WEST ORANGE – The West Orange High School varsity baseball team was three outs away from seeing its season end.
The Mountaineers trailed 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning after Montclair scored two runs in the top of the inning.
But the fourth-seeded Mountaineers showed their resiliency, rallying for three runs for a dramatic 6-5 walk-off win in the quarterfinals of the state North Jersey Section 1, Group 4 tournament on May 26 at WOHS.
Chris Walker delivered the game-winning two-run double. Liam White, Doug Hughes and Andrew Scholz reached on hits in the ninth before Walker’s heroics. WOHS won its sixth straight game to improve to an 18-5 record.
Walker also was the winning pitcher in relief as he pitched three innings of one-hit ball, allowing two unearned runs and two walks and striking out three to improve to 4-0.
Hughes and Scholz each went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run. WOHS starting pitcher Paul Casolaro gave up one earned run on four hits and a walk in six innings.
The Mountaineers were scheduled to visit top-seeded Morristown in the semifinals on May 31. The other semifinal pitted sixth-seeded Paterson Eastside at second-seeded Ridgewood. The final is June 3.
The Mountaineers were one out away from winning it but fifth-seeded Montclair tied it 3-3 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
WOHS avenged an 8-4 loss to Montclair on May 4 at home in a Super Essex Conference non-division game.
WOHS is looking to clinch a share of the Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division title. The Mountaineers and Verona are tied for second place at 12-3. WOHS was scheduled to visit Verona on June 1, with the winner sharing the SEC-Liberty Division title with Columbia.
The Mountaineers defeated Montclair Kimberley Academy, 11-2, at home on June 25 in a divisional game.
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