By car, it might take someone roughly 30 minutes to go from West Chester Henderson High School to Owen J. Roberts. It’s about 18 miles that separates these two District 1 schools, located in Southeastern Pennsylvania. They’ll travel four hours and close to 215 miles to meet each other on Friday on a trip that promises to be memorable. 
Kyle Hooven, Henderson
File photo by Ron Siliani
That’s because for the first time in the history of both Henderson and Owen J. Roberts, each team will be playing for their first-ever PIAA Class AAAA (large-school) state baseball championship. They’ll just have to travel across the expansive state of Pennsylvania to make it happen, Friday at 1 p.m. at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona.
The Owen J. Roberts Wildcats reached this lofty destination by going 26-4, after a 1-0 state semifinal victory over Lower Dauphin on Monday, while the Henderson Warriors did their share to make it an all-District 1 final by going 24-4 after beating Pine-Richland, 2-1, in the other state semifinal.
The 26 victories is an Owen J. Roberts school record for wins in a season. But Wildcats coach Greg Gilbert saw this coming.
"We had almost everyone back from a team that lost in last year’s District 1 quarterfinals, in a game where we were winning 8-4 and we imploded, giving up seven runs in the sixth inning," Gilbert said. "I thought we had a chance to get back, but we needed some breaks and needed to stay healthy. We got some luck along the way."
It helps having senior right-handed pitchers Jeff Wiand and David Vining, and junior right-hander Tim Ponto all back. Offensively, the Lehigh-bound Wiand has been the catalyst out of the three-hole spot. He drove in the winning run in the state semifinals and had a double and two home runs in the state quarterfinals, responsible for all three runs in the Wildcats’ 3-2 win over South Western.
"We don’t know a whole lot about Henderson, but I will learn a few things over the next few days," Gilbert said. "What I like about how we’re playing right now is that this team has a quiet confidence about themselves. They’re very relaxed. We’re here and trying to finish things. These guys have a feeling they have as good a chance as Henderson to win this."
Henderson and Owen J. Roberts share history as two teams that have never been this far in the state playoffs before. But it’s about where the similarities end. Where Owen J. Roberts had a steady core group back, there was one glaring difference with Henderson.
"I really didn’t see this coming," said Warriors coach Luke McNichol, who directed Henderson to its best record in decades this season. "In the beginning of the season, the coaching staff planned out a course of attack on what we realistically could do. When we started to get the pitching that we needed, we looked to go a little deeper."
Seniors Sean McCormick (Kutztown) and Kyle Hooven (Penn State with intentions of walking-on) have been the leaders. McCormick, a righty, is 10-0 with 84 strikeouts in 67 innings — including a perfect game against Oxford earlier this season. Hooven, a lefty, is 8-1 and has thrown 72 strikeouts in 58 innings.
"They took the ball and away they went; my job was to stay out of their way," McNichol said about his pitching 1-2 punch. "We built up their innings and kept their pitch counts reasonable."
Hooven is hitting .440. Out of the clean-up slot, John Iezzi is batting .385, and has driven in 19 runs. Freshman Chas McCormick, Sean’s younger brother, leads the Warriors with 28 RBI in 28 games. Out of the McNichol’s starting eight that will play in Friday’s state championship, five will be underclassmen, and four of those five will be either sophomores or freshmen.
"The seniors that we have are great kids, and the leadership that they’ve shown has been phenomenal," McNichol said. "With our youth, it’s why this has been completely unexpected. These kids have been buying in, but you have to look at Sean McCormick and Kyle Hooven. That’s what’s done it."
Sean McCormick and Hooven will both be available in the state championship game, as will Owen J. Roberts’ Wiand, Vining and Ponto.
"You have two great teams that have played all year to get here," McNichol said. "You can’t beat that. I’ve been fortunate to be with a great group of guys on the coachingstaff, to the kids on the team. These kids have taken us wherever they wanted to go. We're here now. We’re going to Altoona to a beautiful stadium in mid-June. Back in March, no one was thinking of that. Getting here is all the worry. We’re here, we’re going to enjoy it."
Playing baseball in Altoona in June. You can’t beat it, even if it is a four-hour drive away.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at jsantoliquito@yahoo.com.
