MILROY — Thad Gerwick tried his darndest to push Mifflin County into the Mid-Atlantic Regional finals on Sunday afternoon, but his last blast just fell inches short.

Mifflin County was down 8-3 going into the last inning to Atlantic Shore (Southern New Jersey), but the local All-Stars almost made an unbelievable comeback losing 8-5.

Wyatt Parkes opened the seventh with a base hit. One out later, Blaze Shreffler walked. Nazae Traxler moved the runners up with a bunt. Elliott Yetter then knocked Parkes and Shreffler home with an infield single.

Carson Cherry was next and he delivered a single and Jayden Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gerwick then hit a fly ball to deep leftfield to end the game.

“We couldn’t stop the bleeding early,” Mifflin County manager Denny Yetter said. “We got behind early, but I was proud of the way we reacted. The team never gave up and we played hard right to the end.”

The game started off really poorly for Mifflin County as Atlantic Shore’s first six men reached base and before an out was recorded it was 5-0 in favor of the Southern New Jersey team.

Mifflin County went through two pitchers — Cherry and Braxton Smith — before Gerwick came in to settle things down.

Smith walked the first two men he faced in the second. Gerwick then came in and his second pitch to Kevin Reyes left the ball park and the score was 8-1.

But, from that point on Gerwick was in command. He allowed no more runs and only two hits. He walked no one and struck out four.

Mifflin County scored single runs in the first, second and sixth innings. Cherry had an RBI single in the first, Kyle Shupp had a sacrifice fly in the second and Gerwick had a run-producing single in the sixth.

Mifflin County made some outstanding defensive plays during the game. Chase Leister made a diving catch in center field to end the first inning. MC third baseman Lincoln Ruble made two great plays, one in the fourth inning that started a 5-4-3 double play. He also made a stellar play to save a hit in the sixth inning.

Mifflin County finished with eight hits. Yetter and Cherry each had two.

“Only six times in six games did we put up more than one run in one inning,” Yetter said, “But if Thad’s hit was a couple inches higher or to the right or left, it would have been a great ending.”

This marked the 19th time that a Mifflin County team has finished in a regional Final Four. Mifflin County tied for third with Franklin Township of Northern New Jersey.

Friday’s Game

Mifflin County 6, Southern New Jersey 0: Friday night’s Mifflin County 15-16-year-old game belonged to Thad Gerwick, who pitched and batted Mifflin County to a 6-0 win over Atlantic Shore ( Southern New Jersey Runner-up).

On the mound, he was almost perfect. Gerwick retired the first 11 men he faced. He walked only one and gave up just one hit.

The only inning he had any trouble was in the fifth. With two out, he walked a batter and then the next man up got a base hit.

Gerwick had five strikeouts and he retired the last six men he faced in the sixth and seventh innings.

Mifflin County jumped on Atlantic Shore right away as it scored three runs in the first inning. Elliott Yetter walked with one out, Carson Cherry followed with a single and Jayden Smith was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Gerwick then set the tone for the evening as he unloaded the bases with a three run double.

Mifflin County added two more runs in the third. Kyle Shupp reached on an error and Nazae Traxler followed with an RBI single. Two outs later, Cherry drove home Traxler with a ground out.

Yetter singled with one out in the sixth. He stole second and scored when Cherry reached on a throwing error that landed outside the fence.

“Thad (Gerwick) got us going in the first inning with that big hit,” said Denny Yetter, the Mifflin County manager, “He hit all his spots on the mound. I can’t say enough about his performance. We needed a shutout to gain the top seed and he gave us the shutout.”

TOURNEY NOTES

This is the same Atlantic Shore team that beat Mifflin County in the 2021 regional finals in Altoona, 8-0, and then went on to win the national title. The manager of that Mifflin County 13-year-old All-Star team was Denny Yetter. … Elliott Yetter (Mifflin County’s catcher) threw out two runners in the last two games. … Mifflin County’s record after 70 years of All-Star competition is 772-352 (1,124 games).