STATE COLLEGE -- It's impossible to point to one player on the 2012 West York baseball team and say he is the reason for success.

However, you can point to a collective group and say they are now state champions.

And the best part is, the Bulldogs play baseball the way it was meant to be played and, like most of the state tournament run, Friday's 9-6 win against Lampeter-Strasburg was another example of that.

Gutsy pitching, great defense, solid base running, small-ball with all-out hustle and key hits are the West York way.

The Bulldogs hadn't trailed the entire state tournament, but were behind in the first when Dan Neff tripled off Brandon Rauhauser's glove on a hit no one in the ballpark thought he would get.

The play was a precursor to what might go down in Bulldogs annals as "the catch."

One pitch after Neff's three-bagger, Virginia Military Institute recruit Ray Lopez launched a ball to deep center that miraculously was run down by center fielder Jerrin Toomey, who made a sprawling catch.

Sure, the sacrifice fly plated the game's first run, but it is almost the perfect example of West York's baseball.

"Jerrin made that catch. It was fantastic," winning pitcher Kaden Hepler said. "Every time the ball is hit to center field, I expect it to be caught by him. He is so quick and so good, it's ridiculous."

Shortstop Brock Gladfelter added, "There is no other center fielder in York County that would catch that ball."

As for Toomey's account

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of the catch, "Mini (Rauhauser) just had a tough play, I think it was a big momentum shifter. If it does fall, maybe they are rallying," he said. "We just needed to come out and pick up runs."

Which West York did in the top of the second, scoring five times and forcing Pioneers pitcher Peter Darrenkamp to throw 44 pitches in the inning, getting doubles from Jesse Bortner and Brandon Kinneman during the inning.

In fact, the Bulldogs might have proved to be the most irritating team an opponent has to face. They foul off pitch after pitch and rarely strike out.

"Our first thing was to go the other way," coach Roger Czerwinski said. "We knew (Darrenkamp) spotted pitches really well on the outside, which consequently means a lot of foul balls. I applaud our kids for staying in there and continuing to battle. It was our game plan."

A plan that continued to work even as Lampeter-Strasburg was doing the same thing to Hepler and the Bulldogs. West York might have faced its mirror-imagine in the Pioneers -- at least at the plate.

"That is why they are where they are," Czerwinski said. "It is obvious why they are in the state championship game. They are well-coached, they run a lot, they play small-ball. They are very smart about the game."

Kind of like the Bulldogs. However, the Pioneers didn't get the hits throughout the lineup like West York.

Seven Bulldog starters recorded hits, following a semifinal in which eight did so against Blackhawk. Such hitting helped West York defeat three district champions on the way to the most coveted of prizes.

When Lampeter-Strasburg notched three runs in the third inning, making it 5-4, the Bulldogs scored one in the fourth inning, before capping the game with three more in the sixth, thanks to four straight hits from Chase James, Gladfelter, Toomey and Rauhauser.

"This is a once in a lifetime kind of team. Everybody contributes to this team. It's not just one person, it's everybody," said Hepler, who needed 149 pitches in his complete game. "We are going to fight back. We are Bulldogs, that is what we do."

They also are state champions.
Steve Navaroli is a sports reporter for the Daily Record/Sunday News, reach him at snavaroli@ydr.com; 771-2060; @stevenavaroli