"The way we won it, it couldn't have been any better," said first-year coach Ed Molnar, a retired bank president. "This, for sure, is something the kids will remember forever."
The Eagles took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and runners on first and third, coach Brian Dzurenda decided to intentionally walk red-hot catcher Ryan Seiz, who was 3 for 3 with two doubles, and pitch to Summers, the cleanup batter, with the bases loaded.
Summers ripped a 2-2 splitter toward third base. It went off Ken Tomco's glove and into short left field. Drew Mininger, who had hit a two-out single to left, scored from third. Brandon Reichart, who had been hit by a pitch, beat Avery Sandor's throw to catcher Chris Miller.
"I knew they would walk Ryan, and I knew I could do this," the 6-foot-6, 210-pound Summers said. "The pitch was slow and inside. I was kind of hoping to drive it farther, but whatever works. I'll take it."
Summers was 0 for 3, with two strikeouts, before his final at-bat.
"I said to myself, 'This is going to be my moment. I'm going to drive in the last two runs and win the game,' " the Alvernia-bound senior said. "That's what you do in your dreams. Everybody wants to do this."
Serra's Oliver Girman, who relieved lefthanded-throwing brother Alain (10 strikeouts) in the sixth, opened the seventh with two strikeouts. On a 1-2 count, Mininger singled. Girman, in a link to The Final Season, then plunked Reichart with a pitch. With runners on first and second, Dzurenda decided to walk Seiz.
"I thought it was the easiest decision I had to make all day," Dzurenda said. "He's hitting, like, .900 or something in the playoffs."
Seiz, a Louisville recruit who entered the final batting .557, doubled to left in the first, doubled past third and scored in the fourth, and drove in a run in the sixth.
Dock (20-3) won its third state title in the last six years.
Serra Catholic 000 111 0 - 3 4 4
Christopher Dock 000 101 2 - 4 7 0
WP: Alex Summers. LP: Oliver Girman. 2B: CD-Ryan Seiz 2, Brigham Lewis, Brandon Reichart.
Contact staff writer Rick O'Brien at 610-313-8019 or robrien@phillynews.com.
