JENKINS TWP. — Having already made a dominant run through the District 31 field in pool play, Back Mountain National made its final statement Monday night with the district championship on the line.
Carter Samanas threw three no-hit innings, and the National bats knocked out 15 runs on 12 hits to beat Greater Wyoming Area 15-0 in three innings to win the District 31 Major Little League Baseball championship.
Ben Nulton ripped a liner into center field to score the final two runs and trigger the mercy rule, putting an exclamation point on an absolute clinic from Back Mountain National.
Carter Samanas struck out seven hitters, including the last six outs he recorded over the second and third innings. A walk and two GWA hitters reaching on errors were the only blemishes on his line.
Hitting out of the cleanup spot, Samanas also drove in the first two runs of the game with a base hit, scoring Nulton and Kellan DeFalco.
The BMN lineup finished the job with a seven-spot in the third inning, with their first five hitters all reaching and scoring.
All 12 hitters in the BMN lineup reached base safely, and 11 of them came around to score at least once in a winning effort that got the whole ballclub involved.
GWA’s best chance to score was in the top of the first, where Kellan Bradshaw reached on error and Nate Lewis worked a walk, both runners moving up on a wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position with two outs.
Samanas left both runners right where they were, getting out of the inning on a routine grounder to second.
DISTRICT 31 8-10-YEAR-OLDS
KINGSTON — It may have been a few days past the holiday, but Back Mountain National made sure to provide plenty of fireworks for the crowd July 6 while rolling to the District 31 8-10-year-old championship.
Back Mt. National scored 10 runs in its first two trips to the plate on the way to a 14-4 victory over Greater Wyoming Area in four innings.
It was a total team effort from the BMN lineup; all but one of its 12 hitters reached base safely, nine different players scored and seven different players drove in a run.
“We played this team before, we had a very difficult time getting a good barrel on the ball,” said BMN manager Brian Wielgosz. “We focused on hitting the ball hard and on the ground.”
The top of the order proved particularly lethal for Back Mountain National: the first five hitters combined for eight hits, eight runs scored and nine runs driven in.
Bruce Knowles had three singles, two runs scored and two RBI, but he may have made a bigger impact on the mound. The lefty threw four strong innings, navigating some good GWA at-bats to put his team in position to win early.
“Bruce is an unbelievable player, a near-complete player,” Wielgosz said. “We were counting on him today, he wanted the ball and he did a great job moving the ball, keeping them a little bit off-balance and pounding the strike zone.”
Cam DePriest had two hits and an RBI for Greater Wyoming Area, while also pitching two innings in relief. Albert Cordero and Bryce Bauman each had RBI singles, and Michael Fanti and Vinny Ginochetti each singled and scored for GWA.
DISTRICT 16 9-11-YEAR-OLDS
DURYEA — The Mountain Top all-stars showed why they were unbeaten going into the July 6 District 16 9-11-year-old championship game.
Mountain Top received excellent pitching from Garrett Chalker and Eli Metz and contributions throughout the offense as it defeated Greater Pittston Area 7-2 on an extremely hot afternoon.
Chalker and Metz combined for 13 strikeouts while allowing two hits and walking three as Mountain Top moved to the Section 5 tournament. Chalker pitched 2 2/3 innings, striking out six while allowing two hits and a pair of unearned runs. Metz took over and struck out seven while keeping GPA hitless over the final 3 1/3 innings.
“That’s been the key thing for us throughout all of district play,” Mountain Top manager Brian Gryboski said. “Our pitching has been phenomenal. Coming into today, we’ve only given up one run throughout all of pool play and the semifinals and that continued.”
Jacob Nealon and Jack O’Nieill had RBI singles in the first for a 2-0 lead. The lead increased to 5-0 in the second thanks to consecutive singles by Maksim Malay, Calvin Schappert and Nathan Stravinski — the number 10-12 hitters in the batting order. Malay’s and Stravinski’s hits produced one RBI each.
“Our lineup that we have can hit the ball well,” Gryboski said. “Today the bottom of our lineup came through, put the ball in play at key times and we were able to score some runs when we needed it the most.”
Mountain Top’s Anthony D’Arco, who hit in the nine hole, scored on a delayed steal of home in the fifth inning after reaching on a two-base error. Harrison George poked an RBI single to left in the sixth for his team’s final run.
GPA scored a run in the second when Wyatt Nielsen singled and moved to second when Logan Luckasavage was hit by a pitch. From there Nielson stole third and scored on an error on the play.
GPA’s other run in the second on the proverbial “Little League home run.” Max Maynor doubled and then circled the bases on a throwing error on the hit.
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