BEAVER FALLS — South Side clinched a spot in the WPIAL baseball playoffs the easy way.
Basically, the Rams received a free pass Monday in a 14-5 win over Beaver Falls.
The Tigers used five pitchers in the Section 2-3A game, and the first four combined to issue 15 walks. Two Rams also got hit by pitches.
Combine those 17 freebies with 13 hits, and South Side batters reached base 30 times in the ball game
When South Side beat Beaver Falls, 18-7 two weeks ago, it took advantage of 17 walks.
"It was the same as the last time we played them,” said South Side catcher Nate Statler. “We’re disciplined at the plate. We don’t chase anything. We wait for a good pitch to hit.”
The patience of the Rams came as no surprise to Beaver Falls coach Rich Rowe.
“I told our team that (South Side) is confident enough in their approach that they’re going to take a strike or two before they start swinging,” Rowe said.
“They force you to throw strikes, and we obviously didn’t throw enough strikes.”
When Beaver Falls and South Side played on April 13, Statler, who bats in the lead-off spot, walked six times. In his first three at-bats Monday, he walked each time and walked again in the seventh inning.
Designated hitter Bishop McCoy got hit by a pitch and walked three times.
All nine South Side starters got on board at least once via a walk or hit batsman.
“We’ve been working on our discipline at the plate,” said South Side coach Chip Hunter, whose squad improved to 7-3 overall and 6-3 in the section. “Lay off bad pitches and only swing at good pitches. Today was a testament to that.”
In fairness to Beaver Falls (4-8, 3-7), it just doesn’t have a deep pitching staff. The only true pitcher on the roster is Cameron Kern, who played second base Monday.
The rest of the players who pitch are solid position players. But they’re forced to pitch because there’s no one else to do so.
One of them, for example, is Dayln Brickner.
He’s as good a defensive center fielder as there is in The Times’ coverage area. But he’s still trying to learn the nuances of pitching.
Meanwhile, South Side pitcher Casey Jones only walked two while striking out 11 in five innings of work.
Beaver Falls led 5-4 after two innings but didn’t score again.
“We got off a little bit of a rough start, but we’ve been pretty good about coming back in games,” Jones said. “There’s no time limit in baseball, so we just keep battling and battling until the last out.”
With three section games left to play, South Side is in third place behind Riverside (11-1, 10-0) and Avonworth (10-2, 8-2).
Beaver Falls is tied for fourth place with Ellwood City and New Brighton. All three are 3-7 in the section. All three are also alive for the section’s fourth and final playoff berth.