Ryan Gibbons was so good on the mound Thursday that his coach called it the most dominant pitching performance he has ever seen.
But it was what Gibbons did with his bat, via a bunt, that gave Ellwood City a dramatic walk-off win.
Gibbons laid down a suicide squeeze that scored Ashton Wilson and gave Ellwood City a 2-1 win in eight innings against Keystone Oaks in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round game at Highlands.
Gibbons pitched all eight innings, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out 14. He threw 96 pitches.
“I saw that Ryan was getting close to his pitch count,” first-year Ellwood City coach Chris Weisz said. “I had a belief in him and said, ‘Enough is enough. Let’s try to win this thing.’”
Ellwood City improved to 10-11 while Keystone Oaks fell to 7-8.
More Class 3A
McGuffey 5, South Allegheny 0: Jake Orr tossed a complete-game four-hitter to improve to 6-0 and Logan Seibert drove in two runs to help the Highlanders (13-4) beat the Gladiators (8-11).
South Park 7, Brownsville 5: Conner Klingensmith hit a 3-run homer in the first and the Eagles (13-4), who led, 7-0, after five innings, held on to edge the Falcons (6-10). Zach Lemansky was the winning pitcher.
Hopewell 4, Waynesburg 0: Roman Gill fired five scoreless innings and Couper Stala doubled twice to help the top-seed Vikings (14-5) blank the Raiders (5-10).
Derry 10, New Brighton 0: The Trojans (12-4) got two hits and two RBIs apiece from Josh Ulery and Sam Jones and a shutout from winning pitcher Paul Koontz to top the Lions (8-11) in five innings.
Deer Lakes 5, Yough 4: The Lancers (10-6) rallied from three runs down to beat the Cougars (7-8). Tyler Gozzard’s single drove in Jake Thimons with the winning run in the bottom of the sixth.
Avonworth 10, Ligonier Valley 2: Noah Osborn’s home run backed Kam Otstot’s complete-game pitching performance as the Antelopes (14-7) topped the Rams (7-12).
Valley 5, Mohawk 1: Cayden Quinn’s two-run double in the sixth helped the Vikings (13-7) get past the Warriors (11-8). Winning pitcher John Luke Bailey struck out 7 in 6⅓ innings.
First Published: May 21, 2021, 2:37 a.m.
