Sentinel photo by BOB HOCKENBROCK Mifflin County shortstop Karl Shirey flips the ball to second baseman Madden Weaver during a double play.

By Aaden Stevens

Sports correspondent

LEWISTOWN — Mifflin County, after losing in the District 6 Championship game to State College by one run last summer, had Wednesday’s game circled since the schedule came out. Behind strong pitching from seniors Chase Hartung and Parker Crownover, Mifflin County got redemption versus the Little Lions, 2-1.

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Hartung threw four innings, allowing just one hit in the top of the second, and Crownover came in after the fourth stanza and threw three innings of no-hit baseball.

Huskies head coach Ray Hoppel talked about Hartung.

“He got his first varsity win today against a quality opponent, and he certainly has the ability to do this for us all season long. So hopefully, this is just the start of big things for him this year.”

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In the bottom of the opening frame, Mifflin County had the bats hot early, with All-State 2nd team senior Evan Strohecker hitting a ground ball up the middle for a single, followed by Karl Shirey’s double over the right fielder to put two on for senior catcher Easton Lepley, who hit a sac fly to score the game’s first runs.

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Then, in the top of the second inning, State College answered right back with a run of their own after a walk from Jake Hall and the lone hit for the Little Lions, a single into right field by DH Cooper Salvato, put Hall on third base. Then Chase Hartung made his only mistake of the game as a wild pitch brought home the tying run.

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Then it was Deja vu in the bottom of the third inning as Evan Strohecker once again reached base and found himself at third. Then Lepley delivered as he hit into a fielder’s choice and brought home his second and the eventual game-winning run.

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“Well, you know you always want to challenge yourself no matter what time of year it is, and we certainly had to be pretty good today against this team. They have a lot of athletes. They have a bunch of great players, a lot of accomplished players, but so do we,” Hoppel noted about getting the opening day win against a district rival.

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State College (0-1) will play Easton Area this coming Saturday. For the Huskies, the victory propels them to a third straight opening day victory and puts them at 1-0. They will stay in district play as they face off against Altoona on Tuesday.