Wednesday, May 28, 2025 | 12:01 AM

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Central Valley shrugged off an early deficit in the WPIAL Class 4A third-place game Tuesday and rallied past Belle Vernon, 7-3, to earn a spot in the state playoffs.

Parker Lind was cruising for the Leopards, who held a 3-1 lead, but once the Kent State recruit came out of the game nearing his pitch limit, the Warriors took advantage.

Seventh-seeded Central Valley (13-11) roughed up reliever Lucas Judy to the tune of five runs in the top of the sixth inning to take the lead and came away with a win over No. 5 Belle Vernon at Washington & Jefferson’s Ross Memorial Park.

The top three WPIAL teams in Class 4A advance to the state playoffs.

“I just think we had a couple uncharacteristic things go wrong today,” Belle Vernon coach Tony Watson said. “We left a lot of guys on base. Our pitchers got behind in counts, and it shot us in the foot a little bit. When your top guy has so many pitches in only four innings, it’s tough when you rely on your pitching as much as we do.”

Lind threw five innings and allowed only three hits. He struggled with control early and walked six. He allowed one run and struck out 10 in what ended up being his final high school appearance.

“He got deep into a good bit of counts today,” Watson said. “He was at 80 pitches after four innings. We knew we still had to ride him as far as we could.”

The Leopards (15-8) got on the board in the bottom of the first inning when they loaded the bases with nobody out.

Cole Matusik drove in the run with a ground ball to short that erased Connor Bergman at second base. Bergman did a great job of breaking up any chance of a double play with a hard slide, and Kole Doppelheuer came in to score.

With Seth Tomalski up, the Leopards looked to get a double steal going, but Matusik was picked off first and Lucas Judy never broke for the plate.

Baserunning was an issue for Belle Vernon all day, as the Leopards had five players erased on the basepaths.

“You know, baserunning is usually one of our strengths,” Watson said. “With that synthetic turf we played on today, it was pretty slick. That’s not an excuse, though. We could have run a little more conservatively, and we definitely didn’t do ourselves any favors on the bases.”

The Warriors answered to tie the score in the top of the second on an RBI single by Blake White. The run was set up when Adam Shroads walked then stole second before White’s big hit.

Belle Vernon went on to take the lead again in the bottom of the third, but it was only a one-run lead and could have been more had Doppelheuer not been called out after over-sliding second base on a steal. That was followed by a Connor Bergman single.

Bergman reached second on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt by Daniel McIntosh before scoring on Seth Tomalski’s single to left.

Bergman gave the Leps another lift in the bottom of the fifth, sending a rocket over the left-center field fence to up the Belle Vernon lead to 3-1.

“That ball jumped off his bat. I thought for sure that would spark something for us,” Watson said. “Connor has been really consistent for us this year. Next year, he’s going to have to be a leader for us. Those are some hig shoes to fill in that aspect.”

With the 3-1 lead and Lind at 103 pitches, Watson turned to Judy on the mound — which didn’t go as hoped.

“He missed his spots a couple of times, and I think he lost command of his offspeed stuff early on,” Watson added. “They had the big inning, and it became really difficult for us to recover.”

McIntosh greeted Judy to the contest with a rocket ground ball just past second baseman Jack Edwards. The ball rolled all the way to the wall in the gap and ended up a triple.

Judy walked the next two batters before White’s fielder’s choice scored McIntosh.

Antonio Perri followed with a great bunt down the first-base line to score Cam Miller and tie the contest.

Nate Angelo was hit by a pitch before Will Ciucci doubled to the gap in right to score a pair of runs and give the Warriors a 5-3 lead. He came in to score on a throwing error by Edwards on Brendan Heater’s groundball to second to make it 6-3.

Ciucci, who relieved McIntosh in the fourth inning, sat the Leps down in order in the bottom of the sixth. He was aided by another baserunning blunder by Belle Vernon.

Alonzo Wade sent a liner to the left-center gap for a single. He was thrown out after trying to reach second and over-sliding the bag for the first out of the inning.

“That’s a big one there. Who knows what happens if he’s safe there at second or stayed at first,” Watson said of the play. “It was big first out in the inning.”

The Warriors added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on Perri’s sacrifice fly to center for the game’s final run.

“Overall, along with last season, the last two years were a major step forward. Winning is important to these guys again,” Watson said of the season. “We accomplished something this year that we’ve only done twice — that’s getting to the semifinals. I told the guys to keep their heads held high. I’m really proud of them.

“We’re going to be young moving forward and will rely on more pitching by committee. I do know that we’re going to be a hungry group.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, Central Valley