By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Parkview’s Joshua Janway saw his bid for a no-hitter end in the sixth inning on Saturday. He couldn’t have cared less.

That’s because Janway and the Eagles returned to the top of the mountain  in Crowley.  After falling in the finals one year prior, Parkview captured its sixth state championship in seven years, defeating St. Charles 12-3 at Miller Stadium to end a dominant romp through the postseason.

Janway (10-1) allowed three runs on five hits. He had a no-hitter before the Comets’ Corey Reed led off the sixth inning with a double.

But Janway wasn’t all that upset after the game.

“When you win a state championship, it doesn’t even go through your mind,” he said. “I just concentrated on keeping the ball down, and didn’t even think about no-hitting anybody.”

Parkview (34-5) went into the title game having outscored their previous four-playoff opponents 56-5, including a 10-0 win over semifinal opponent Kaplan, which it defeated Friday.

 They weren’t infallible, committing seven errors on the day. But those mistakes were offset by 17 hits and 12 runs.

“We were a little disappointed last year to not have finished it off,” said Janway. “But it’s a hard thing to do to win it all. We really matured as a team this year.”

St. Charles Coach Paul Waguespack, who piloted the team to its third championship game appearance in five years, said that Parkview’s offensive onslaught was eventually just too much to overcome.

“It just didn’t unfold the way we needed it to,” said Waguespack. “We dodged some bullets early. But there were a lot of bullets, and it was too hard to dodge them all.”

After Marc Picciola pitched on Friday in the semifinals to lead the Comets (23-10-2) past Iowa, Waguespack elected to start freshman Jared Keating, a lefthander, against the Eagles.

“I felt that we had to throw them inside,” Waguespack said.  “He gave us a chance, did everything we asked him to do.”

Keating (5-3) went 3.2 innings and allowed four runs, but only two earned.

Keating retired the first two batters of the game in the top of the first, but a double by Alex Edward and a single by Alex Byo made it 1-0.

Michael Cagley hit a grounder to Picciola at second, but he couldn’t come up with the ball, and the inning was extended on the error. Brennan Middleton singled home the game’s second run, and Parkview led 2-0 after an inning.

In the second, Andrew Reeves scored from third after an error by Reed at third base, and it was 3-0.

The Comets answered in the bottom of that inning, after Jonathan Cancienne reached after being hit by a pitch. He’d reach third on an errant pickoff throw, then scored on a grounder to first by Jordan Millet to make it 3-1.

But an RBI single by Byo in the fourth would make it 4-1, and soon after Waguespack called upon Donovan Duffy to pitch in relief.

Duffy would retire two batters, but was injured when a shot up the middle by Rhett Hymel caught his right arm in the fifth. Duffy would allow two more baserunners after the injury, and was forced to leave.

“He’s fine,” said Waguespack. “His hand started to numb, and he couldn’t get his grip on the ball.”

Nick Reine would enter and strike out the next batter, But Edward again came through with the bases loaded, knocking in all three runners to make it 7-1.

It was the beginning of the end for SCC – in the sixth, Parkview scored four more runs, and added two in the seventh.

Waguespack couldn’t describe the loss as anything but a disappointment. Still, he displayed a great level of pride in a team that he felt no one gave a chance to at the season’s outset.

He also put the loss in perspective for his team.

“It’s like I told the kids,” he said. “If this goes down as the worst thing that happens in your life, then you’ve lived a pretty good life.”

 St. Charles 5, Iowa 2 – To get to the final, the Comets had to first get by the defending 3A state champions.

Picciola (5-0) had a big day, earning the victory after holding the Yellow Jackets to five hits, while striking out five. That, coupled with his 3-for-3 performance at the plate, was enough of a contribution to help lift his team into the finals.

“I knew I could let our players make plays,” he said. “They did in big spots. It helps to know you can throw strikes.”

Alex Marse scored the game’s first run on an error. RBIs by Picciola and D.J. Wesley made it 3-0.

The Comets would tack two more on in the fourth, on RBIs by Picciola and Cancienne.

An interesting subplot in the game was the different way each coach approached the semifinal.

Iowa Coach Sean Richard elected to try to save pitcher Logan Chapman, the team’s top starter who no-hit Lutcher to eliminate the Bulldogs in the regional, for a potential final game with Parkview. Instead, he started Chapman’s brother, Tyler, the team’s No. 2 starter.  

“We came here to win it all, not to finish second,” said Richard. “If we get to tomorrow without our best guy, we have no chance against Parkview.”

Waguespack, meanwhile, took a different approach, starting Picciola, who hadn’t lost a game for the Comets during their stretch run.

“I know that I have to get there before I can win. I went with our best guy,” he said.