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Seconds after smashing a walk-off single, Matthew Conklin rounded first base and quickly found himself buried beneath a mass of happy teammates. The pain never felt so good.
Pain goes away, but glory never fades. And that is what Montoursville attained Monday night at Bowman Field. That and another championship.
Maddix Dalena threw a one-hitter, Marco Pulizzi crushed a two-run home run and all nine starters produced RBIs as Montoursville walloped Danville, 15-0 in three innings while capturing the District 4 Class AAAA championship. In a year where everything seemingly came the hard way, Montoursville made it look easy and played its best game at the perfect time while winning a third district title in four years.
"It’s something you always dream of. Bowman Field, under the lights ... it’s a great feeling and I thank God for the opportunity today," Conklin said. "I did end up at the bottom of the pile. It might have hurt a little, but it makes all the hard work worthwhile."
Montoursville (16-5) has put in that work since losing in last year’s final against Midd-West. Since then the Warriors have focused on redemption. They set their eyes toward earning another championship opportunity at Bowman Field. And when it that moment came Montoursville owned it.
Dalena dominated, the defense shined and literally everyone produced offensively. The dugout was as loud as the fans who filled the seats up and down the first-base line and Montoursville put all that work into a sensational performance highlighted by a remarkable 10-run second inning eruption.
"These games are the ones you look for. I had trouble sleeping last night because I was thinking about this game. The atmosphere with a bunch of Montoursville fans and a bunch of people from school, it’s just different," said Dalena, who also went 2 for 2 with two RBIs. "You strike a kid out; the crowd goes nuts. You get a hit; the crowd goes nuts. That’s what gets your energy up and that’s what keeps it up with the guys in the dugout and I feel like that’s a big reason we won the game today."
Montoursville earned a spot in the state tournament which opens next Monday. The Warriors will play District 2’s champion, either last year’s state runner-up Wyoming Area or Dallas at a District 2 site. After winning a 5-4 semifinal thriller against Lewisburg in the semifinals, it seemed like it was going to take another gutsy Montoursville performance to get past surging Danville and into the state tournament.
Nobody, not even Montoursville, thought this championship would play out how it did. Dalena came up big in the top of the first, producing a strikeout and leaving the bases loaded. Cole Remsnyder’s well-placed squeeze bunt put the Warriors up 1-0 but when Lane Berkey opened up the second with a strikeout, it felt like this might be shaping up as a potential tight game in which runs could be at a premium.
And then Montoursville went off. Aiden Evans walked. Then Conklin ripped a single. Then Ethan Stahl reached on an error. Nick Reeder brought in a run when he was hit by a pitch and Dalena hit a two-run single.
The Warriors were heating up and broke this game open in a flash. Ten straight batters reached base with one out as Pulizzi dropped a perfect RBI bunt single and Aiden Evans hit a two-run double. After Danville finally recorded the second out, Ethan Stahl battled back from 0-2 and belted a two-run double, capping the inning and putting Montoursville ahead 11-0.
In one inning, Montoursville scored more runs than it had in all but three of its previous 20 games. In the last two innings, the Warriors scored 14 runs and collected nine hits before the sixth out could be recorded.
"I personally have never been involved in anything like that. That was incredible. It was crazy," Pulizzi said after going 2 for 2 with three RBIs. "Everybody is really confident in 1-9 in the order and everyone in the dugout was really confident that whoever was up there was going to keep getting it done."
"It’s contagious. Everyone is excited, and once you see that train moving everybody wants to jump on it and contribute," Montoursville coach Jeremy Eck said after winning his seventh district championship as a coach. "I couldn’t be prouder than this group of guys. I didn’t know if it was going to happen with the way that we’ve had to fight for everything throughout the entire year. For it to finally come together here, it’s exciting."
The excitement continued an inning later. Dalena hit a lead-off single and Pulizzi, who had shined with small ball his first two at-bats, had a chance to swing away and play some long ball. The junior right fielder had never hit a high school home run entering that at-bat, so what a way to break the ice.
Pulizzi did his best Carlton Fisk 1975 World Series impersonation, crushing the first pitch he saw down the left-field line and jumping up and down trying to will it fair. There was no doubt it was leaving the park with the only question being whether it would stay fair. It did, as the ball bounced off the foul pole, giving Montoursville a 13-0 lead and Pulizzi the thrill of a lifetime.
"It’s a ton more meaningful to do it here," Pulizzi said. "There’s something about this field that’s real nostalgic and I always came here and watched people hit home runs for the Crosscutters growing up. I just feel like it’s huge that I get to come out here and do it now as a junior in high school."
Montoursville was in control, but the Warriors were focused on going for the early knockout and delivered it five batters later. Remsnyder followed with a walk and Weihermuller-Francis a single before Grayson Rinker moved them into scoring position with a bunt. Evans hit an RBI grounder and then Conklin ended it early.
In 2018 and 2019, Montoursville won in extra innings on a Gabe Phillips walk-off walk and Cameron Wood walk-off single. The outcome really wasn’t in doubt here like it was those times, but that does not make Conklin’s walk-off hit any less exciting. Just watch the replay of ecstatic teammates dumping water on each other and dog piling parallel to first base for evidence.
"Coaches have been foreshadowing it and it all came together. It’s something I’ll never forget," said Conklin, who also made a brilliant play at first base in the second inning. "It’s just beautiful baseball weather and it’s amazing to get to play in a district championship game on a field like this, on a night like this and win it."
Montoursville had defeated Danville twice during the regular season, but the Ironmen tried landing an early haymaker as Mason Raup drew a lead-off walk and Reece McCarthy singled. A bunt put them on second and third with one out but Dalena started taking over, sandwiching a two-out walk around two strikeouts.
The momentum generated from Dalena leaving the bases loaded carried over to the offense. And from there, the Connecticut-bound right-hander dominated. Dalena struck out six and retired the final seven batters he faced, including five via strikeout.
"I was trying to find it there. Once I struck that last kid out with the bases loaded that got me real hyped," Dalena said. "After that, I found it all on the mound and started pumping. I felt really good from there."
So did his teammates. The seniors hoisted the championship plaque moments after everyone received their gold medals. Eventually, all the players touched that plaque. As well they should because everyone had their fingerprints on this championship.
"I tell the kids all year that this is what it’s all about: playing on this beautiful field under the lights in front of the community and finding a way to get it done," Eck said. "All 18 guys that were in here were fired up. We’ve been talking about it all year. We talked about if we can find a way to put it all together, we’re a pretty dangerous team, and tonight we found a way to put it all together."
Danville 000--0 1 2
Montoursville 1(10)4--15 9 0
Lane Berkey, Daniel Knight (2) and Jack Gibson. Maddix Dalena and Cael Frame. W--Dalena, (6-1). L--Berkey.
Top Danville hitters: Reece McCarthy 1-2. Top Montoursville hitters: Marco Pulizzi 2-2, HR, 3 RBIs, 2R; Dalena 2-2, 2 RBIs; Matthew Conklin 2-3, RBI, R; Cameron Weihermuller-Francis 1-2, RBI, 2R; Aiden Evans 1-2, 2B, 3 RBIs, 2R; Ethan Stahl 1-2, 2B, 2 RBIs, R; Nick Reeder RBI, 2R; James Batkowski 2R; Cole Remsnyder RBI, 2R; Grayson Rinker RBI, R.
Records: Montoursville 16-5. Danville 11-9.