LOCAL SPORTS: Worthington/Kittanning Stangs Head to Ohio

by Jake DeLuca

The Worthington/Kittanning Stangs Palomino baseball team (17-18 years old) has had an electrifying season posting a record of 17-1 in the regular season and now it’s on to Struthers, Ohio.

This year the Stangs earned a bye to the zone round of the playoffs – since they won their division they were able to skip regional round. This is the first time that this particular squad has made it this far, manager Terry Miller explained.

“We have won the sectional round (before) to get to the regional round, but zones is new experience for us,” Miller said.

The tournament is double elimination and they will play their first game Thursday, July 28th. If the Stangs win their first game at 5:30 PM then they will go right ahead and play again at 8:00 PM the same day. However if they were to lose then they would be fighting elimination the next day (Friday, July 29th) at 5:30 PM.

Although this is the farthest that this particular team has made it in the post-season, manager Terry Miller coached a team to the World Series in 2005.

“We are going to have to play some tough teams, but I did have a team in 2005 that made it to the World Series. That year Jackson, Mississippi was hosting and we saw a lot of great players. Pedro Alvarez (formerly a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates) was there playing for a New York team,” Miller said.

Terry Miller couldn’t say if his current team was better than his 2005 squad, but he did have this to say.

“They give it there all, they don’t give up, and they play hard. I don’t think one team is better (than the other). These guys are still young too which was what surprised me the most and so we will have them back next year,” Miller stated about his team.

Last week in practice the Stangs really focused on the fundamentals and not making mental mistakes, Terry Miller believes this is pivotal to his teams success in the double-elimination tournament.

“We have worked a lot, I figure we are going to play some really good teams so we have been working on our small ball, advancing runners up. If these boys don’t make mental mistakes we will be in the games. I dont think anyone will out play us, but if we make mental mistakes that will be our downfall. We are trying to hit everything in practice to eliminate all that. We have some gifted athletes, some of these kids are probably going to go on and play college ball,” Miller explained.

If the Stangs win in Struthers, then it will be on to California for the World Series, which will be an all expenses paid trip.

The Stangs are comprised of students mostly from Armstrong High School and West Shamokin. They will play their first game Thursday, July 28th at 5:30 PM at the Bob Cene Park in Struthers, Ohio.

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