By HUNTER O. LYLE
BRADFORD, PA – After just an inning and a half, Jay Parisella was suddenly in the hot seat.
Following a relatively quiet first frame, the Bradford Legion Post 108 baseball team was on its heels, watching as Coudersport Legion Post 192 churned in six quick lead-stealing runs. To make matters worse, Bradford’s ace on the mound, Drayden Norton, had been winged, a one-hop shot up the middle colliding with his wrist and taking him out of the game.
Now the pressure fell to Parisella. However, despite being just an incoming-junior, Parisella was not an underdog. Already standing out as a consistent contributor on the mound, he not only raised the bar, but set it.
Shutting out Coudy for the next five innings as he recorded double-digit strikeouts, Parisella’s near-flawless work on the mound, coupled with Bradford’s impeccable execution at the plate and in the baseline, ended Post 108’s slump with a 14-6 redemption win.
“His potential is very high. Jay has been in a groove all summer. He’s found his spot and he’s just been pitching really, really well,” said Bradford head coach Jim Henry. “He’s got a lot of grit and a lot of heart.”
Having played the last handful of games with significant pieces missing from their roster, Bradford entered the week in a rut, having lost their last four consecutive matches as they fell below 0.500 at 3-5. Staring up at a 6-1 deficit entering the bottom of the third, with an injured teammate and stalled momentum looming, it looked as though a fifth straight was almost inevitable. Luckily, Coudy gave them an opening.
Stepping up to the plate for the first time of the afternoon, Ryan Schenfield popped a high-flying shot into right field. What should have been a routine fly out became a whiff, falling from the grasp of Coudy’s outfielder and granting Schenfield a spot on second. Two walks later and Post 108 was on the verge of threatening.
With no outs and a man at every base, Talan Reese, who had scored the lone run in the opening inning, sent a sacrifice shot into play, bringing in Schenfield. Up next, Braylan Austin found his second hit in as many trips to the plate, rocketing a shot into right field’s no man’s land, pushing two more runners across home plate with an RBI-triple.
Keeping the fun rolling, Ben Woodhouse brought in a fourth consecutive run with an RBI-single before knotting the game four batters late with a passed ball steal of home plate. In just one frame, Post 108 had brought the game back to even at 6-6.
“The guys are always positive. They’re having fun,” said Henry on the key to keeping the momentum rolling. “It’s just a loose and free environment. Being loose, having fun and playing free wins ball games.”
With Parisella catching fire on the mound and Bradford’s bats coming alive, the worm had turned. Coudy was now the one trying to hold back the reins, but to no avail.
After finding three outs in three batters during the third, Parisella again dispatched Post 192 in rapid succession in the fifth before racking up strikeouts nine through eleven in the sixth. Meanwhile, Bradford’s offense continuously poked holes in Coudy’s defense, scoring at least one run throughout the team’s remaining three at-bats.
The action culminated in the bottom of the sixth. Installing their fourth pitcher of the afternoon, Coudy saw constant errors, miscues and passed balls give up five more runs, ultimately bringing Bradford’s unanswered streak to 13 in a game that was all but decided.
Taking to the plate one last time, Coudy saw the same result, two more Parisella strikeouts and a game-sealing fly out to punctuate the end of the afternoon.
Through 5.1 innings on the mound, Parisella saw 21 batters and ended with 13 Ks while giving up just four hits. Austin mirrored his efforts on the other side of the plate, going 3-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored. Lucas Wallace (2-for-4), Tarren Reese (0-for-2), Talan Reese (1-for-3) and Woodhouse (1-for-2) all also scored twice during Bradford’s fourth win of the summer, while Schenfield walked away with three hits in four trips to the plate, one run scored and two more batted in.
Coming away with a streak-breaking and dominating win, Bradford now gets to bask in the victory. Besides a potential make up game with St. Marys on Friday, they now get to enjoy six days of rest before taking on Kane for a home double-header on Sunday.
“Our confidence is pretty high,” said Henry, whose team has just four games remaining on the official schedule. “We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well as a team. Before today, as a team we were hitting 0.310 as a team average and I’m pretty sure it went up today.”
AT BRADFORD
Coudersport 060 000 0 R:6 H:9 E:0
Bradford 105 215 X R:14 H:11 E:1
Coudersport: Fowler (1 SO, 7 BB), Roberts (3) (0 SO, 2 BB), Howard (4) (2 SO, 0 BB), Nichols (6) (0 SO, 2 BB) and McClintock
Bradford: Norton (3 SO, 2 BB), Parisella (13 SO, 2 BB) and Iantorno
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