New Castle High School has been blessed with a number of terrific multi-sport athletes in recent history. Malik Hooker and Geno Stone are two who were football and basketball standouts at New Castle in the past decade and both made it to the NFL.
This year’s New Castle baseball team was the best in school history and benefited from some multi-sport athletes. But what might have been a key to New Castle’s memorable season was the players who dedicated themselves to baseball only.
New Castle won WPIAL and PIAA titles this season, the only team in the entire WPIAL team to win both championships. Third-year coach Billy Cook isn’t one to tell you that kids should specialize in one sport. But Cook, and even some New Castle players, know the baseball-only guys made a big difference with New Castle.
“I’m a fan of all sports at New Castle,” Cook said. “With (basketball coach) Ralph Blundo and (football coach) Joe Cowart, we follow each other’s teams in everything. We had football guys on our team and we had basketball guys on our team this year. But we did have a core group of guys who just focused on baseball and that helped a lot.”
Five players who started the PIAA title game played only baseball. New Castle’s two stars – senior pitcher-third baseman Rocco Bernadina and pitcher-shortstop Anthony Miller – play only baseball and both will play Division I baseball in college. Bernadina is headed to Kent State and Miller, although only a 10th-grader, has already committed to Notre Dame.
Bernadina is 6 feet 5, 240 pounds and gave up basketball after his sophomore season. Miller played basketball through eighth grade.
When asked if he made the right decision choosing to play baseball only, Bernadina said, “I believe so. We’re going to see where life takes me, but I think everything is looking for the better. If I keep respecting the grind and understanding that I have to trust the process more than performance and product, I think I can really do something with this game.”
Bernadina hit .403 this season with 27 RBIs, and was 7-4 as a pitcher with wins in both the WPIAL and PIAA title games. He threw a one-hitter in the WPIAL championship and finished with 105 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings.
Miller hit .429 with 25 RBIs and was 9-1 as a pitcher with a 1.60 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 57 innings.
The other baseball-only players in the starting lineup were junior second baseman Dante Micaletti, sophomore center fielder Dom Fornataro and sophomore catcher Nick Rodgers. Micaletti hit .393 with 22 RBIs and Fornataro hit .361. Rodgers hit only .283, but was 2 for 3 in the PIAA championship.
“A lot of us have played together since we were younger and our dads coached us and everyone knew each other,” Miller said.
Some of the baseball-only players are on travel teams in the off-season and play games out-of-state. Playing on some travel teams takes a financial – and time – commitment.
“I think this generation of people my age who were really into sports when we were younger, had parents who might have been there with them,” Cook said. “Now that we’re parents we want our kids to have at least what we had, if not more.”
Having a few baseball-only players might help, but it also helps when those players have talent. And New Castle had plenty of that this season.
Early coaching impacts
Look at the experience of the coaches of the five WPIAL teams that made it to the PIAA championships and it proves a man can have an impact without a ton of head coaching experience.
Four of the five coaches were in their fifth season or less. The fifth coach (Steve Good) was in his seventh season. Bethel Park’s Pat Zehnder was in his second year, but it really was his first because there was no high school baseball in Pennsylvania last year because of COVID-19.
New Castle’s Billy Cook was in his third season and North Allegheny’s Andrew Heck in his fifth. Shenango’s Larry Kelly is 67, but this was his first head coaching job.
“Wild” coaching matchup
Heck and La Salle College High School’s Kyle Werman was the coaching matchup in the PIAA Class 6A championship. Coincidentally, both Heck and Werman once played for the Washington Wild Things independent minor-league team in the Frontier League in Washington, Pa. And North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto was a Wild Things coach during Heck’s and Werman’s days with the team.
NA’s strong pitching
North Allegheny didn’t win the PIAA title, losing to LaSalle of the Philadelphia Catholic League, 2-1. But the North Allegheny pitching staff had one of the most impressive postseason runs of any team in WPIAL history.
North Allegheny gave up only 10 runs in seven postseason games (two in the WPIAL tournament and eight in the PIAA playoffs). The PIAA playoffs started in 1977. Since the PIAA started playoffs in 1977, no team in the WPIAL’s largest classification won both the WPIAL and PIAA and gave up 10 runs or less. Even though North Allegheny didn’t win both, allowing 10 runs in the postseason showed the Tigers’ pitching power – and excellent defense.
Bethel Park didn’t win both the WPIAL and PIAA Class 5A titles, but played in both championships, losing the WPIAL final and winning the PIAA. The Black Hawks’ pitching in the postseason also rivaled North Allegheny’s. Bethel Park allowed only nine runs in the postseason.
Since the PIAA started playoffs in 1977, Vincentian of 2018 is the WPIAL team that gave up the fewest runs while winning WPIAL and PIAA titles. Vincentian allowed only four total.
The WPIAL-PIAA champ next in line for fewest runs allowed is 1987, Ford City which allowed only six. Wilmington in 1981 won both and allowed only eight.
Baseball-softball attendance
All six baseball and six softball championships were played last Thursday and Friday at Penn State, with three games each day. Paid attendance was good as the six baseball games drew 5,855 at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, which isn’t bad at the stadium that holds a little more than 5,000. One of the lowest-attended games actually was the game between North Allegheny and La Salle.
The PIAA was happy with the attendance, especially after there was no baseball or softball season last year because of COVID-19.
“Any time it’s almost 6,000, it’s a good two days,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said.
The softball games were played at Beard Field, which holds a little over 1,000. Softball attendance was also very good with 3,849.
Looking ahead
After his team lost in the Class 6A final, North Allegheny’s Heck commented that “there’s no reason we can’t be right back here again next year.”
A few of the other WPIAL teams in the PIAA finals might feel the same way.
North Allegheny had five seniors start the PIAA final, but shortstop Cole Young is one of the best juniors in the state and second baseman Spencer Barnett displayed plenty of talent this year as a sophomore. A few other starters are back and the Tigers have some good, young pitchers.
PIAA Class 5A champ Bethel Park started only two seniors and has four sophomore starters returning. Shenango loses standout pitcher Shane Cato, but the Wildcats started four sophomores and two juniors in the state final.
New Castle loses some top players, including standout pitcher Rocco Bernadina. But four starters return, including shortstop-pitcher Anthony Miller, a Notre Dame recruit.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: June 24, 2021, 10:30 a.m.
