Yough comes up short in Legion Region 7 tournament

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, July 20, 2021 | 9:28 PM

SIDMAN – Yough reached the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 7 tournament for the second consecutive season. And while the run to the semifinals was fun, the results were the same as 2020: Yough came up short.

Errors and walks cost Yough a trip to the championship as it dropped a 9-7 decision to Beech Creek on Tuesday at Forest Hills High School.

Claysburg, which defeated Phillipsburg-Osceola, 2-1, in the other semifinal, defeated Beech Creek, 13-3, in the championship game.

“At this level of the tournament, you make a few mistakes, sometimes it burns you,” Yough coach Craig Spisak said. “Some costly errors and some walks, you give people free stuff, and sometimes the take advantage of it. That’s what they did.”

Yough grabbed a 4-2 lead in the second inning by scoring three runs. The first scored on a throwing error, and the next two were driven home on a Jack Sampson double.

Nate Wilkins increased Yough’s lead to 5-3 in the third inning with an RBI single. Steve Manion, who had two hits, drove in Yough’s first run of the game in the first inning.

Beech Creek tied to score 5-5 in the fourth inning on Cy Probst’s two-run, two-out single after Kaden Falls and Rocco Stark drew walks.

Yough starting pitcher Sean Royer walked six and hit a batter. Al Novacek walked two and struck out five.

Beech Creek took the lead for good in the fifth inning by scoring three unearned runs. The first scored on a throwing error. Beech Creek tallied another run in the sixth.

Yough rallied in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a two-run single by Kam Pritts. But relief pitcher Ashton Probst got Wilkins to ground out to end the game.

Pritts had two of Yough’s 10 hits.

“Our kids, for the past few seasons, have been battling hard,” Spisak said. “They’ve been working hard to get better, and they’ve shown it on the field with our record.

“They’ve accomplished a lot, and there is nothing to hang their head about. It was a great season for them. They had a great run in the regular season, a nice run in the district playoffs and a nice run in this tournament.”

Cayde McCloskey, who had a two-run double in the first inning, had three of Beech Creek’s nine hits. Peyton Johnson had two hits.

“In the bigger picture, I believe we learned how to handle adversity,” Spisak said. “Our kids never give up in any part of the game. They understand there are ups and downs in baseball and to handle in life.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.