DALLAS TWP. – Township put together all three aspects of baseball July 13 when the 8-10-year-old Section 5 Little League Tournament began.
The result was an 8-2 victory over South Scranton/Connell Park and a berth in the winners’ bracket final of the tournament hosted by Back Mountain.
The win, however, was the last produced by Township, which dropped its next two games. The District 16 champions finished third in the section.
Township received a two-run homer from Justin Oliveri in a three-run fourth inning.
The Township offense then made South/Connell pay for two errors which would have ended the sixth and kept it a one-run game. Caden Rossi’s bases-loaded double knocked in three runs as Township scored five unearned runs.
Four Township pitchers combined to limit South/Connell to two hits while striking out seven. Landry Henries, the first reliever, picked up the win.
“Great pitching performance by everybody,” Township manager Charles Henries said. “We talked a lot this week about how the tournament is different. We play day after day after day after day, so pitch counts are key. It was get ahead with the first strike, stay ahead and pound the zone and no free passes.”
The pitching was backed by a flawless defense, with third baseman Rossi making perhaps the biggest play.
South/Connell had a runner on second with two outs in the fourth when Rossi knocked down a low liner destined for the left-field corner and threw across the diamond for the third out.
“A couple of big, big plays,” Henries said. “That play at third down the line where he knocked it down, spun and threw. We preach play-it-smart baseball. Everything in front of you. And they came through again today.”
Township’s Anthony Argento tripled with one out in the fourth. Henries then walked and kept running to second, causing a bit of confusion for South/Connell and allowing Argento to score. Oliveri then launched a two-run homer well over the left-center fence for a 3-0 advantage.
“He is coming into his own maybe these last three or four weeks,” Henries said. “He’s got a bat. When he keeps himself coiled in long enough to uncoil, he’s dangerous.”
South/Connell moved within 3-2 in the fifth on a two-run double by Cullen Kopa, but the sixth proved disastrous for the District 17 champion.
Township had its first two batters retired in the sixth. Rocco Skula when walked and Argento singled. The inning should have ended with no runs scored, but consecutive errors allowed Henries and Oliveri to reach base and for Skula to score.
Andy Sperazza walked with the bases loaded and Rossi cleared the bags with a double to left-center for an 8-2 lead.
Back Mountain National 16, Township 1
Host Back Mountain National blasted its way through the winners’ bracket final in three innings July 14.
Sporting an 8-1 lead heading into the bottom of the third, BMN batted around the order, scoring eight times on five hits (three of those hits going for extra bases) to end the game by mercy rule.
As has been the case all along in the All-Star season, BMN activity on the basepaths also came in handy: several of its runs, including the game-winner, were scored on wild pitches, including the winning run.
Oliver Bross had three hits, including an RBI double in the third shortly before scoring the clinching run, his third of the game.
Bross batted second, behind Ethan Wielgosz, who produced a pair of two-run doubles and scored three runs.
All of Township’s baserunners reached on free passes; the Back Mountain pitching duo of Bross and Hanson combined for three no-hit innings, but walked a combined eight batters.
Valley View 11, Township 2
Valley View didn’t need to clear the fence or shoot the gaps to win on Monday. Patient eyes and active feet on the basepaths did the trick.
A big fourth inning came in handy for Valley View and proved to be Township’s undoing, as Valley View scored seven times to take a commanding lead on the way to the win in the elimination game.
Those 11 runs came on just four hits for Valley View, but nine drawn walks and several stolen bases helped keep the line moving as Township simply ran out of gas and pitching on its third consecutive day of play.
“We’ve worked on that since the day we started, we want to be patient at the plate,” said Valley View manager Stan Buczynski. “And we practice being aggressive on the bases.”
It was Township striking first, taking a 2-0 lead after a two-run single from Caden Rossi in the top of the second. Valley View got one back in the home half of the third, Jack Zadarosni reaching on error and scoring on a wild pitch.
Then, the floodgates opened in the fourth: after chasing Township starter Anthony Argento from the game, the Valley View hitters took advantage of shaky command from two Township relievers to score seven times, taking an 8-2 lead.
Talon Prutzman pitched five excellent innings to earn the win for Valley View, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and striking out 10 batters.
“It’s a young group, and they never gave up,” Township manager Charles Henries said. “ … It’s the beautiful thing about this team.”
Anthony Argento struck out six and allowed just one earned run in 3 2/3 innings as Township’s starting pitcher.
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