MOOSIC – The Dallas baseball team did not give up when it started the season with six losses in eight games.
The Mountaineers did not panic when they squandered a seven-run lead in the biggest game of the season.
As a result, they are celebrating their first District 2 baseball championship since 2001 after defeating Valley View, 8-7, in the May 28 Class 4A championship game at PNC Field.
Nick Kocher singled in the sixth inning to drive in the winning run and Josh Lydon finished 3 2/3 innings of relief by retiring the final five batters to lift Dallas to its ninth straight victory.
“Our kids have a lot of grit and a lot of gumption,” Dallas coach Ken Kashatus said. “They’ve been digging down since we were 2-6.
“Obviously, they still have some fight left.”
With key injuries in the senior class and four sophomore starters, the Mountaineers seemed to arrive at championship level a bit early.
Kashatus, who guided his team to the district final as a rookie coach in 2003 but had not been back since that 2-1 loss to Bishop Hoban, stressed taking advantage of the moment.
“I told the kids you have to do it when you have the opportunity,” Kashatus said. “I was here as a younger coach. It’s been (14) years.
“That’s a lot of cycles of high school kids.”
Kashatus said the title could not have come at a better time than the end of a tension-filled school year that included a teachers’ strike.
“For the Dallas School District, it’s been a really tough year for a lot of stakeholders,” he said. “Our district needed something like this.”
Dallas led, 7-0, after 2 ½ innings and found itself tied, 7-7, after five.
Mike Collins had a three-run triple in the five-run third to knock Valley View starter Joe Castellani out of the game.
“We let them get too close, back into it, but we stayed with it,” Collins said. “You could just feel it in the air. The tension was very high.”
Twelve walks by Dallas pitchers assisted in the Valley View comeback and added to that tension.
Lydon helped solve it, both by working out of trouble in an early relief appearance in the fourth inning and by sticking it out to the end to pick up the win.
“We had to stop the bleeding in that spot with the game on the line and go to our best guy,” Kashatus said. “We thought first-and-third, up two and they’re in the middle of the lineup. We felt like we had to go to him right there because sometimes the biggest spot in the game is in the fourth and fifth inning.”
Lydon arrived on the mound with the lead already trimmed to 7-5 with one out. He retired one batter, overcame an infield error on the next and got out of the inning with a 7-6 lead.
The lead got away, Kocher got it back and Lydon shut Valley View down one last time.
“The adrenaline was much higher knowing I had a shot to give my team a shot to win the district title,” Lydon said. “It was good defense behind me and we got the job done.”
With it, Dallas advanced to Monday’s state tournament opener at a District 2 site against Athens, which edged Mifflinburg, 3-2, in Wednesday’s District 2 championship game.
Kocher, who had a no-hitter going for 3 1/3 innings before control problems forced him off the mound without recording another out, drove in Darren Kerdesky with the winning run. Kerdesky walked and stole second in the sixth inning.
“I knew if I was lucky enough to get in position to get those runs back that I gave up, I knew I couldn’t let that chance slip by,” Kocher said.
Mike Luksic led the Dallas offense, reaching base all four times. He went 2-for-2 with a double, two walks and a run.
Christo Huntington also had two hits, including single in the two-run second.
