Late Rally leads to Tigers evening series with North Hills
North Allegheny traveled to North Hills High School to battle the Indians on Wednesday night in a Section 1-6A matchup. After falling on Monday, the Tigers evened the series rallying late to defeat North Hills by a score of 9-3.
NA struck first in the top of the first inning when Miles Pealer singled, got to second on a Nate Persinger walk and scored on an error by the North Hills’ shortstop to make the score 1-0.
The Indians would respond with two runs in the bottom of the second to make the score 2-1. The Tigers answered back in the top of the fourth when JJ Mancuso led the inning off with a walk, Nico Varlotta singled, both players moved up on a balk, Augie Maslo walked to load the bases and Sean O’Donnell hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Mancuso to tie the game at 2-2.
North Hills would get the lead right back in the bottom of the fourth scoring another run to make the score 3-2. The top of the sixth is when the Tigers really got work. Just like the fourth inning, Mancuso got it started with a walk and Varlotta singled. Mason Smith got a sacrifice bunt down putting runners on second and third. Maslo put down a safety squeeze that was mishandled by the first baseman, scoring Mancuso and the game was tied 3-3. O’Donnell would then put a perfect bunt down, giving himself a single and loading the bases. With two outs, Pealer stepped up clearing the bases with a three-RBI triple to break open the game and give NA the 6-3 lead.
North Allegheny would tack on three more in the seventh when Christian Simons led the inning off with a walk, Simons was pinch-ran for by Sam Vargo who stole second and scored on a Mancuso single to make the score 7-3. Varlotta singled, Smith walked and with the bases loaded, Maslo was hit by a pitch to make it 8-3. An O’Donnell walk made it 9-3 and the Tigers would put North Hills down in order in the bottom of the seventh to come away with the victory.
Persinger got the win going five innings allowing three runs on three hits and striking out eight. Liam Cooper pitched the final two innings in relief not allowing a hit and striking out two. Varlotta was 3 for 4 at the plate and Mancuso scored three times. Pealer was 2 for 5 with three RBIs.
North Allegheny improves to 11-6 overall and 9-2 in the section. North Hills falls to 7-11 overall and 4-7 in section play. The Tigers and Indians will compete in the series finale tomorrow at North Allegheny High School at 7 p.m. That game will be broadcast on the North Allegheny Sports Network.
Baseball Summary at North Hills, 4-30-25
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Allegheny | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| North Hills | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
LP - Tristin Weimann
