UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Morgan Ryan was in the midst of giving one of many postgame interviews while catcher Madi Stoner stood nearby clapping for her pitcher with a big smile on her face.
On this day, no amount of applause was enough for the driving force of Hempfield’s star-studded team.
Ryan threw an eight-inning one-hitter and senior Alexa Pastor came through with a walk-off sacrifice fly to lift the Spartans to a state championship with a 1-0 win against Avon Grove in the PIAA Class AAAA final Friday at Penn State.
Exactly two weeks earlier, Hempfield (25-2) won its second consecutive WPIAL title. Now the Spartans have followed the 1999 team as the school’s second state champion.
“There’s just no words,” said Ryan, who allowed a two-out hit in the third inning but walked none and retired the next 16 batters in order.
Ryan, a Notre Dame recruit, needed to be that untouchable in a pitching matchup that certainly lived up to its hype. Her mound opponent was Avon Grove senior Maggie Balint, the three-time Pennsylvania player of the year who signed with Oregon. Balint was dominant in her own right, striking out nine and keeping the Spartans hitless for seven innings.
“We knew exactly what was going to be ahead of us,” said longtime Hempfield coach Bob Kalp. “With that caliber of pitcher, hits and baserunners were going to be at a premium.”
Hempfield struck out against Balint three times in the first, although Jenna Osikowicz reached base on a hit-by-pitch. After that, the Spartans managed to get at least one baserunner via walk or error every inning from the fourth through the sixth, but couldn’t quite get to Balint.
“In the days up to this game, I said, ‘If we can get one, that’ll be enough,’ but as the game went on, I said, ‘Well, if we can get one,’ ” Kalp said, with a chuckle.
The Spartans finally followed their recipe for success in a crazy eighth. Kalp made the first move by pinch-hitting Jordan Bernard, a left-handed batter with some power, for slap-hitter Jordan Sterling. Bernard didn’t deliver a big hit, but she drew a walk — Balint’s third of the game — after falling behind in the count, 0-2.
Kalp then reinserted the speedier Sterling for Bernard with No. 9 hitter Ali Belgiovane at the plate. Belgiovane, who in her previous at-bat in the fifth battled for 10 pitches before popping up, bunted and beat it out — just barely — for Hempfield’s first hit.
“That one was really close,” Belgiovane said. “I was full-out sprinting.”
With runners on first and second with no outs, leadoff hitter Taylor Hoffman hit a grounder to third, but a throwing error by Avon Grove sophomore Rachel Butler made everyone safe. Pastor was up next, and she lifted it Balint’s first pitch to left. Sterling tagged and scored to send the Spartans into a frenzy.
“Every senior’s last play, I think, you would want to end like that,” said Pastor, who also had a walk and two stolen bases.
The shutout was the fifth in a row for Hempfield and Ryan, who didn’t allow a run in the state playoffs. She threw just enough off-speed pitches to disarm the youthful Red Devils (24-4), the District 1 runner-up from outside Philadelphia, and let her rock-solid defense do the rest.
While the scoreboard operator barely had to lift a finger, the Spartans ended up lifting a big trophy.
“Once we had bases loaded, I just got super excited,” Ryan said. ”I knew at that point we were going to get that run in and win the game.”
Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko.
First Published: June 17, 2016, 7:35 p.m.