Movie moment for Colin Kelly

Baseball movie fans watching Thursday's Loyalsock-Tulpehocken Class AA state quarterfinal might have had images of Major League II running through their minds as the seventh inning unfolded.

As baseball movies go, the sequel was the equivalent of striking out on three pitches after the previous batter homered, but it did provide an interesting twist at the end when pitcher Ricky Vaughn intentionally walked the White Sox No. 2 hitter to get to the team's best player, Jack Parkman. Fast forward to Thursday and, after allowing a two-out triple, Colin Kelly walked Zach Shirk. That brought up No. 3 hitter Blaise Fernandez, one of the state's premier players, representing the tying run.

Unlike the movie, though, there was nothing intentional about this walk and Loyalsock was hoping for a quick and relaxing ending. Still, Kelly was excited about the opportunity to go one-on-one with Tulpehocken's best hitter.

"That's the kind of thing you always dream of when you're a little kid," Kelly said. "You always go out there and say you're Curt Schilling against somebody like Ken Griffey Jr. You're like, I want to face the best and it just so happened he came up with the tying run."

Eric Valent, a Philadelphia Phillies scouting advisor, has said of Fernandez that "he will definitely have the opportunity to play professionally at one time or another." He entered Thursday's game hitting .429 with six home runs and 29 RBI so he was a legitimate threat to tie the game with one swing.

Kelly worked ahead in the count 1-2 before Fernandez fouled off four pitches and took a ball. Kelly, though, won the individual battle and Loyalsock won the game when he fanned Fernandez with a ninth-pitch curveball. It was a case of life imitating art as Kelly duplicated the role of Vaughn striking out Parkman.

Those are the clutch kind of sequences Loyalsock hopes it continues delivering as it pursues its second straight state championship. Loyalsock tries taking the next step toward that goal Monday at King's College when it meets either Brandywine Heights or New Hope-Solebury in the state semifinals.

"Blaise has been basically money all year, but that kid (Kelly) did some really good pitching," Tulpehocken coach Dave Voigt said. "Give that kid credit. He just threw a great pitch and Blaise just missed it."

Loyalsock's ability to contain Fernandez is a big reason it has a chance to reach a second straight state final. Fernandez, also a slick-fielding shortstop and a terrific pitcher, reached base three times, but Justin Cozza and Kelly held him to 1-for-3 and allowed just a fourth-inning single.

Cozza gave Loyalsock a big early lift when he struck out Fernandez to cap off a 1-2-3 inning. The Lancers scored two runs in the bottom of the inning and, while Tulpehocken tied the game in the sixth inning, they never trailed.

"That (strikeout) got us all pumped up," Cozza said. "We've seen stuff on the internet about him and we knew he had a good stick. To strike him out felt good."

Fernandez reached base the next two times, getting Tulpehocken's first hit in the fourth inning and drawing a sixth-inning walk. Both Cozza and Kelly pitched Fernandez carefully, but they also showed no fear and the entire Loyalsock team seemed to feed off that.

"Fernandez is the best player on their team and Colin wanted to go right at him," Loyalsock coach Casey Waller said. "I didn't want him to beat us but Colin wanted him and hat's off to Colin and the rest of the team."