McCANDLESS — Walks eliminated the West Allegheny baseball team’s chances for a fifth WPIAL title Thursday night, as the Indians fell to North Hills 11-4 at North Allegheny High School in the WPIAL Class 5A semifinal.
Two of the first three batters to face Indians starter Austin Hendrick walked and eventually came around to score, giving North Hills a lead it would never relinquish.
“That’s not typical of Austin,” West Allegheny coach Bryan Cornell said. “It might have been adrenaline, but it’s just baseball, too. We didn’t play our best this game, and I told the guys North Hills was a great team. They were a better team this night.”
West Allegheny will now play Hampton next Wednesday for the WPIAL’s final spot in the PIAA Class 5A playoffs.
“I told the guys we just have to reset our goals now,” Cornell said. “Our first goal was the section, and we got that. Then it was the WPIAL, and we fell short. Now we have to reset our goals to the state championship and start with our next practice.”
West Allegheny did come back and score in the bottom of the first when Hendrick came home on Shea Downing’s two-out hit, but Downing later slipped coming around third base on an infield hit and the rally ended.
“We were close, a few things didn’t go our way,” Cornell said. “After that, it was too much to come back. My hat is off to North Hills tonight.”
Hendrick struck out six and walked four in four innings after settling down, but the pitch count forced his day on the mound to end after four innings. In the fifth, North Hills scored six to put the game away, and they then added two more in the sixth.
North Hills pounded out 12 hits in addition to receiving eight walks but, just as significantly, they hit the ball hard — six of the 12 hits went for extra bases.
West Allegheny scored three in the fifth inning to avert a mercy rule loss as Hendrick hit a two-run triple and scored on Downing’s hit.