Bobby Dorta's two-hitter leads Palmyra to district upset at No. 2 West Perry

ELLIOTTSBURG >> In every sense of the old cliché, Bobby Dorta saved his best for last on Monday.

And thanks to Dorta, the last for the Palmyra baseball team is yet to come.

Twirling a two-hitter in the first round of the District Three Class AAA tournament, the senior hurler led the Cougars to a 1-0 upset at No. 2 West Perry. Dorta outdueled VCU commit Ben Dum, who struck out 14, walked one and had trouble with Palmyra's Tyler Julian.

Julian went 2-for-3 and plated Isaac Blatt for the game's only run in the third inning. Blatt had reached on an inning-opening single, before two quick outs, a Zach Miller base hit and Julian's hard liner past shortstop followed.

Dorta, meanwhile, mowed down the Mustangs with little drama, save for a seventh-inning single with two outs. But the next and final West Perry hitter grounded out harmlessly to second base, polishing off Dorta's masterpiece.

"He was getting ahead of every batter and mixing it up. I don't think they really hit one ball hard off of him all night," Cougars coach Tim Gingrich said. "He got a lot of groundballs, and we made all the plays."

No. 15 Palmyra (12-9) will meet No. 7 Donegal (18-5) in the quarterfinals Thursday at a site to be determined. The Indians dispatched No. 10 Northern York in a rain-shortened game that reverted back to its 3-1 score after five innings when inclement weather struck in the top of the sixth after Northern had tied the game 3-3.

The Cougars did not meet Donegal in the regular season, but they did go 1-0 against the programs' only common opponent this spring, Northern Lebanon. The Indians split their season's meetings with the Vikings, a section foe.

But no matter who occupies the opposite dugout, Palmyra intends to approach the remainder of its games with the same pitching and defense formula that snuck the Cougars into the postseason by winning eight of their last 10. Dorta and company executed that game plan to perfection Monday, committing zero errors in the field while catcher Nick DeCarlo threw out a Mustang at second base to close the fourth inning.

"DeCarlo caught a great game. He called and caught a great game," Dorta said. "And I think we've just been playing better as a whole team. We know we're not going to be hitting balls all over the place, hitting bombs like some guys do. We have a great pitching staff, and all our pitchers trust our defenders to make plays."

Dorta also credited the humbling effect that his previous outing, a six-walk affair against Milton Hershey, had on his pregame approach Monday. Armed with a renewed focus on throwing strikes, the senior also managed to maintain a sense of looseness that combined to bring out the best in himself and Palmyra as a ballclub.

"I was just thinking I have nothing to lose. We're the 15 seed coming in," Dorta said. "I just wanted to go out there, not try to do too much ... We all enjoyed it, but we've got to refocus now."

And if the Cougars do just that, refocus and follow their ace's recent lead, perhaps their best, too, could be coming far down the district tournament road.

Palmyra 1, West Perry 0

Palmyra001000 0 —140W. Perry000000 0 —0 20

W — Bobby Dorta; L — Ben Dum.

SO-BB — P: Dorta 2-0. WP: Dum 14-0.