DUBOIS — Sometimes the truest test of a great athlete — especially at the high school level —  is how quickly they can bounce back from adversity.

On Monday, Oswayo Valley’s Garren Black passed that test with flying colors. Less than a week after struggling against DuBois CC in the District 9 title game, the Green Wave’s ace was nearly perfect on the mound and spearheaded his team’s 2-0 victory over Berlin Brothersvalley in the first found of the PIAA tournament at Showers FIeld in DuBois.

Black’s afternoon got off to an inauspicious start, hitting the first batter of the game on the first pitch, but locked in and pitched a flawless game from there.

After that hit batsman, Black allowed just four base runners for the remainder of the game. He struck out 11 and allowed just two runners past first base. In short, he really didn’t give the Mountaineers much of a chance.

“He was back to Garren today,” OV head coach Brad Buchholz said of the reigning Big 30 Player of the Year. “He pitched really well today and eliminated some of the mistakes in the championship game. And when he gets 11 strikeouts, that’s less balls that we have to field.”

So, what adjustments did Black make from the six runs and eight hits he gave up last Tuesday? It really might’ve just came down to Mother Nature.

“I think it’s about 20 degrees cooler today than it was last week,” Buchholz said. “He said his hand was sweating and he really couldn’t grip the ball last game and his location was off. But, he pitched really nice today and gave us a win against a good team and a very good opposing pitcher.”

For Berlin Brothersvalley head coach Tanner Prosser, he lamented the fact that his team couldn’t push that leadoff runner in the first inning around to score.

“I thought we had an opportunity early to get to them when (Black) was a little wild, but give him credit because he settled down and pounded strikes, he said. “He made some big pitches when he needed to.”

Black’s performance not only shut out the Mountaineer bats, it also overshadowed what was a phenomenal pitching performance from the other dugout. Berlin’s Nick Gooden threw six strong innings, allowing just seven hits and striking out four.

Gooden entered Monday’s contest with just six walks through 70 innings pitched on the season. He once again found the strike zone on the biggest stage, but didn’t get much help from the guys around him.

The Mountaineers had three errors in the game, including a costly gaffe in the fourth inning that allowed OV to add an insurance run.

“(A) couple defensive plays made and it could be 0-0,” Prosser said. “That’s kind of how our defense has been this year.”

Gavin Babcock laced an RBI double to right field that began the scoring for the Green Wave. Six of OV’s seven hits in the game came from its one-through-four hitters in the lineup, as Babcock and Black had two hits a piece.

The Green Wave had plenty of chances to add onto their lead in the game’s later innings, but the couldn’t push any across. OV left multiple runners on base in the third, fourth and fifth frames, but it didn’t come back to cost them.

“We needed to find a way to scrape together a few runs and these last two games we haven’t been able to,” Prosser said of his team that was also shut out in the District 5 title game.

Berlin also ran into an Oswayo defense that made plenty of big plays when it needed to. Gage Babcock made a diving grab at shortstop in the sixth, and Gunner Beam took away a sure single with a fine defensive stop at second in the last frame.

Monday’s win marked the second consecutive season that OV has won a state playoff game, adding another impressive chapter to what has become a baseball dynasty over the past four seasons

“This is what we want,” Buchholz said. “We want progression and we want to keep improving. I think everybody knows we belong now and that’s fun.”

The Green Wave will play District 10 champion Vincentian Academy in the second round on Thursday. The location and time of that matchup will be announced this afternoon.

AT DUBOIS
R H E
Berlin     000 000 0    0 3 3

Oswayo 100 100 0      2 7 0

Nick Gooden (4 SO), and Sam Marker

Garren Black (11 SO, 1 BB), and Camden Graves