After spending most of the regular season comfortably in charge, Shady Side Academy spent the entire postseason living on the edge.

The Indians successfully walked the WPIAL tightrope, winning a pair of one-run games and a two-run game on their way to their first WPIAL title since joining the league 16 years ago. For most of the players, who competed for other Shady Side Academy teams, the wait might have felt longer.

The Indians football team fell short in the WPIAL semifinals, the wrestling team lost in the WPIAL title match and the basketball team was eliminated in the first round of the District 7 playoffs, and all this after the baseball team was upset last season in the first round.

A Shady Side Academy postseason finally enjoyed a positive note as the WPIAL title drought ended with a 3-2 win against North Catholic at Consol Energy Park last week. Junior center fielder Brian Nickel had a game-winning, two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift Shady Side to the title.

The WPIAL title celebration was short-lived as the Indians fell in another close game to Mount Union, 2-1, in the PIAA Class AA first round.

"This has just been a great year for us and I was pretty emotional after [the state playoff loss]," Grandizio said.

"This has just been a great group. We were gunning for a state championship and we viewed that as an attainable goal, but it just didn't work out. I tried to tell them at the end of the game don't let [the state playoff] loss diminish the season. They have done something that no other team at Shady Side has done before."

The Indians five playoff games were decided by a total of five runs and surprisingly they had no problem playing in close-game situations despite outscoring the opposition by 10 runs per game during the regular season.

One close game Shady Side was involved in was a WPIAL title-game preview against North Catholic with Shady Side Academy edging the Trojans, 13-12.

"We were a little bit nervous about playing in tight games but we had enough close games early in the season even against North Catholic. A lot of the guys on the team have been starting since they were sophomores, so if they didn't play in a close game this year, they have in the past two years," Grandizio said.

"They were prepared for when the games were closer. What I told them after the regular season is that every game is going to be close and there is no such thing as an upset because all the teams are evenly matched."

This year's team will be remembered for bringing the first WPIAL baseball championship banner to the school but its legacy stretches much further than that. Before joining the WPIAL, Shady Side Academy had been playing baseball for nearly 100 years and this year's group put up numbers never before seen in the 114 years of Shady Side Academy baseball.

The Indians went 22-2 overall, setting school records for games played and wins. They also set program records for hits, runs and RBIs in a season. Individually, senior staff ace Tim Giel set seven records and senior slugger Sean Hannon set the single-season record for RBIs.

Giel was superb on the mound throughout the year for the Indians.

He pitched a complete game six-hitter in the WPIAL title win and held Mount Union to two runs in a losing effort in the state playoffs while pitching another complete game.

"All these kids work so hard and we see these kids and we want to win for them," Grandizio said.

"I know how badly they wanted it and it made me feel really good that we could hang a gold medal around the necks of Zach [Jones], Timmy [Giel], Billy Nickel and all our seniors. They made us really proud."

Shady Side Academy's Sean Hannon, Zachary Jones and Timothy Giel hold up the WPIAL Class AA championship trophy after defeating North Catholic in the final last Wednesday. Shady Side lost in the first round of the PIAA tournament.