Bushy Run unseats Latrobe for American Legion District 31 title

Jason Sabol came back four games ago from a torn right hamstring, an injury that plagued him since early March.

The setback, which happened during high school tryouts, cost him most of his junior baseball season at Penn-Trafford and most of this American Legion season.

The Bushy Run center fielder sure is making the best of his time back.

Feeling like a full-fledged part of the team again, he celebrated a championship with his teammates Wednesday evening as the Beavers took down two-time defending champion Latrobe, 6-2, in the District 31 final at Penn-Trafford.

Top-seeded Bushy Run (19-3-1) is a district champ for a fourth time overall with its first title since 2019. The Beavers raised two trophies: a gold one for the title-game win and a silver one for its regular-season championship.

The sweep had the Beavers posing for photos for media and family members.

“It feels good to win something,” said Sabol, who had a double and two RBIs. “(The injury) had been nagging me for awhile. I did a lot of physical therapy to come back. Everything is coming back for me now.”

Backed by a sound, error-free defense, pitcher John Lovre earned the win, helping limit third-seeded Latrobe (21-6) to four hits.

The Jethawks made an uncharacteristic five errors, and all of them led to runs.

“All of (the championships) are sweet, but this one is particularly so because we beat such a quality opponent like Latrobe,” Bushy Run manager Scott Peyman said. “We want to mirror our program after what coach (Jason) Bush does with his program. It means more to beat them.”

Peyman was asked who was his player of the game. Without hesitation, he said, “Johnny Lovre, no question in my mind. We put him in a tough situation against a really good team. He’s a 16-year-old kid. He threw strikes, and we had very few miscues.”

Chuck Fontana and Matt Lichota also had RBIs for Bushy Run, which has won 14 straight games as it gets set to join Latrobe, Murrysville, and five other teams in the Region 7 Tournament beginning Saturday in Bellefonte.

Bushy Run clung to a 3-2 lead heading into the sixth inning. That is when Latrobe came undone, and the Beavers took full advantage.

With runners at first and second, Jethawks pitcher Logan Bradish took a dribbler back to the mound on a bunt by Lichota but could not scoop the ball cleanly as he tried to throw home and it was 4-2.

More trouble for Latrobe: After a walk to load the bases, Bush went to reliever Andrew Hantz, who walked in the fifth run.

An error at second base pushed home another run for a 6-2 advantage.

The three-run, gift-wrapped inning gave Bushy Run a cushion heading to the seventh.

Latrobe had won 10 in a row and was chasing its sixth district title.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Bushy Run. They were on a roll and played well,” Latrobe manager Jason Bush said. “But we were on a roll, too. The freebies did us in. We didn’t play our best.”

Peyton Bigler came on to pitch the seventh and earned a save. Bushy Run ended the game with a 1-6-3 double play.

Another error earlier at second allowed the go-ahead run to score with two outs in the fourth. Ian Temple singled, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a groundout before be came home to give the Beavers the lead again.

Bushy Run took a 2-0 lead in the first on back-to-back hits by Sabol and Fontana. Sabol’s was a double.

“We’re starting to get him more time in center,” Peyman said of Sabol. “We had been DH-ing him. We’re glad to have him back.”

The Jethawks tied it in the third with a two-out rally. Vinny Amatucci singled in a run with a single before Haden Sierocky ripped a single off of Lovre into center to make it 2-2.

Carmen Metcalfe, who cut his elbow making a sliding catch late in the game, also doubled for the Beavers.

Temple, the Bushy Run catcher, injured his shoulder on a slide at first and was replaced behind the plate by Eric Biroscak. Temple iced the shoulder and did not bat later in the game.