Riverside seniors enjoy their golden year of baseball

Chris Adamski, with more on the PIAA Class AA chmpionship winning Riverside baseball team:

"Behind more experienced players on the depth chart during his first three years of high school, Tyler Whitlatch became the every-game catcher for Riverside as a senior.

His patience paid off in a PIAA championship.

The Panthers lost the vast majority of their personnel from last season, when they won WPIAL and PIAA Class AA championships. But that didn't matter. Not to a program so accustomed to winning.

At another school, maybe Whitlatch would have been a three- or four-year starter. But then, being elsewhere would have meant he would have missed out on a team successfully defending its state championship.

"It definitely was worth the wait," Whitlatch said the day after Riverside's 5-4 victory against Pine Grove in the Class AA title contest Friday at Penn State. "Baseball is the only sport I play, so it's my only athletic love. I love playing; it was definitely worth the wait.""