George Guido: Bad weather this season no match for spring 1968

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, May 8, 2018 | 11:25 PM

There's no question that rain and nasty weather have had an affect on this year's high school baseball season.

Deer Lakes, for example, played games on five consecutive days last week, finishing Friday by securing a WPIAL playoff berth.

But the weather this season pales in comparison to the 1968 scholastic baseball season. That year, the WPIAL regular season was extended twice, finally finishing June 1.

In those days, there were no PIAA playoffs. The WPIAL arranged the regular season and the playoffs around when the Pirates were on the road so the championship game could be played at Forbes Field.

The WPIAL had the right idea going into 1968, delaying the start of the section season two weeks to April 25. Schools played nonsection games in the two weeks preceding the section openers.

But players and coaches woke up the morning of April 25 to 39-degree temperatures, and the first day's section action was by the boards.

Valley had made its baseball debut in a 6-5 exhibition win against Kiski Area, but its section debut against Burrell was delayed a day.

“I remember that being a nice day at the Burrell field where it's now known as Huston Middle School,” Valley senior Pat McHenry said. “It seemed like a very short season all the way. We didn't play many games.”

Burrell won that one, 11-1, with McHenry hitting the first home run in school history for Valley.

Tarentum and Freeport didn't play their first section game until April 30. By May 16, five area schools were four games behind, and five more were three behind.

“There were so many rainouts,” Freeport pitcher Bill Hagins said. “You'd bring your uniform to school every day and didn't know whether you'd be playing or not.”

In between all the postponements, Hagins threw back-to-back no-hitters.

The weather never really improved. Teams couldn't get into any kind of rhythm.

Doubleheaders became common, and pitching was dominant.

On May 17, Freeport and Har-Brack split a twin bill.

In the first game, Pat Marino pitched a 3-0 shutout over the Yellowjackets. In the nightcap, Bob Isenberg struck out 13 in a 1-0 Freeport win.

The regular season finally was completed June 1. In the final athletic event in Tarentum history, Fran Murar pitched a four-hitter as the Redcats defeated Shannock Valley, 8-2. Jim Hirtz helped Murar with the last home run in Tarentum annals.

“We were playing on muddy fields just to get the games in,” Hagins said. “We were lucky to have three pitchers: myself, Isenberg and Denny Venderlic. So we were OK when the games backed up.”

Valley played on a field now occupied by the Northern Westmoreland Career & Technical School where stormwater would cascade down the hill abutting the outfield.

“That right field was like a swamp most of the time,” McHenry said.

Even the WPIAL tennis finals May 31 at Oakmont's Riverside Park were delayed by rain.

Finally, the playoffs got underway June 7, and section winners Freeport and Kiski Area qualified. The Yellowjackets lost the playoff opener to North Hills, and the Cavaliers defeated defending WPIAL champ Kittanning.

Kiski Area advanced to the semifinals, losing to Waynesburg, 3-0, on June 13 at Forbes Field.

The finals took place June 17 at West Field in Munhall as Ellwood City defeated Waynesburg.

Liberatore finishes gem

Blackhawk graduate Adam Liberatore pitched the ninth inning last Friday in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-0, no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in Monterrey, Mexico.

It was the first MLB no-hitter pitched outside of the U.S. or Canada.

It also was the first time a pitcher from a WPIAL school was involved in a no-hitter since Aug. 18, 1990, when Laurel Highlands' Terry Mulholland of the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-0.

Before that, Franklin Regional grad Bob Moose pitched a no-hitter for the Pirates against the Mets at Shea Stadium, a 4-0 win Sept. 20, 1969.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.

Tags: Burrell, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Kiski School, Valley