, set up an RBI single by Luke Ginther in the first.
Tettis padded the lead with a bullet double that sailed over left fielder Josh Rhinehart’s head and plated two more runs. Mark Kraus ripped an RBI single before Merry got out of the inning, giving Tettis a four-run lead before he even took the mound.
“I think we kind of expected we would see Merry,” Slay said. “He’s a good guy, good pitcher. We worked on what we wanted to see out of a left-handed pitcher in practice and it paid off.”
O-E countered with a run in the bottom of the first on a Cole Sebastian sacrifice fly, but after ECC added two more runs in the top of the second, the Crusaders had already provided Tettis with all the run support he would need.
“(Merry) threw well, they just hit well,” O-E coach Lance Baker said. “We got what we wanted. We had our number one on the hill and they hit him.”
Tettis came back strong in the second, retiring O-E’s sixth, seventh and eighth hitters in order. The Terrors mustered a rally in the third, highlighted by a two-run double by Max Splain, but failed to replicate their production the third time through their order.
“They had some big, key hits early and put us in a hole,” Baker said. “I’m proud of the way the kids battled. We got some runs and got back into it, but it was a ‘too little too late’ type of deal.”
Baker pulled Merry after two innings to bring on Sebastian, who slowed the pace of ECC’s offense but couldn’t keep the Crusaders off the board.
Merry, who labored to 34 pitches thrown in the first inning, finished with two strikeouts, a walk and four hits allowed over two frames. In five innings of relief, Sebastian allowed six hits while walking four and striking out four.
Both O-E pitchers were hurt by the defense behind them, which committed four errors.
Splain finished 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBI, while Ryan Love scored two runs and Sebastian and Merry each drove in a run.
“They’re way better than the sixth seed and what their record is,” Baker said of ECC. “They play up (against larger schools) all year, but just watching them on Tuesday (in the quarterfinals), I told my guys they hit one through nine really well. That’s probably the best hitting team we’ve seen all year.”
Tettis scattered three hits over his six innings on the mound, striking out five while walking two. By the end of the sixth inning, he had thrown 107 pitches, requiring him to exit the game due to Pennsylvania’s 105-pitch cap in postseason games.
“Maturity and experience, and then ball control,” Slay said to describe the development of Tettis’ game. “I know he got tired, and we had to go talk to him, telling him to pound the zone. I think he did an outstanding job.”
Slay said that Tettis, a sophomore, showed poise beyond his years.
“Joe Tettis is strong,” Slay said. “He showed great poise for his age. I’m looking forward to coaching him as a junior and a senior, but today, and looking at where he has come through this season to be where we’re at now, that’s exactly where we were hoping to get him.”
David Anderson, who pitched the seventh inning for the Crusaders, finished 1-for-3 at the plate with a double, walk and RBI. Ginther added two hits and drove in a run while Dellaquila singled, walked twice and scored two runs.
ECC advances to Monday’s Class A championship game, where it will play No. 5 DuBois Central Catholic.
DCC, which pulled two upsets of its own to reach the final, beat No. 4 Smethport on Tuesday before edging top-seeded Clarion-Limestone, 6-3, on Thursday.
While O-E’s season ended on Thursday, Baker said that his roster, especially his seniors, made his first season as Terrors skipper memorable.
“I told my seniors, I wouldn’t have any other group besides them to start with,” Baker said. “We were co-league champs and got the first round (postseason) bye. About all you can ask for other than winning this one today.”
ECC and DCC are slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch from Showers Field in DuBois.
