GOLDEN STANDARD
By Michael BoytiM mboytim@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE — Just two days after his team won the PIAA Class 3A baseball championship, Tyrone coach Kevin Soellner was back in uniform at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Complex to coach a George B. Kelley Federation summer league game.
Asked how he adjusts to the atmosphere of winning the school’s first-ever baseball state title to leading a summer league team of youngsters playing in front of less than 30 people, Soellner was quick to answer.
“Only one of the kids here today played in (the state final),” Soellner said. “Now it’s just a matter of getting the next team ready. It’s still the same goal, and they all want it now, even more. I called a young kid up to play today, and it was nice to see how excited he was to come play. Seeing the young kids and their excitement probably drives me more than anything.” Soellner, along with assistant coaches Dave Mease and Jim Lang, are dedicated to making Tyrone baseball a force to deal with for the next decade, not just a one-year wonder.
“We already had a talk about how teams are going to want to come after us even a little harder, and we know we have a target on our back,” Soellner said.
“We’re a good win for teams now.
Beating us is something teams will strive for, so we have to work even harder than this last team had to work to get to where we wanted. They know they have to work, and they are ready to put that work in.”
Soellner’s top returning player, rising senior left-handed pitcher Aiden Coleman, threw a complete-game, three-hit shutout in the 5-0 victory over Oley Valley in the PIAA championship game. He echoed his coach’s words.
“I definitely think we could have another run,” Coleman said. “I want to push the team to get bigger, better and stronger. We definitely have it in us to go for it again.”
Leaving their mark
No matter what the future of the Tyrone baseball program holds, the 2021 team will always be part of the school’s history.
“It feels amazing, Everyone that goes through high school wants to make their mark, and I feel like that’s what this team just did. — Brandon Lucas, Tyrone High School senior
Graduating senior Brandon Lucas, who led the team in batting average and RBIs, ended his scholastic career with an elusive championship after a heartbreaking loss in the 2020 District 6 Class 3A football final and upset defeats as the top seed in both the baseball and basketball district playoffs earlier in his career.
“It feels amazing,” Lucas said.
“Everyone that goes through high school wants to make their mark, and I feel like that’s what this team just did.
“I do believe that now that we won the state baseball championship, more kids will be coming out for baseball and sticking with the program, and it will just keep getting stronger and stronger.”
The championship baseball squad will likely have its team photo next to the 1999 Tyrone football team that won the PIAA title over Mount Carmel on the wall at Tyrone Area High School above the trophy case soon. Soellner, who says he was more of a football guy than a baseball guy before becoming the Eagles’ head coach, helps out with football and is friends with Tyrone football coach John Franco, who led the Eagles to that state title.
“I was calling and texting (Soellner) wishing him good luck throughout the playoff run,” Franco said. “I got a chance to talk to him yesterday, and I told him how proud of him that I was.
I’m proud of the whole team.
“That senior class has been on the verge of several championships in many sports and just missed them through some bad luck. It was great to see them finally come through, and I’m thrilled for those seniors and especially for Kevin.”
Program-changing win
Franco said winning a state title in football helped change a lot about his program, and he thinks the baseball team’s win could do the same in a positive way.
“There’s no doubt that when you win a state championship, you’re automatically forming a culture,” Franco said. “That culture is what carries the program. You need to have something to base that culture
on, and the No. 1 thing you can base it on is a state championship. We were fortunate to get to three of them, and even though we only came away with one win, getting there was really important.
“Finishing it off permeates the culture year in and year out. Kids want to play. They want to come out for the team. They want to be part of the program and part of the tradition. You’ll see the same thing happen at Tyrone now with baseball.”
Soellner, who has an 11-year-old grandson playing youth baseball in Tyrone, said he’s excited to see the impact winning the title has on the talented younger groups and hopes it keeps more kids in the program.
“I have already told (my grandson) there’s probably 15 or 16 kids in that group, and I told him I didn’t know if he was in the top 15 or 16,” Soellner said. “I told him he’s going to have to put in the work. It’s just another great group, and we have a great group of 12-year-olds, too. It’s a rough situation for a coach to pick from all these talented kids.”
Repeat?
Soellner said despite his team’s outward confidence throughout the state playoffs, there was still some doubt the Golden Eagles could really pull it off until their 4-2 win over Central in the PIAA semifinals that avenged an 11-1 loss in the District 6 championship game.
Now, he thinks anything is possible.
“This makes them believe it can be done,” Soellner said. “I think you always have some self doubt until you accomplish it. I guarantee if you talk to every kid, they wouldn’t admit it, but they weren’t sure until (the PIAA semifinal win) over Central. That’s when they truly believed it, and now kids coming up playing for Tyrone know it can be done. We can get there, and that’s the biggest thing.”
Though he’ll lose several key seniors, Soellner thinks the Eagles have a solid team coming back next season.
“There are some guys who were blocked that I’m excited to see get their shot,” Soellner said. “We even
STATISTICAL LEADERS
BATTING: Lucas .421, Shultz .362, Brooks .348, LeGars .340, Hoover .333, Gampe .316, Hunter .304
HITS: Lucas 32, Shultz 29, Gampe 25, Hoover 23, Hunter 21, LeGars 18, Ai. Coleman 14, Buck 13, Grazier 12, Lang 12
RUNS: Lucas 27, Shultz 27, Hoover 25, Hunter 18, Gampe 15, LeGars 12, Grazier 10
DOUBLES: Lucas 8, Grazier 5, LeGars 4, Ai. Coleman 3, Shultz 3
TRIPLES: Shultz 3, Grazier 2, Lucas 2, Hoover 2, Hunter 2, LeGars 2
HOME RUNS: Gampe 3
RBIS: Lucas 20, Gampe 20, Grazier 16, Shultz 16, Ai. Coleman 12, Hunter 12
STOLEN BASES: Hoover 19, Hunter 15, Shultz 11, Lucas 9, Gampe 7, LeGars 6
PITCHING VICTORIES: Ai. Coleman 9, Gampe 5, Shultz 4, LeGars 3, Rhoades 1
STRIKEOUTS: Ai. Coleman 97, Shultz 51, Gampe 42
have a group of young guys coming in that is pretty good, and I’ll get to check them out this summer in Fed eration. We’re losing a lot of offense.
Pitching-wise, we are losing Rodney (Shultz), but Ross Gampe can step in there and fill a little bit of that hole. Hitting is what we’re going to have to work on the most.”
As far as Tyrone’s goals, Soellner is still giving the same answer he’s given since he became the Eagles coach six years ago.
“Same as every year. Beat Bellwood, win the Mountain League, dis tricts and states,” Soellner said with a smile.
