Hempfield East among 3 teams left at Region 7 Legion tournament

A portable tent buckled under forceful wind gusts as rain began to fall in sheets Monday at Latrobe High School, prompting a lengthy delay at the Region 7 tournament of the Pennsylvania American Legion baseball playoffs.

It was a scene in stark contrast to the calm, steamy weather conditions that smothered the region over the weekend.

“It’s been a tough day that’s inconvenienced everyone here,” said Latrobe coach Jason Bush, the tournament’s director, after an approximate 3-hour afternoon rain delay during Beech Creek’s 3-2 victory that eliminated Latrobe from tournament play.

The game was part of a tripleheader that was moved from Latrobe’s Legion-Keener Field to the high school’s artificial surface.

In the first game, Hempfield East beat Latrobe, 4-3 in 10 innings, in a rained out matchup from Sunday then faced Mifflin County in a late nightcap.

The nightcap saw Mifflin County push across a run in the top of the eighth for a 7-6 victory over Hempfield East, setting up Tuesday’s championship round at Latrobe High School.

Tyreen Smalley’s sacrifice fly scored Brian Yetter with the winning run as Hempfield East suffered its first loss of the tournament.

Matt Wicker had three hits and four RBIs for Hempfield East.

On Tuesday, Beech Creek will face Mifflin County at 2 p.m. with the winner to play Hempfield East for the championship 45 minutes after the completion of the first game.

“Having the opportunity to play on turf was a great advantage for us,” said Bush, who handed the coaching reins to his son, Zach, throughout the five-day tournament while he handled its operations. “We’ve done a great job of staying on schedule. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

In Beech Creek’s victory, center fielder Trey Gentzel’s throw to home plate on a single by Latrobe’s Clay Petrosky cut down pinchrunner Mason Krinock to end the game and send Beech Creek into the championship round.

In the first game before the weather turned nasty, Hempfield East won a marathon, 10-inning decision against Latrobe when Noah Sweeney singled home Hunter Eperesi with the winning run in a matchup moved back a day because of rain.

Zach Bush, coaching at third for Latrobe, defended the decision to send Krinock with the potential tying run.

“Listen, we’d been here for 12 hours and we were coming off that walk-off, 10-inning loss to Hempfield East,” said Zach Bush, a former Saint Vincent player who currently serves as an assistant coach at Leonardtown (Md.) High School.

“We made the decision ahead of time that we were going to go if there was anything hit in the outfield. I’d do it again.”

Beech Creek made the most of three hits against two Latrobe pitchers, scoring all three runs in the second against starter Ethan Boring.

After the rain delay, Logan Gustafson allowed just one baserunner — Trevor Hanna reached on a sixth-inning error — over the final five innings.

“I can’t say enough about Logan Gustafson,” Zach Bush said. “We played great defense behind him. You just can’t ask for anything more.”

Latrobe closed within 3-2 in the sixth on Tucker Knupp’s two-run, two-out double.

Early in the day, Hempfield East put together its winning rally in the 10th when Eperesi reached on an error and one out later moved to second on a walk to Reed Hipps before scoring on Sweeney’s sharp single to center.

“Win or lose, it was a good game,” Hempfield East coach Scott Smith said. “Both teams played fundamental baseball. There were some great plays.”

Lance Daley pitched 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory for Hempfield East. Ben Rafferty hit a solo home run in the third for Latrobe.