In a performance right out of a Disney movie, Whitehall’s Evan Kovalcik came back from a devastating UCL injury and Tommy John surgery to pitch 3 2/3 scoreless innings for the Zephyrs to help lead the team to their first district baseball championship since 2017 with a 6-2 win over top-seeded Pocono Mountain East Tuesday night at DeSales University.

Head coach Eric Schmitt spoke about his senior after the game, “Talk about being a 17-year-old kid, blowing your UCL. Being faced with over a year of not playing the sport that you love. The kid absolutely busted his butt. For him to come back and be available tonight is amazing. He has not thrown a pitch in a game in over a year. This is a game we’ll be talking about for years to come.”

While all of the players celebrated with gold medals around their necks, the team made sure that the trophy wound up in the hands of their teammate who overcame so much.

Kovalcik described the feeling, “It means a lot. Every single one of them helped me. It doesn’t matter what it was. Getting in the weight room, throwing. They all supported me. They put their trust in me even though I was going through a really hard time. We wanted nothing more than this all year. It’s been a while. We made history.”

While Kovalcik’s story is heartwarming and astounding, it took a total team effort to deliver the title for the Zephyrs.

Their first challenge was to overcome East’s Adam Horvath, a first-team All-EPC pitcher and James Madison commit.

In the second inning Kovalcik got the first hit off Horvath. Tyler Sanders and Zack Schaedel followed with singles to plate Kovalchik and send a message to the rest of the squad that the guy on the mound was human after all.

Whitehall added two more runs in the third inning against the big righty. Konnor Moyer drew a 1-out walk and Tyler Reichenbach brought him home by blasting a triple to right-centerfield. Kovalcik laced a single over the shortstop’s head to drive in Reichenbach and stake the Zephyrs to a 3-1 lead.

After Kovalcik reached his physician-imposed 50-pitch limit in the fifth inning, Jack Lloyd took over on the mound and brought the game home, surrendering a lone run in the final inning.

Meanwhile, the Whitehall offense delivered a trio of insurance runs. Seth Hoderewski smacked a 2-out, 2-run double in the sixth. Lloyd delivered an RBI single in the seventh for the final Zephyrs’ run.

Schmitt was thrilled not only with the title, but with the total team effort that produced it. He said, “It’s exactly the way we drew it up. We knew we’d be going against one of the best right-handed arms in the conference. We knew we’d have to be sharp. We knew we’d have to get great pitching and play good defense. You draw up a plan before the day and when it unfolds exactly the way you thought of it, it’s kind of eerie. These guys deserve it. Nobody works harder than us.”