More time left in season
New Castle, Miller advance to 4A finale
When Anthony Miller does something good for the New Castle baseball team, the New Castle faithful will sometimes break out in a chant of “Miller time, Miller time, Miller time.”
Those New Castle fans blurted out the chant time after time after time Monday.
Miller is a 10th-grader at New Castle, but there was nothing sophomoric in the gem of a performance he gave in a PIAA Class 4A semifinal. Miller pitched a terrific game, had two hits and scored two runs as the best baseball season in New Castle history got even a little better when the Red Hurricanes defeated Montour, 3-1, at Neshannock High School’s Mike “Bubba” Kirkwood Field.
New Castle (17-9) had never won a WPIAL championship in school history before winning the title two weeks ago against the same Montour team. Now, New Castle is headed to a state championship for the first time — and the Red Hurricanes have a huge fan following behind them. A crowd of about 2,000 was on hand for the Montour contest, and most of them were New Castle fans.
“We always talked about we might win the state, but we were always focused on the WPIAL,” Miller said. “Now that we’re going to the state final, it’s awesome. It’s almost surreal. It’s unbelievable.”
Miller, a 5-foot-9 right-hander,
called the victory against Montour the “biggest moment” of his baseball career by far. The win lifted his record to 9-1. His fastball had movement and his curveball was working extremely well. He allowed only four hits and struck out 12. He struck out the side in the seventh.
“He came from the bullpen before the game and said, ‘Coach, I feel better today than I ever felt before,’ ” New Castle coach Billy Cook said. “For someone who came in 8-1 to say that, I just told our coaches I feel really good and confident about this game. For a sophomore to go out there and do that, now come on. And he didn’t play last year because of COVID-19.”
New Castle also has another standout pitcher in 6-5 senior Rocco Bernadina, who pitched the quarterfinal game Thursday. Bernadina had told Cook he would be good to on three days of rest for the semifinals. But at practice Sunday night, Bernadina wasn’t so sure. So there was no hesitation to go with Miller.
“We say we have two No. 1 pitchers and we have full confidence in both of them,” Cook said.
Bernadina said of Miller: “I can honestly say he’s the most talented young man I ever played ball with. He works his butt off. I’ve said it before. He’s a stud.”
Miller was going to celebrate Monday night … by watching Notre Dame play in an NCAA super regional. He already has made a verbal commitment to Notre Dame.
New Castle scored two runs in the first inning and that’s all Miller would need.
“Usually, my four-seam fastball is flat, but this game my two- seam was running,” Miller said. “My curveball had a lot of bite, too.”
Montour made a costly error that allowed one run to score in the first. After Dom Fornataro walked with one out, Miller followed with a single and Bernadina drove home a run with a single. Miller moved to third on a groundout. Then, Montour catcher Matt Luchovick tried to pick off a runner at first base after a pitch, but the ball ended up in the outfield, allowing Miller to score.
Montour (17-7), which also was trying to make it to the state final for the first time, made it 2-1 in the fourth. Gannon Kadlecik, the starting pitcher who lasted four innings, was hit by pitch with one out. After a groundout, Mason Sike hit an RBI single.
Montour started the fifth with a single by Dylan Mathiesen, but Miller had three consecutive strikeouts. Then came three more strikeouts in the seventh.
New Castle scored its third run in the fifth when Miller singled, stole second and scored on Logan Gibson’s single.
New Castle will play in the PIAA title game at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Penn State against Wyoming Area.