Through all the success Montoursville baseball has had since its 2022 District 4 Class AAAA title, Mifflinburg and its bullpen have been thorns in its side. The Wildcats halted its chances at back-to-back district titles in last year’s final before handing it a 9-1 loss a month ago.
When an opponent gives you issues, you adjust and try new things. In Montoursville’s rematch with Mifflinburg in the district semifinals on Tuesday, one key adjustment made all the difference.
“We didn’t throw Logan Kirby,” said Montoursville coach Jeremy Eck when discussing the prior losses.
With the help of a sound showing from his field, sophom*ore Logan Kirby led his team in avenging its prior losses, pitching a shutout through a complete game. Coupled with a sound offensive performance against Wake Forest commit Troy Dressler and reliever Kaiden Kmett, the Warriors defeated the Wildcats, 6-0, to clinch their second title appearance in three years.
Facing the pressure of willing his team to the final, Kirby’s play didn’t show any signs of nerves.
Three infield balls in the first and second innings found their way to him, and he responded by making the right play each time, attributing three force outs and keeping Mifflinburg out of scoring position in the second.
When the Wildcats logged early hits in the second, third and sixth, he wasted no time retiring the side from there, with Mifflinburg never seeing more than four at-bats in an inning. He credited his lack of nerves to not overthinking and trusting in his teammates.
“I feel like when I overthink, it just doesn’t go as well,” said Kirby. “So, I just treated it like a regular game, went out there and did my best.”
His most notable play came in the fifth. With an assuring but breakable 2-0 lead, an in-play ball on the first at-bat nailed his ankle.
Rather than immediately coiling over from the pain, Kirby shook it off and quickly secured the ball, chucking it over to first for his fourth force out. After a brief mound visit, he remained in the game, retiring the side in three for the third time.
“It kind of made me refocus and find an extra view I had to go to and rely on,” said Kirby on the play.
“That ball was squared up on his ankle,” said Eck. “For him to jump up, keep his head and be able to get the out, then worry about the injury afterwards, that’s just a testament to him.”
“After he walked around a little bit, he said, ‘I want the ball. It’s my game.’ So, he did his job,” he added when discussing the mound visit.
He’d finish the game with five strikeouts to just three hits, not issuing a walk until the final inning.
“You’re giving a ball to a sophom*ore against a kid who’s going to Wake Forest and you say, ‘Here, go get it done.’ And he went out and got it done for us,” said Eck. “He’s also out there throwing to his brother, (Noah). It’s just a special moment.”
Whenever Kirby needed them to, his field delivered and kept him assured and confident. Right fielder Brayden McCourt tracked down a tough fly ball in the fourth, short stop Quinn Ranck attributed two frame-percent force outs to close out the fourth and fifth and the team as a whole did what it needed to do.
“I feel like I’m not pitching to strike. I’m pitching to get out and let my fielders do the work. And they did so,” said Kirby. “We made very crucial plays that we had to make in crucial times, and it just led to success. When we needed to make a play, we made it.”
In order for it to win, it still needed to put up runs against a D1-level talent in Dressler.
It was able to get a runner in scoring position from the jump, with leadoff batter Royce Bowes stealing second following a deep single to left. Then, in the third, McCourt did the same.
With the score knotted at 0-0, Bowes took to the plate for the second time and delivered again. A tear drop down left center got McCourt home and Montoursville on the board. The pair went on to finish as the team’s leading hitters, with Bowes going 3-3 with an RBI and a run and McCourt going 2-3 with an RBI and two runs.
“Coming into the game, I had a lot of confidence facing Dressler,” said Bowes. “He throws firm, so I hit the ball hard. It felt good getting hits off him today.”
“This is the third time we’ve seen him this year,” said McCourt on Dressler. “Our approach was just to get the barrel on the ball. He’s got enough speed to where if we get the barrel to it, it’s going to go and that showed.”
Back-to-back stolen bases from Jonah Heddings in the fourth allowed him to get home off a fielder’s choice to up the lead to 2-0. Stolen bases in the fifth got Bowes and Ranck in scoring position, with a wild pitch allowing Bowes to put in the team’s third run.
Then, with Dressler out, everyone saw the plate in the sixth, as the Warriors added three more runs to improve their cushion. Logging three runs against Dressler played a key role in the team putting itself in a good spot and building momentum, which came out in full force in the sixth.
“When you know that you’re in for a tight game, we’re trying to score runs any way we can,” said Eck. “Obviously, we didn’t score in that first inning but for us to be able to take bags and advance on some other stuff and then get a base hit (in the third), that was huge for us.”
With Danville overcoming an early deficit against Milton to advance, the stage is set for an exciting final, which will take place at Bowman Field on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Montoursville has matched up with the Ironmen twice this season, where it went 1-1. In its pursuit of a second district title in three years, it will need to bring it.
“Danville is a quality team. Their lineup is littered with athletes up and down the lineup,” said Eck. “They have a couple good arms. We know we’re going to have to play just as good, if not better, if we’re going to win a district title.”
“It’s every high school player’s dream to play under the lights at basically an MLB stadium,” said McCourt on getting to play at Bowman. “It’s just an amazing opportunity.”
Montoursville 6, Mifflinburg 0
MIFF – 000 000 0 – 0 3 1
MTV – 001 113 X – 6 8 1
Troy Dressler, Kaiden Kmett (6) and Nick Lloyd. Logan Kirby and Noah Kirby. W – Kirby. L – Dressler.
Top Mifflinburg hitters: Lane Hook 1-3; Troy Dressler 1-3; Zeb Hufnagle 1-3. Top Top Montoursville hitters: Royce Bowes 3-3, RBI, run; Brayden McCourt 2-3, 2B, RBI, two runs; Noah Kirby 1-3, RBI, run; Zack Neill 1-3, RBI.
Records: Montoursville 14-4 (6-3 H-II); Mifflinburg 13-6.
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