It was a balk-off championship victory.
The Pennsylvania 6A high school baseball championship was decided in the rarest of fashions Friday night when North Penn pitcher Caleb Price balked with the bases loaded in the 13th inning to force home the only run of Cedar Cliff’s 1-0 victory on the Penn State campus.
It took more than six hours to break the scoreless tie, and it became the longest baseball state championship game in Pennsylvania history.
Odds were stacked in favor of Cedar Cliff even before the home-plate umpire pointed at the pitcher and called a balk after a barely perceptible flinch.
Cedar Cliff loaded the bases with no outs, and there was a 3-0 count on batter Grant Enders.
Video on X by @SVSports showed the catcher slam his mask and glove into the ground after the call was made.
Price lifted his arms in disbelief, and most of the fielders behind him stayed frozen like statues as base-runner Michael Boblick hopped down the line with his helmet in his hand, ready to greet the mob that spilled out of the first-base dugout.
in a 13-inning thriller. SV Sports / X
“I couldn’t believe it. It was unreal,” Enders told PennLive.com. “That’s all I can say. I mean, got it done.”
Boblick started the rally with a leadoff single. An errant pickoff throw and two walks followed to set the stage for Cedar Cliff’s first title in school history.
“It’s an insane moment. There’s no better feeling than this,” Boblick said. “Everyone counted us out, saying we were the underdog.”
In today’s era of sports — where seemingly every close call is questioned by a player or a coach from the youth level to the pros — the viral video of the play and the PennLive.com first-hand account do not indicate that anyone argued with the umpire despite the less-than-ideal way to decide a big game.