Little League: Back Mountain National defeats Kingston/Fort Forty in pool play finale

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DALLAS — Back Mountain National surrendered a run for the first time, but didn’t surrender its perfect record.

Powered by homers from Ben Nulton and Kevin DeFalco, a strong defense and solid pitching, National defeated Kingston/Forty Fort 7-1 Monday night to complete pool play in District 31 Major Baseball.

National (4-0) will host Back Mountain American (1-3) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a semifinal game. KFF (3-1) will host Greater Wyoming Area (2-2) in the other semifinal also at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

National had outscored its previous three opponents 38-0, but four walks in the fifth allowed KFF to score a run.

Otherwise, National was in control.

Offensively, No. 3 hitter Nulton homered in the first inning and clean-up hitter DeFalco added a two-run blast in the third. The bottom of the batting order also produced. Henry Kovach, hitting in the eight hole, was 2-for-2 with an RBI double. Waytt Engel, hitting in the 10th spot, was 2-for-2 with an RBI single and scored two runs.

“We have players on this team that will pick other players up,” National manager Rich Samanas said. “It’s nice when we’re all producing, but it’s nice to see whether it’s the top of the order carrying or the bottom of the order stepping up and getting us going.”

Three National pitchers — Nick Federici, DeFalco and Nulton in that order — combined to strike out 11. They were backed by a defense that played error-free baseball.

“The kids want to show up every day. They don’t want to take a day off,” Samanas said. “We take pride in our defense. We take pride in our pitching. Our bats were a little bit soft today, but we take pride in our bats. Some days you have it and some days you don’t.”

There was nothing soft about Nulton’s first-inning homer that exited the field quickly over the left-field fence.

Kovach’s RBI double and Engel’s RBI single helped increase the lead to 4-0 in the second.

DeFalco’s two-run home run made it 6-0 in the third. Engel singled in the fourth and eventually scored on an error on a bunt single by Liam Dieffenbacher.

Nick Lipinski singled in the second and Jaden Vazquez did the same in the third for KFF’s only hits.

KFF loaded the bases in the fifth on walks by Chase Stitzer, Chase Morgan and Lipinski. TJ Needle then walked to force in a run.

District 31 Major Baseball

Back Mtn. National 7, Kingston/Forty Fort 1

Kingston/Forty Fort`AB`R`H`BI

Kushnir ss`2`0`0`0

Munster 2b`2`0`0`0

Stitzer c`1`1`0`0

Bobb p`1`0`0`0

Morgan lf`1`0`0`0

Lipinski eh`1`0`1`0

Needle 3b`1`0`0`1

Vazquez eh`2`0`1`0

Wadas 1b`2`0`0`0

McCabe cf`1`0`0`0

Shortz rf`2`0`0`0

Ahart eh`2`0`0`0

Totals`18`1`2`1

Back Mtn. National‘AB`R`H`BI

VanValkenburgh ss`3`0`0`0

Samanas c`2`0`0`0

Nulton cf`3`2`1`1

DeFalco 2b`3`1`2`2

Federici p`1`0`0`0

Lapidus 1b`1`0`0`0

Medrano 3b`1`1`0`0

Kovach eh`2`1`2`1

Ronczka lf`2`0`0`0

Engel eh`2`2`2`1

Garblunas eh`2`0`0`0

Dieffenbacher rf`1`0`1`0

Totals`23`7`7`5

Kingston/Forty Fort`000`010 — 1

Back Mtn. National`132`1ox — 7

2B — Kovach. HR — Nulton, DeFalco.

Kingston/Forty Fort`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Bobb (L)`2.1`5`6`4`3`1

Shortz`2.2`3`1`1`0`0

Back Mtn. National`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Federici (W)`3.0`2`0`0`0`5

DeFalco`1.2`0`1`1`3`2

Nulton`1.1`0`0`0`2`4