Before the Little League tournament season started, it was already determined that Pittston Township would host Monday’s Pennsylvania District 16 and 31 Major baseball championship doubleheader for the third time.
While league officials prepared for their chance to host the televised event, the coaches and all-star players that made up Pittston Township’s entry in the tournament went out and earned a chance to play on their home field in the final.
“We’ve thought about it over time,” said Pittston Township manager Carmen Sciandra. “This was definitely something we strived for and worked very hard for. Just to have the opportunity to play in the game itself is cool, but obviously the goal is to win the game.”
Pittston Township did one better than earn the chance to be one of four teams playing on its field under the lights and in front of the television cameras Monday night. It gained an extra home game by going 3-0 to win Pool B of District 16, then used that semifinal home game to defeat Mountain Top, 3-1, Wednesday and land in the championship game against Plains.
“It was a win-win for our Little League,” Sciandra said. “The revenue side and that whole thing is separate, but it was nice to have the home-field advantage.
“Playing at your home park is a little bit of an advantage. Our kids love the idea of playing at home.”
The championship doubleheader will be televised locally by WQMY beginning at 5:30p.m. Kingston/Forty Fort and Back Mountain National will play for the District 31 title at 5:45 p.m. Pittston Township and Plains are tentatively scheduled for 7:45 p.m. to decide the District 16 championship.
Sciandra has worked with many of the players on the team since T-ball as 5- and 6-year-olds. The team has shown potential, going as far as the district semifinals in lower age-group tournaments and the players have continued to improve.
“This year, it really came together,” Sciandra said. “Obviously, the kids worked extremely hard and a lot of the kids have played travel ball together. They’ve gotten to know each other well.
“With maturity, development and, no doubt, a lot of hard work, this is the first time we’ve gotten to the finals since I’ve been around the league, beginning in 2008.”
The roots of the Pittston Township team took hold when the Logan Transportation team was going 18-0, often in overwhelming fashion, during the regular season.
Pittston Township has enough players for three Major Little League baseball teams and plays an inter-league schedule with teams from Avoca, Duryea, Pittston City, Jenkins Township, Exeter, Wyoming/West Wyoming and West Pittston before choosing an all-star squad from the three teams.
Nine of the 13 Pittston Township all-star players came from Logan Transportation and four from another team were added to them for tournament time.
With such a large group spending the regular season together, Sciandra said they have had to adjust from being able to dominate to having to fight for wins. While the core group has been supplemented to form a stronger unit, the competition is much differently, going against nothing but other all-star teams.
“During the regular season, they had a powerful offense all season,” Sciandra said. “When we got into all-stars, unfortunately, we haven’t all clicked in the same game together, hitting-wise.
“ … We’re playing a style of baseball we haven’t played all year long. They’re really transitioned well to playing a small-ball type of game, bunting a lot and our defense has been really good.”
Sciandra said one of the keys has been not getting down when games are tougher.
“It’s easy to go negative at this age,” he said. “It’s a hard age to coach.”
Anthony Cencetti has led the offense in the tournament with seven hits, four of them for extra bases, and seven RBI in four games and also contributes to the pitching combination.
Drew Delucca and Harry Pugliese have four hits each. Pugliese has driven in six runs.
Aiden Mehal, one of the additions to the Logan Transportation group, has led the pitching staff.
Mehal went 4 1/3 innings for the win and Cencetti finished up for the save in the semifinal win over Mountain Top.
Nick Sciandra’s sacrifice fly in the second inning drove in Robby Barbieri. Delucca broke a 1-1 tie with a four-inning homer than also scored Jim Spindler, who had singled.
Pittston Township swept pool play by beating South Wilkes-Barre, 9-3; Duryea, 3-2; and Nanticoke, 9-5.
Cencetti had two doubles and a homer and also finished up on the mound against South Wilkes-Barre. Mehal was the winning pitcher.
Delucca had two doubles.
Barbieri held Duryea to two hits for 4 2/3 innings and Cencetti, who contributed two hits, finished up on the mound.
Pugliese had a triple and Kevin Lockett a single in the fifth inning to help pull out the victory.
Anthony Ranieli, A.J. Grieco, Delucca and Spindler shared the pitching duties against Nanticoke. The offense got hits from nine players.
Ken Scialpi and Joe Cencetti are the coaches. Tony Grieco is the scorekeeper (Little League limits teams to a manager and two coaches), but is also a helpful contributor in other ways, according to Sciandra.
“We’ve gotten tons of support from our entire league, including our league president, Tony Cook,” Carmen Sciandra said.
A.J. Scialpi, Ethan Clarke and Peter Zawierucha make up the rest of the roster.
