Abington Journal
Abington guaranteed itself a spot in double-elimination bracket play by scoring in double figures in every outing while winning its first five games in the District 17 Major Little League Baseball Tournament.
The Major Division, for players ages 10-12, is the one that advances teams through district, section, state and region competition to ultimately qualify entries into the Little League World Series in Williamsport.
Abington was 5-0 through the end of June with one game remaining in round-robin play.
In order, it defeated: Old Forge, 14-1; West Scranton, 15-0; South Scranton/Connell Park, 13-1; Dunmore, 14-1; and North Pocono, 11-4.
Pool play was scheduled to conclude July 2 with a home night game against Moosic. The top four teams out of seven make up the bracket portion of the tournament.
Jake Kwiatkowski and Jerry Jordan combined to provide the pitching and lead the offense in the latest win, over North Pocono, June 30.
Kwiatkowski, the starting pitcher, drove in five runs with a homer, triple and double.
Jordan struck out four in 3 2/3 innings of hitless, scoreless relief. He also had three hits.
Henry Hillebrand added two hits in the win.
Abington scored 10 first-inning runs in the game against Dunmore and finished with 13 hits and nine stolen bases in the four-inning game.
Gabriel Thomas, Gannon Wilson, Lauden McIntyre, Jordan and Kwiatkowski all had two hits.
Hillebrand had a two-run double and Pat Donahue added a two-run single during a seven-run third inning against South Scranton.
Kevin Conaboy had a two-run single in a six-run second inning that allowed Abington to take a 6-1 lead.
McIntyre struck out nine and threw a two-hitter in the four-inning victory.
Kwiatkowski struck out seven in a one-hitter in a three-inning game against West Scranton.
Jordan had three hits, including a double.
Kwiatkowski, who also had a double, and Daniel Spanish added two hits each.
8-10-YEAR-OLDS
Abington went 4-1 in round-robin play, then earned a rematch of its only loss by advancing to the winners’ bracket final of the District 17 Tournament with a 13-4 victory over North Pocono.
The victory over North Pocono July 1 came in the first game of the four-team, double-elimination bracket created after the six teams had played one game against every other opponent to try to qualify to advance.
Abington fell to South Scranton/Connell Park 8-7 in its June 21 opener.
The team then rolled from there, winning: 13-3 over Moosic, 16-1 over Dunmore, 13-7 over North Pocono and 18-1 over Old Forge.
Vincie Pricci tripled and drove in three runs in the first win over North Pocono.
Jaxon Hizny and Declan Grady added two hits each.
Carson Walsh, Grady, Pricci, Peter Adair, Matthew Riff and winning pitcher Hizny all had two hits against Dunmore.
Aiden Duffy had two hits and Walsh had a two-run triple against Moosic.
Evan Ross was the winning pitcher.
The Abington-South Scranton/Connell Park rematch was scheduled to be played July 2.
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