Pepper perfect as Canton blanks Montgomery.
By: Bill Albright | Towanda Daily Review | May 25, 2014 | Photo courtesy Bill Albright
2014 NTL and District 4 News
WILLIAMSPORT - Perfection. If you look up the definition in the dictionary, you just might find Chase Pepper's name next to it.
Pepper, a soft-spoken righthander for the Canton baseball team, was in top form Saturday as he tossed a perfect game at the Montgomery Red Raiders in a 10-0 Canton victory in five innings abbreviated by the 10-run Mercy Rule.
"The kids executed the game plan that we had," said Canton coach Bob Rockwell. "Everybody contributed to the win and they did just what we wanted them to do."
Of the 15 consecutive outs Pepper and Company recorded, 11 were via the strikeout route. He also threw 11 first-pitch strikes to his 15 victims.
"I didn't really think about it," said Pepper. "I was just out there having fun with my team. I never thought about throwing a game like this in the district semifinals. I knew my team was behind me if they did hit the ball. We have been together since we were twelve."
Rockwell was also quick to point out the importance of Pepper throwing first-pitch strikes.
"That is big," Rockwell said. "When you can do that it forces them (your opponent) to swing defensively because they don't know what is coming. He only threw 59 pitches today and that meant one thing. He was on top of his game today, but he has been doing that for us all year long."
While Pepper totally dominated the Montgomery bats by not allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield, his teammates provided him with more than enough support.
Getting some type of production from all of the Warrior batters one through nine brought a smile to the face of Rockwell.
"We have had good hitting days, but it has been a long time since we had this from the top of the lineup to the bottom, especially in a big ball game like this one," he said.
Leading the Warrior hitters was Garrett Wesneski who was a perfect 3-for-3 with a pair of singles good for a pair of RBI while also scoring two runs. Wesneski began his day by "muscling" a triple into the right-center field gap before hitting two line shots for the singles.
"I knew he (Montgomery pitcher Dillon Gordon) was throwing all curveballs at the start and the first two sort of froze me," explained Wesneski. "I changed my approach and just wanted to stay inside of it and when I hit the ball, I didn't think I hit it that good. After that, I just focused on hitting the top of the ball and that is how I hit those line drives for the two singles."
Joining Wesneski in the Warrior hit parade with more than one hit was Pepper who helped his own cause with a pair of singles and one RBI while scoring two runs. Seven of the nine Canton starters had at least one hit.
The Warriors jumped on top 4-0 with a pair of runs in each of the first two innings and they never looked back as they scored the final half dozen runs in the fourth to all but put the game away.
"It really felt good to come out and have them go 1-2-3 with the top of their order and then we jumped on them," said Wesneski. "They weren't really packing it in at that point, but you could see it in their eyes they were concerned. As we kept tacking it on, you could see them start to pack it in."
A fine pitcher in his own right, Wesneski and Pepper had a little chat prior to the game. The game plan going in was to have Pepper possibly go a strong five and have Wesneski finish it off.
"We talked about it before the game," said Wesneski. "I asked him if he wanted to go all seven because I have been having a few problems with my arm. That is when he told me, hey, I got you today, and when he said that, it was an awesome feeling."
With the win, the Warriors punched their ticket to the District IV Class A title game against St. John Neumann. That game will be played at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 28, at Bowman Field.
When asked if he was happy with where his troops are heading into the championship game, Rockwell replied "Right now we are just worried about Bishop Neumann. That is all we care about right now. They are a quality team and they are on a roll themselves. For them to get to where they are right now says a lot about them."
