shadyside’s Mason VanNest reacts after the final out was recorded Friday night as the Tigers defeated Toronto, 2-1, to win the Class 2A championship.

TORONTO — Shadyside junior pitcher Mason VanNest wanted the baseball.

His head coach, Shawn Selmon, obliged.

VanNest did the rest.

Riding the right arm of VanNest and impressive defense, Shadyside captured its third OVAC baseball championship in school history by handing Toronto a 2-1 setback at the Knight Baseball Complex Friday evening.

“He’s been doing it all year,” Selmon said of VanNest’s gem, which included a three hitter, six strikeouts and the Red Knight run was unearned. “You have faith in the guys who have been doing it all year. They’ve been carrying us.”

VanNest got staked to an early run by a Shadyside offense, which had an abundance of runners on base all afternoon.

“I knew I had to find a way to get the job done, but Toronto is a very good team,” VanNest said. “Having the offense get you that run is a great feeling because it lifts a huge weight off your shoulders.”

Junior Korey Beckett laced a one-out single and promptly stole second. He moved up 90 feet on a base hit by Alex Baker and then scored when Nate Milhoan drove him in on what appeared like it was going to be a sacrifice fly, but the ball was dropped in the outfield.

The Red Knights avoided further damage by inducing a 6-4-3 double play.

From there, VanNest was dealing. He worked around a lead-off double in the second. Toronto had two runners reach again in the fourth, but Baker flased the leather on a nifty running, over-the-shoulder catch down the right-field line.

“We just couldn’t get much going offensively,” Toronto head coach Brian Perkins said. “(VanNest) threw a nice game and we didn’t capitalize on opportunities (early). We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it.”

In the fifth and sixth, however, Toronto went in order.

Shadyside, which had flirted with insurance runs all afternoon only to come up empty each time, finally got one in the seventh when it took advantage of a pair of Red Knight errors.

VanNest reached on an error, moved up 90 feet when junior catcher Ryan Florence was plunked. The Tigers loaded the bases when junior Bryce Amos dropped down a bunt and the Red Knights elected to go to third, but the ball was bobbled.

Beckett, who was on base four times in the game, drove in VanNest with a ringing single back through the middle.

“One of our weaknesses has been not being able to score as many runs as we’d like,” Selmon said. “We’re winning games with it and I am not into fixing something that isn’t broke. Getting the add-on run was huge, though, in the seventh.”

Evan Wolter, who came on in relief of Toronto starter Chris Parker in the third, opened the seventh with a single. He moved to second on a throwing error on an attempted pick-off play.

VanNest, however, was unfazed. He induced a ground out to first, a ground out to third that brought the run home and then ended the game with a strikeout, setting off a celebration.

“We absolutely knew we could come up here and compete,” Selmon said. “This (game) is something we’ve had marked on the calendar for a long time. We were looking to come up here last year, and unfortunately, we had to wait, but that made this (win) even more exciting.”

While the Tigers were celebrating their first conference title since 2007 and only the third in the school’s history, the Red Knights (17-2) are left looking ahead to the tournament, which could eventually include a rematch with the Tigers.

“Our kids fought to the end and I am proud of them for that,” Perkins said. “There is no quit in these guys. I liked the fight our guys had for seven innings. Our district is going to be very good and competitive again. We’ll see what happens. We’ll get back at it and try to continue to improve.”