Briar Persing of Montgomery throws to Lewisburg during the 5th inning at Montgomery High School. Montgomery won 7-5. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Nothing came easy Saturday against Lewisburg. The Green Dragons immediately took a two-run lead against Montgomery, scored three times in the seventh and put the go-ahead runners on base.

And that’s perfectly fine with the Red Raiders.

Montgomery welcomes challenges like these; enjoys them. It made the most of this one, too, as Briar Persing recorded a game-ending strikeout, closing out a 7-5 season-opening victory. It was tense at times, but now that it’s over, the Raiders understand that how the game transpired could be the best scenario possible.

The last two years, Montgomery steamrolled several regular season opponents. While impressive, those blowouts did not provide many tests and the Raiders fell short of capturing a coveted District 4 Class AA championship. Yes, it reached both the final and states, but the harder teams can push Montgomery this season, the better off it believes it will be.

“Competition is fun,” Persing said after striking out six in three innings and going 2 for 3 with two RBIs. “I’d rather have a game like this against a competitive team that’s not rolling over 15-0.”

Lewisburg certainly battled and pushed Montgomery against the ropes in the seventh when five straight two-out batters reached base, three bringing home runs. Between that situation and Lewisburg leading 2-0 into the third inning, Montgomery faced some adversity.

The Raiders also conquered it, scoring seven straight times. Parker Persing hit a go-ahead, two-out, two-run single and Mason Bryson and Gage Furman both pitched well as Montgomery passed its first exam. The next one comes today against 2025 Class AAA state qualifier Hughesville.

“That’s a good team. Early in the year, cold out, and you do what you have to do to get a win,” Montgomery coach Tim Persing said. “They played well. They battled the whole time. It got a little hairy, but that’s the kind of stuff that early in the season when you have to play a game like that, it helps you out.”

And while it’s about the next game, especially with today’s being a challenging one, Montgomery also is focused upon the big picture. As much as it hopes to win, it also hopes to gain valuable experiences each game. Each season is a building process and the Raiders want to lay a strong foundation which could help it flourish at the perfect time.

That has not been easy the last two years with Montgomery smashing several league opponents. A year ago, the two-time defending Mid-Penn champions won eight regular season games by seven or more runs, including seven via mercy rule.

Maybe the district final would have played out exactly the same way it did had many of those games been close. We will never know. However, South Williamsport rallied to win that championship, 8-6, after facing one of the district’s most demanding schedules.

South had to scratch and claw just to reach the postseason and seemed right at home in a fiercely fought final. Like any team, Montgomery will take wins any way they come, but they welcome any opportunity to have their resolve tested. That likely will happen today against Hughesville and, win or lose, that all can help in the long run.

“Any time you get into a little trouble and you get yourself out of it and win the game, it just builds from here to the rest of the season,” Tim Persing said. “Lewisburg battled and that’s good. That’s why we want to play teams like that, so at the end of the year you’re ready to go and you’re battle-tested.”

That is exactly why Montgomery loaded up its non-conference schedule. Between Hughesville, South, Montoursville, Warrior Run, the Raiders play four teams who either won district or league championships and/or reached states. Add in 5A Selinsgrove and the Raiders clearly are keeping an eye on late May, while also trying to improve each day. Whatever its record come the end of the regular season, Montgomery hopes to be better off from facing stiff competition.

“You don’t want to just walk all over people and then get into districts and not be ready for a good team,” Tim Persing said. “We’ll just build on today and see what we can do.”

WALK-OFF

EXCITEMENT

St. John Neumann is a younger team than a year ago when it reached a district championship for the fourth time in program history, but a knack for excelling in big moments remains a common thread throughout the roster.

The Knights rallied from a three-run deficit and Avery Taddeo smashed a walk-off single Saturday as they defeated Northeast Bradford, 10-9 in eight innings. Kane Meixel dominated in relief, throwing three innings of scoreless baseball to earn the win, allowing just one hit an striking out five.

Neumann won some thrillers a year ago, including a 12-inning walk-off district semifinal against Millville. Meixel and Taddeo started on that team as did Clark Bower and Maverick Dunkleberger. Not surprisingly, all played key roles Saturday with Bower going 3 for 3 with four RBIs. Dunkleberger was 1 for 2 with a double, two walks and three runs.

Jahki Brister is playing baseball for the first time and delivered an RBI single. He is one of four new starters. As those players grow and mesh with the veteran players, Neumann could hit its stride. Saturday certainly was a good step toward that direction.

