Little League: Pittston Area defends District 16 Major Softball title

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NANTICOKE — For the first three innings Friday night, the Pittston Area softball all-stars had their offense on simmer. Three innings, one run in each of them.

The situation boiled over the in the fourth and fifth innings.

Pittston Area scored three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to defeat Mountain Top 10-0 in the District 16 Major Softball championship game at Nanticoke Area High School.

Pittston Area used power hitting sprinkled with some small ball to defend its title. Up next is the Section 5 tournament at North Pocono’s Dandy Lion Little League next week. Pittston Area will enter that tournament having outscored six District 16 opponents 78-4.

“We’re excited,” Pittston Area manager Bill Kroski said. “I think we have a battle-tested team. We’ve been in some big tournaments over the past 12 months. They are focused and we’re on cruise control right now. They just want to be there. They want to be there every day at practice.”

Lydia Luvender had a triple and double to account for five extra-base hits and also scored three times. Ainsley Lear had a triple and two RBI. Ava Thomas, who threw a one-hitter, had a double. Sophia Laudato had a two-run triple.

“This might have been the game we hit the ball the hardest,” Kroski said. “We were hitting the ball right at them at the beginning of the game. We always have that one or two big innings in a game. Throughout this whole tournament we’ve had that.

“This game it happened a little later, but I felt it was a matter of time before balls would start dropping.”

Luvender doubled and eventually scored on a single by Payge Pesotini in the first. A little small ball produced another run in the second. Luvender tripled in the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lear.

Pittston Area then doubled its lead to 6-0 in the fourth. Thomas led off with a double and later scored on an error on a bunt by Danielle Budzak. Laudato added her two-run triple.

The offense kept going in the fifth, ending the game via the 10-run rule with one out. Izzie Kroski led off with a single and Luvender followed by reaching on a fielder’s choice. Both came home when Lear tripled into the left-field corner. Pesotini then reached on an error, scoring Lear. Sara Basile ended the game by dropping a single down the right-field line.

“Same thing happened in pool play,” said Mountain Top manager Janet Stavish, whose team lost 8-1 to Pittston Area earlier in the tournament. “It’s just unfortunate errors start and then it just goes downhill. Unfortunately, we hit the ball to them instead of getting better hits. They’re a tough team.”

Alexx From tripled in the fourth for Mountain Top’s only hit. Mountain Top has the bases loaded in the first with two outs, but a flyout ended the threat.

District 16 Major Softball Championship

Pittston Area 10, Mountain Top 0 (5 inn.)

Mountain Top`AB`R`H`BI

Gagliardi 2b`2`0`0`0

Stavish p`0`0`0`0

Sincavage ss`1`0`0`0

Fromm c`2`0`1`0

Brozowski lf`2`0`0`0

Mikhalkov cf`2`0`0`0

Weiss 1b`2`0`0`0

Petzold 3b`2`0`0`0

Ricko eh`2`0`0`0

Coutrane rf`2`0`0`0

Radjavich ef`1`0`0`0

Totals`18`0`1`0

Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI

Kroski c`3`1`1`0

Luvender 2b`3`3`2`0

Lear 1b`2`1`1`3

Pesotini eh`2`1`2`2

McAndrew ss`2`0`0`0

Thomas p`3`1`2`0

Basile 3b`3`0`1`1

Budzak rf`1`1`0`0

Fediw lf`1`2`1`0

Distasio eh`1`0`0`0

Laudato cf`1`0`1`2

Bobbouine eh`2`0`0`0

Totals`24`10`11`8

Mountain Top`000`00 — 0

Pittston Area`111`34 — 10

2B — Luvender, Thomas. 3B — Fromm, Luvender, Lear, Laudato.

Mountain Top`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Stavich (L)`4.1`11`10`7`2`2

Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Thomas (W)`5`1`0`0`2`5