How State College beat Bellefonte to secure the District 5 12U Little League title
It’s not every day that a baseball player gets to have a comeback victory, especially not in the final inning of a 12U Little League District Championship game.
Devonte Hardison came up to the plate with the bases loaded. His team had already tied up the game at 2 apiece in the sixth inning. He rocketed a single over the left shoulder of Bellefonte pitcher Cole Houser to deliver State College a 3-2 victory on Friday evening at Montressor Field.
“It felt great,” Hardison said. “I’m always living for those situations. I had to be clutch and get a hit, go yard if I wanted to, but I had to keep it simple and drive in a run. We just had to get hype, stay positive and it worked out.”
Prior to the bottom of the sixth inning, State College coach Deron Williams rallied his team around him as Styx’s “Renegade” blared over the speakers. It’s a song that he’s used to hearing as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and he uses it to get his players going when they are down.
It worked perfectly to his advantage on Friday evening.
“We’ve done this before in games heading into this one,” Williams said. “We had a nice comeback in the Milesburg pre-district tournament and we’ve had a few nice comeback wins. So, I knew they had it in them. They played ‘Renegade’ for us. It’s a big pump-up song for the Steelers; they played it for us and got the boys going. It was just a very nice win and I’m just proud of our kids for having some good at-bats there in the last inning and not giving anything away.”
Bellefonte seemed to have the upper hand heading into the final frame. Houser pitched a shutout to that point and their defense was stellar. Multiple chances to score for State College resulted in double plays, much to the chagrin of the State College fans. However, Bellefonte’s fortunes turned toward the opposite end of the spectrum.
Their loss wasn’t due to a lack of effort, nor a lapse in play, according to Bellefonte coach Scott Flick. It was due to the competitive nature of State College. Flick charged it to the game that they play — things happen for better or for worse.
“These kids make me proud, extremely proud,” Flick said. “It’s a fine group of boys — young men that we’ve got. They battled, but the baseball gods just weren’t with us today. The bounces just didn’t go our way. That’s part of baseball. Cole Houser — hats off to that young man. He pitched one of the best games that I’ve seen in a long time. That’s part of baseball and they deserve it. State College is a good team and we knew it was going to be a battle between us and them the entire time.”
As the winner of the District 5 tournament, State College will advance to the Section 4 tournament, starting next weekend, while Bellefonte’s season has come to an end.