VALLEY VIEW - Sweat-soaked uniform removed, Dalton Miller approached Ryan King and congratulated him on his outing.
King returned the compliment to Miller after the two had dueled in 90-degree heat through seven innings of playoff baseball.
Neither could have pitched much better.
Minersville was able to take advantage of three defensive miscues and used some small-ball in the first inning to help King earn a 1-0 victory over Valley View in a Schuylkill-Berks Legion North Division first-round playoff game Saturday evening at Valley View Park.
As is often said, pitching and defense win baseball games.
The pitching was strong for both the fourth-seeded West Enders (7-10) and fifth-seeded Miners (6-11-2).
Valley View's defense, though, was not up to par in the first inning.
King reached on an error to start the game. Isaac Melochick followed with a sacrifice bunt, and when the throw to first was dropped, King went to third. James Brophy's sacrifice fly to center field provided the only run of the game.
"It was the only break we had," Minersville manager Marty Brophy said. "Basically two bad hops ... a bad hop and a throwing error. That's all it was. Ryan King threw great against a pretty (darn) good lineup."
King needed to.
The right-hander scattered six hits, walked two and struck out three in a 103-pitch outing. He allowed just one runner to reach third base, and four of the West Enders' hits came with two outs.
King said the key was "just not getting behind in the count and letting my fielders play. I don't think we had any errors. We played solid behind me.
"They're a good lineup, but I knew we were going to play good defense behind me today."
As good as King threw, Miller was probably even better.
The righty wasn't overpowering, but he did not surrender a hit until the seventh inning when Jeff Blanchek hit a ball down the third-base line. A few grounders later, and the inning was over.
"Dalton Miller, what can you say?" Marty Brophy said. "He threw a gem. The kid threw a one-hitter and lost. It was an unearned run."
Saturday's result for Minersville was a stark contrast to the previous two games against the West Enders - both of which were 8-1 losses.
For one reason or another, the Valley View lineup hasn't been producing lately the same way it had earlier in the season.
Hunter Bordner paced the West Enders with two hits, including a double, and Miller added a pair of singles. The West Enders couldn't get down a bunt when it was needed and the big hit never came against King.
"We have a pretty solid lineup," Valley View manager Derek Masser said. "You never know when somebody's going to hit the ball.
"We've been struggling since halfway through the season, though, and I don't know why. We're swinging at stuff we shouldn't be swinging at. That doesn't help when you get your hits with two outs, either. We just didn't come up with the big hit with runners in scoring position at any time. None."
Minersville advances to face top-seeded Pine Grove at 6:30 tonight at Stump Stadium. Valley View receives a bye in the double-elimination tournament and will meet the loser of today's Tamaqua-Southern Area game Monday.
The Miners will likely see another tough pitcher today in Kobe D'Agostino, Jared McCabe or Jed Blankenhorn.
Valley View gets the day to regroup before facing an elimination game.
"I told them 'You've gotta do the little things,' " Masser said. "Obviously, we didn't bunt when we should've bunted. We couldn't get the bunt down. You've gotta do the little things to win, too. You can't just rely on hits. We had six hits against their one, and we lost." Game Summary
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