Big 4th Inning Lifts Montour Over Hopewell, 7-2

While it was still the middle of the season, today’s game between Hopewell and Montour had the feel of a playoff game.

Hopewell entered today’s game with a record of 6-3 and winners of 3 of their last 4 section games. The Montour Spartans began today with an overall record of 7-2, sat in first place with a record of 4-0 and are currently ranked No. 4 in Class 4A.

It was a nice crowd today at Hopewell High School as student sections for both schools showed up and were vocal.

In the end, Montour looked every bit the part of a team that could be contending for a championship at the end of the season as they displayed strong pitching and big bats to defeat Hopewell, 7-2.

The turning points of this game occurred in the 3rd and 5th innings.

Montour got on the scoreboard first in the 1st inning on a 1-out HR to right field by senior Maddox Tarquinio off Vikings starter Kingston Krotec.

However, the sophomore right-hander bounced back and was lights out the next 3 innings.

Montour was threatening to extend their lead in the Top of the 2nd as they loaded the bases with just 1 out but Krotec got a strike out and a grounder to short stop to end the Spartans threat.

Hopewell got their only two runs of the game in the 2nd inning. With 2 outs, Charlie Smetana and Ben McDonald both walked. Next up, Lucas Walton hit a rocket to left-field than bounced over the fence for a ground-ball double, which gave Hopewell their first run. Then, on Tyler Triscilla and Krotec were hit by a pitch on consecutive pitches to bring in Hopewell’s second run. Hopewell now led 2-1.

In the top of the 3rd, Montour looked to be threatening but some great defense by Hopewell put an end to that. With a runner at 1st and 1 out, a wild pitch went to the backstop. Instead of staying at second base, the Montour runner got aggressive and tried to go all the way to third. Bad move, as catcher Charlie Smetana gunned him down at third with a perfect throw to T. Triscilla.

A big part of the game occurred in the bottom of the 3rd inning. With 1 out, Logan Triscilla laced a single to centerfield. Then after Zack Gigliotti and McDonald walked, Walton came to the plate with bases loaded and 2 outs. Montour made a pitching change and called up Matteo Weber. However, like he did his first at-bat, Walton smoked a ball to left field but unfortunately for Hopewell, the Montour left-fielder made a great running catch to rob Hopewell of 3 runs. Instead of going up 5-1, the score remained 2-1. That was the last time Hopewell threatened the rest of the game.

Montour’s bats came alive in the 4th inning as they scored 4 runs, including home runs by Tarquinio (his 2nd of the game) and a solo HR by senior Jake Robinson. Montour now led 5-2 and would go on to score 2 more runs in the 7th inning.

Aside from their big bats, Weber was the story today for Montour. The sophomore went on to pitch 4.1 innings, allowing just 1 hit, 0 ER, 1 walk and striking out 5 batters.

Hopewell’s record drops to 6-4 and 3-2 in the section.

These two teams will battle again tomorrow night at Montour. First pitch is set for 7 PM.