Freedom Area captures berth in the PIAA championship game
See Freedom Area make more history this season after it punched its ticket to the PIAA Class 2A baseball championship with a win over Mercyhurst Prep.
Freedom Area defeated Mercyhurst Prep 2-0 to advance to their first PIAA championship game.A 2:45 rain delay interrupted the game after the fifth inning, but Freedom Area maintained composure.Freedom Area will face Faith Christian Academy in the state championship game on June 13.
SLIPPERY ROCK — Freedom Area head coach Dan O’Leary knew that he couldn’t control the weather. After his team held a majority of the momentum and a two-run lead at the end of the fifth inning, a rain delay forced Freedom Area and Mercyhurst Prep to leave the field for 2:45 before resuming play.
But despite the long delay, Freedom Area maintained its composure, getting the final six outs to defeat Mercyhurst Prep 2-0 and advance to the program’s first PIAA championship game in its history.
“There is nothing you can do about the weather, but I knew with the resiliency of my guys, once Mother Nature allowed us to play again, we would be able to finish the job,” O’Leary said.
Many times after a long rain delay, a pitcher that was previously in the game ahead of the delay would be taken out of the game after getting cold.
But Freedom Area’s Boden Hilliard ― who pitched five scoreless innings allowing just three hits in the opening two innings and one free pass before the delay ― knew that he wasn’t going to let a delay stop him from finishing the complete game shutout.
Following the delay, Hilliard came out and set down the final six batters in order, striking out two in the seventh inning.
“My coaches were asking me if I was okay to go, but in my mind, I knew whatever happened, I was going to go the entire game. I wanted to go out there and win,” Hilliard said.
Hilliard has been coined as a big-game pitcher by his skipper O’Leary and for good reason, pitching in the team’s biggest games of the season.
The junior right-handed pitcher had his way for most of the game against Mercyhurst Prep (24-2), setting down 10 batters including five strikeouts looking and inducing weak contact en route to a complete game three-hit shutout.
“I wasn’t trying to throw as hard as I could in the first inning, I was just trying to hit my spots,” Hilliard said. “As the game went on, I knew that the game was in my hands so I focused in, stayed calm, kept throwing strikes and weren’t connecting on pitches as much as I thought they would.”
Along with Hilliard, Freedom Area (18-7) senior catcher Tommy Ward was the hero for the Bulldogs on offense, driving in the game’s winning runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Nick Fessler led off the game for Freedom Area with a single, setting the table for Ward, who roped a line drive over Mercyhurst Prep center fielder Josh Majczyk’s head. The ball found its way to the wall, allowing Ward to make it around to score on an inside-the-park two-run home run.
“I was off on my timing, but was in a pretty long at-bat with the pitcher,” Ward said. “He ended up hanging a curveball for me, saw it great and got around the bases.”
Freedom Area will now face District I champion Faith Christian Academy in the PIAA Class 2A championship game at Penn State University’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on Friday, June 13 at 10:30 a.m.