Hitting catches up with pitching as Chartiers Valley downs Kiski Area in baseball playoffs

By: Nathan Breisinger
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 | 8:48 PM

Throughout the regular season, Chartiers Valley has depended on its sound pitching rotation that limited teams to fewer than three runs. With the fielding holding its end of the bargain, the Colts were looking to dig into its untapped potential at the plate.

That third facet came through in the opening round of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs.

Backed by a combined three-hitter, the seventh-seeded Colts built a comfortable lead through the first three innings that paved the way to for a 5-2 victory over No. 10 Kiski Area on Wednesday at North Allegheny.

“They came out ready,” Colts coach Bill Priddy said. “We worked our butts off the last three practices with situational hitting. I thought we could hit the ball today, and we did.”

The win is Priddy’s first postseason victory, and it came with the help of the youth in his lineup.

Sophomore leadoff hitter Colton Prosperi reached base four times and scored twice.

“He’s been our leadoff hitter pretty much all year. He was focused like nobody else today,” Priddy said. “That was big for us for him to go 3 for 3 with a walk. That’s what our leadoff hitter is supposed to do.”

After Prosperi setting the tone with a leadoff single in the first inning, freshman Jared Pryor looped one into shallow right field to bring in two runs and give Char Valley (12-6) the early lead.

In the second inning, Kiski Area (11-9) got on the board when Tyler Hanley drove in Blake Fritz, who had tripled off CV starter Jules Prozzoly.

“Once we cashed that one in, I thought we were going to be in that game for a while,” Kiski Area coach Mike Manning said.

But that would be the last run the Cavaliers scored against Prozzoly, who sat down 10 straight batters.

The early lead gave Prozzoly enough confidence to fight through the second-inning hiccup.

“We’ve been lacking that a little bit this season, but it’s been picking up lately,” Prozzoly said about the early run support. “It’s so much easier to pitch with that, and it felt great.”

Prozzoly, a sophomore, went five innings with six strikeouts while allowing just the one hit.

“Jules has been lights out,” Priddy said. “To come on this stage as a 10th grader and do what he did today is incredible. When he’s on the mound, we all have confidence.”

The Colts offense provided some insurance with a little help from the Cavaliers defense in the third inning.

After another leadoff hit for Prosperi in the third — this time a double — and a Nathan Magilson single, Jake Federouch hit one to the Cavs’ third baseman, who threw wildly across the diamond, allowing Prosperi to score.

“If you make a mistake, we’re just going to try and capitalize,” Prosperi said.

With runners on first and third, Mike Switala cracked a hard-hit ball to short, but there was no throw, which provided the opportunity for Magilson to score to make it 4-1 Colts.

Chartiers Valley would add its third run of the inning after an error on starting pitcher Jacob Smith loaded the bases. Two batters later, Ethan Ridgeway was hit by a pitch to make it 5-1.

“You get three outs for a reason. When we give them four, five or six outs in a half inning, we’re not the type of team that can bounce back from that,” Manning said.

Federouch relieved Prozzoly on the mound and worked through a scoreless sixth inning before allowing two singles in the top of the seventh, with Carter Levinski bringing in the Cavs’ second run.

But Federouch struck out Dimitri Spagnola looking to end the game.

The win marks Chartiers Valley’s third-straight quarterfinals appearance. The Colts will take on No. 2 Thomas Jefferson on Monday.

“We’ll just go in with confidence, and, right now, I think we have that,” Priddy said.

Tags: Chartiers Valley, Kiski Area