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Keystone minors handled adversity, losses with grace

By HENRY HUBER 5 min read

In any form of competition, the toughest outcome to adjust to is obvious. Losing, whether in tight or blowout fashion, is the result that everyone hopes to avoid and every competitor ultimately experiences. And it's especially devastating the grander the stage is.

For the Keystone minor baseball team, it had the luxury of going quite a long time without suffering a loss this summer. It endured two close calls during the Section 3 tournament. But for almost six weeks of competition and just under a month of tournament play, it never dropped a game, winning six tournament games in a row to reach states.

With an opening win streak like that, you would think the first loss - the removing of that sense of invincibility - would cause wheels to disengage. However, following Keystone's first summer loss to Lehigh on Monday, it came back one day later and put together a strong performance.

It was a response that manager Nick Packech alluded to after Monday's game, mentioning their obvious displeasure in losing but also their continued focus and preparedness. Ultimately, Keystone may have fallen short of a state-tournament victory in the end, losing to St. Mary's by two runs, but their confidence remained intact until the run's final out.

"I'm really proud of them," said Packech when discussing how the team handled adversity on Tuesday.

"They're all gamers. They're there to win, they're there to play hard, and they're gonna battle no matter what the situation is. They're going to keep trying, and they showed that. They gave it their best, and that's all we can ask of them."

Three hours away from home and two away from its previous tournament site, Keystone maintained the late-game magic that propelled it to a Section 3 championship through both its games in Upper Providence Township.

The team briefly turned a multi-score deficit into a one-score one against Lehigh. And against St. Mary's, it erased a three-run lead. It wasn't quite as exciting as the team's walk-off finishes against Athens and Selinsgrove, but it was another case that displayed the young team's grit and poise in tough spots.

Not to mention, they did it against two of the state's toughest teams.

Against St. Mary's, it weathered a start that saw its opponent go up 4-1, strand three Keystone runners, strike out seven batters and retire the side in the third, maintaining enough momentum to break back through its opponent's defenses. Its three fourth-inning runs turned a hole into a winnable game, and that outlook remained until the last out.

Defensively, the team had its issues, committing three late errors and ultimately allowing St. Mary's to take back the lead in the fifth. But they did what they could to maintain Keystone's standing in striking distance, stranding four combined runners in the fourth and fifth while allowing just two runs. All four of those runners were in scoring position, and both scenarios began with one or less outs on the board.

A good amount of that defensive composure was thanks to sound play at the mound from Cooper Robinson, who endured his own tough spot upon entering the game in the first. Already down two runs with the bases loaded, Robinson would secure a frame-closing strikeout against his first batter before going on to pitch the rest of the game.

With two runners in scoring position in the fourth, Robinson would strike out back-to-back batters to keep the inning scoreless and maintain the tie. He also had a strikeout that helped keep the damage down after a rough start to the fifth, finishing with six strikeouts and only surrendered one earned run.

"It wasn't going well in the first inning, and we put him in there with the bases loaded," said Packech on Robinson. "It was a big spot; they already had three runs. We brought him in, and he got a strikeout. Then, he went out there and just calmed it down."

He was a big example in a strong display of composure for the team overall. And while that composure didn't result in a win, it helped the team hold its own and remain strongly competitive against some of the best teams the state of Pennsylvania has to offer at the minor all-star level.

In his final postgame speech of Keystone's multi-week all-star run, Packech hoped that latter clause stuck in his players' minds. Even with a 0-2 start, they proved themselves as one of the eight best teams in the state, an accomplishment he hopes the team can look back on fondly for years to come.

"You guys got to smile because it happened and take in the accomplishments," Packech told his team after the game. "Only eight teams make it here. This doesn't take anything away from what they did this summer. It wasn't easy to get to where they were, and they definitely showed that they're capable of it."

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