Little League: Plains, Mountain Top advance to District 16 Major Baseball title game

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PLAINS TWP. — The Plains all-stars loaded the bases in the top of the first with no outs Wednesday. They got nothing from it.

They then went down in order in the second inning.

Any concern — and there was some — ended in the third trip to the plate. Plains scored seven times in the third inning to take control and go on to a 10-1 victory over Township in a District 16 Major Baseball semifinal game.

Plains will play Mountain Top for the District 16 title at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Jenkins Township Little League, with the winner advancing to the Section 5 tournament.

The bottom of the batting order led the Plains breakout as Jayce Miller drew a walk, Jave Paulino singled up the middle and Alex Dutter bunted his way aboard. Miller scored on an error on Dutter’s bunt.

Will McKeown then brought home a run with a sacrifice fly. Donny Stark, Omar Vincente-Sanchez and Bennett Tommaselli added RBI singles. Landon Havard had a two-run single. Braedon Hollingshead also had a hit and scored as Plains sent 11 to the plate and had seven hits.

And just like that, a 1-0 deficit turned into a 7-1 advantage and some relief.

“I guess I was slightly concerned because I didn’t feel the kids were nervous before the game,” Plains manager Don Stark said. “They seemed like they were locked in and ready to go. So when we came in after that next half of inning, we had a good talk in the dugout. From there, guys stepped up.”

Stark cited the 10-12 batters — Miller, Paulino and Alex Dutter — for their contributions. The trio led off a three-run fourth with consecutive singles, with Dutter knocked in two runs, and finished a combined 5-for-5 with two RBI and six runs scored.

Donny Stark pitched a complete game. He struck out 11 and surrendered four hits on 74 pitches.

“Donny was sharp today,” Stark said. “He spotted his fastball well and kept them off balance with his off-speed. But anything over 75 pitches or so, it was hot out. But he still had good zip on his ball at the end.”

Drew Whitling had an RBI double in the first inning to score Township’s only run. Colton Ziobro, Frankie Roman and Whitling had singles later in the game, but Township couldn’t get a runner past first base over the final five innings.

Mountain Top 10, Greater Pittston Area 5

Mountain Top erupted for seven runs in the first inning and never looked back to defeat Greater Pittston Area in a District 16 Major Baseball semifinal game.

Mountain Top will play Plains for the championship at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Jenkins Township Little League. The winner gets a spot in the Section 5 tournament.

Ryder Zurawski singled in bottom of the first. Jonah Zeneski followed with a walk and then Michael Woss and Luke Stahlnecker followed with singles. Connor Paulson walked to load the bases for Bryce Williams. Williams delivered a three-run double on a 1-2 pitch to the left-center field gap to bust the inning open.

Woss and Kelten Rivera finished with two hits apiece. David Buchanan, Avery Tetlak and Tyler Barker doubled for Mountain Top. Ryder Zurawski was the winning pitcher.

Griffin Maynor doubled, homered and had four RBI for GPA.

District 16 Major Baseball Semifinals

Plains 10, Township 1

Township`AB`R`H`BI

Roman c`2`1`1`0

Dudek 2b`2`0`0`0

Whitling p`2`0`2`1

McAndrew 1b`1`0`0`0

Bryk eh`2`0`0`0

Yonki eh`2`0`0`0

Ziobro ss`2`0`1`0

Cocco 3b`2`0`0`0

DeAngelo rf`2`0`0`0

Slusser lf`1`0`0`0

Solovey eh`1`0`0`0

Romanski cf`1`0`0`0

Totals`20`1`4`1

Plains`AB`R`H`BI

McKeown 2b`1`0`0`2

Stark p`3`1`2`1

Hollingshead ss`2`1`1`0

Tarnalicki 1b`2`0`0`0

Vincente-Sanchez cf`2`1`1`1

Havard c`2`1`1`2

Tommaselli lf`2`0`1`1

As.Dutter 3b`2`0`0`0

Antolik rf`2`0`0`0

Miller eh`1`2`1`0

Paulino eh`2`2`2`0

Al.Dutter eh`2`2`2`2

Totals`23`10`11`9

Township`100`000 — 1

Plains`007`30x — 10

2B — Whitling.

Township`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Whitling (L)`2.1`3`4`1`3`4

Yonki`1.0`6`6`3`0`0

McAndrew`1.2`2`0`0`1`1

Plains`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Stark (W)`6`4`1`0`1`11

District 16 Major Baseball Semifinals

Mountain Top 10, Greater Pittston Area 5

Greater Pittston`AB`R`H`BI

Pisano cf`3`0`0`0

Roman p`3`1`1`0

Tibel rf`1`1`0`0

Maynor ss`3`2`2`4

Krashnak eh`3`0`0`0

R.Oliveri eh`2`0`0`0

Warnek c`1`0`0`0

Welkey lf`2`0`1`0

Borino 2b`2`0`0`0

A.Oliveri eh`1`0`0`0

Walsh 1b`1`0`0`0

Larkin 3b`1`1`0`0

Totals`23`5`4`4

Mountain Top`AB`R`H`BI

Rivera ss`3`1`2`2

Tetlak cf`3`0`1`1

Zurawski p`3`1`1`0

Zeneski 1b`2`1`0`0

Woss lf`3`1`2`0

Stahlnecker rf`3`1`1`1

Paulson c`0`1`0`0

Williams 1b`1`1`1`3

Buchanan 1b`2`1`1`1

Barker 3b`2`1`2`1

Parsons lf`2`1`1`0

Graham rf`2`0`0`0

Totals`26`10`12`9

Greater Pittston Area`000`401 — 5

Mountain Top`710`20x — 10

2B — Maynor, Tetlak, Rivera, Barker, Williams, Buchanan.

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

Roman (L)`1.1`8`8`8`2`2

Tibel`3.2`4`2`2`1`5

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

Zurawski (W)`4.1`3`4`3`5`4

Rivera`1.2`1`1`1`1`3