EXTRA BASES

Loyalsock quickly turned the page following a season-opening loss at Midd-West, erupting for 13 hits in an 18-1 win at Lewisburg. The Lancers scored multiple runs in each of their last four at-bats and Nolan Rall went 3 for 3 with four RBIs. Jacob Baylor is 5 for 6 over his first two games and Parker Frederick drove in four runs in just his second high school game. Jahvon LaRosa (3 RBIs), winning pitcher Drake Dupont and Kayden Keefer all collected two hits … Cowanesque Valley (3-0) has wasted little time building off last year’s success when it captured its first District 4 Class A championship. The Indians have outscored three teams, 31-7 and are showing fantastic pitching depth. Ten pitchers have combined on a 1.05 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 20 innings … What CV is showcasing on the mound, Wellsboro is at the plate. The Hornets (1-1) scored 30 runs in their first two games, opening the season with a 17-hit explosion in a 23-5 win against North Penn-Mansfield. Coming off a super sophomore season, catcher Coen Tennis helped lead the way, going 4 for 4 with a double and RBI … Central Mountain infielder Blake Walker earned all-state honors last year, finishing as one of the area’s RBI leaders. He started strong Friday, going 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs in an 11-5 loss at Pittston. Darius Shade added two hits and two RBIs and also struck out four in three innings.

Dr. Masse’s Top Five

1. Montoursville (0-0): Montoursville hopes to play its first game since last year’s 4A state championship today against Midd-West. The Warriors have some big voids to fill but also a nice nucleus which could be bolstered by some exciting young players. Wednesday’s game at Mount Carmel features a showdown between two 2025 state finalists with the Tornadoes, who swept two games from Montoursville last year, reaching the 3A final.

2. Williamsport (1-0): Three batters into the game, one had a feel for how dangerous Lucas Naughton, Deshaun White and Zane Rogers could be at the top of the order. In the season opener against Selinsgrove, Naughton smoked a lead-off double before White slammed a two-run home run. Rogers made it back-to-back home runs and Cole Deitrick homered later that inning as Williamsport won, 11-0. Naughton hit .500 as a sophomore before missing last year with an injury. White will play at Penn State in two years and walloped a home run over the trees well beyond right field later, going 3 for 3. Naughton and Rogers had two hits and Deitrick, James Naughton and Trey Damschroder combined on a five-inning no-hitter. The Millionaires continue HAC-I play today, hosting Shamokin before facing defending league champion Central Mountain Wednesday.

3. Warrior Run (2-1): Injuries have hit Warrior Run early this year, but all-state pitcher Landon Polcyn should return soon, boosting a team coming off an 8-2 win against Midd-West. It was a good bounce-back victory after Mount Carmel handed Warrior Run just its second regular season loss in two years, defeating it, 11-4. Highlighting the team’s experience and young talent, senior Griff Harrington and freshman Jackson Bowers both homered against Midd-West. Coen Ritenour produced two RBIs and catcher Landon Tillson two hits. James Keifer won his second game and struck out six in 5 2/3 innings.

4. Jersey Shore (3-0): Jersey Shore is proving both successful and resilient early this season. The Bulldogs have rallied to win all three games and erased a multiple-run deficit for a second straight Saturday in an 8-7 win against Wellsboro. Six players collected hits, helping Jersey Shore dig out of a 5-0 hole and Landon Lathan threw 2 1/3 innings of hitless relief to close it out, striking out five. Two days earlier, sophomore Nolen Pauling threw a dazzling two-hit complete game with eight strikeouts in a 6-2 win against Danville. Carter Rhinehart went 3 for 6 with four RBIs in the victories and Jersey Shore faces another quality opponent today when it heads to South for the second of two games against the Mounties in a nine-day span.

5. Hughesville (1-0): Hughesville was hit with three costly injuries before playing its first game, but showcased both its depth and guts Thursday, winning a 1-0 showdown at South. Brett Whitmoyer, Gage Webb and Nate Bieber combined on a three-hit shutout and made sure Wynter Fogelmen’s first inning RBI double which scored Blake Babb held up. Bieber shined last postseason, winning two straight district playoff games. He was equally effective as the closer against South, showcasing both his increased speed and continued ability to pound the zone. Bieber entered with the winning runners on base and struck out both batters, clinching victory. Don’t be surprised if today’s home opener against Montgomery is equally exciting.

Players of the Week

Deshaun White, Williamsport and Marek Mascho, Wellsboro: White is a five-tool player who also excelled at shortstop against Selinsgrove. The hard-working junior went 3 for 3 against Selinsgrove, homering twice, driving in three runs and scoring three times. Mascho was a huge part of Wellsboro’s strong run to the playoffs last spring and picked up where he left off in his first two games. The senior infielder went 6 for 10 with three doubles. Opening his season with a four-hit game against North Penn-Mansfield, Mascho stayed hot against Jersey Shore and finished his week with eight RBIs and five runs.

Game of the Week

Central Mountain at Williamsport: There are a lot of good ones this week, including today, but we will go with Wednesday’s showdown between HAC-I title contenders. Central Mountain ran the table last year, going 10-0 in league play. The Wildcats took two from Williamsport, but the Millionaires are the last team to beat them in league play, winning, 9-6 two years ago at Millionaire Mountain. This is a good early-season test for both teams.

–Masse may be reached at cmasse@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @docmasse