The Pennsylvania Region 5 Senior American Legion Baseball Tournament began with so much promise, but ended in bitter disappointment for Greater Pittston.
Greater Pittston opened with a convincing win on its home field while co-hosting the tournament, but closed its season with a loss in a game that it once controlled.
One of just two teams to start the tournament 2-0, Greater Pittston fell short of the championship game when it lost two straight.
After putting away an opponent early on the 10-run rule on opening day July 15, the clinching loss came in a game that Greater Pittston had a chance to finish.
The end came when a four-run lead got away over the final four innings Wednesday in a 7-5 loss to Shamokin/Mount Carmel in the elimination bracket final.
“We took a five-run lead and then they quit,” Greater Pittston manager Jerry Ranieli said of this team. “They thought the game was over. They laid down.”
A look back at the tournament:
Greater Pittston 14
Danville 4
HUGHESTOWN – Steve Homza drove in four runs and made a diving catch deep in the outfield as Greater Pittston opened the tournament with a seven-inning win on its home field.
Mikey Bonita drove in runs with a bases-loaded hit by pitch, a groundout and a single.
Greater Pittston took control with five runs in the second on just three hits – two on bunts and a grounder through the right side by Brandon Charney. It then scored seven times in the sixth with the help of Homza’s two-run single.
Danville took a 2-0 lead on three hits in the first inning, but starter Josh Kopcza and winner Cole Keating then combined to hold Danville hitless from the second through the sixth inning.
Tournament rules call for nine-inning games with the 10-run rule in effect from the seventh on. Greater Pittston took a 14-2 lead after six and closed out the win on a force play after Danville had scored twice and loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh.
Danville’s 2-0 lead came after Greater Pittston loaded the bases with none out and couldn’t score to begin the game.
Everything else went right for Pittston Area in a game that was over after seven innings.
Manager Jerry Ranieli even managed to get pitching ace Kopcza out in the fifth inning, keeping him available for the title game matchup that never materialized against eventual champion Swoyersville.
“I thought we were in good shape; I really did,” Danville manager Harold Albertson said. “Then, the roof caved in.”
Bonita, Homza and Cory Lescavage led the way from the top three spots in the order.
Bonita went 1-for-3, had two of the team’s six stolen bases and scored twice.
Homza was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and a stolen base.
Lescavage was 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBI.
Charney and Anthony Nardell each finished with a hit, a stolen base and three runs scored.
After bouncing back from a tough start to retire nine out of 10 in the second through fourth innings, Kopcza pitched to just one batter in the fifth. Keating took over and retired all six batters he faced.
Greater Pittston’s first nine batters reached in the seventh between hits, walks, errors and fielder’s choices.
Homza, Tyler Dougherty and Matt Wright all made diving defensive plays. Homza, the right fielder, went almost to the fence in the gap before making his catch to end the sixth. Dougherty handled a groundball and Wright went after a foul pop-up for consecutive outs to end the fourth.
Greater Pittston 9
Dickson City 6
Greater Pittston rallied past Dickson City July 16 to reach the winners’ bracket final.
Dickson City scored three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-4 lead, but Greater Pittston answered by scoring five times in the bottom of the inning in the game at the Mountain Post Legion Field.
Aaron Lee and Dylan Melberger had back-to-back hits early in the inning before Bonita, Homza and Lescavage put together three straight later.
Brandon Charney had two hits and drove in two runs while Tyler Dougherty had two hits and scored twice.
Swoyersville 10
Greater Pittston 5
Defending state champion Swoyersville built up an eight-run lead before holding off a late surge by host Greater Pittston in Tuesday’s winners’ bracket final.
Swoyersville, which eventually finished an unbeaten run through the tournament with Thursday’s 9-0 victory over Shamokin/Mount Carmel, opened a 9-1 lead.
Greater Pittston scored three runs in the eighth and one in the ninth.
Mikey Bonita had a double and triple for Greater Pittston. Steve Homza, Cory Lescavage and Tyler Dougherty also had two hits.
Aaron Lee drove in two runs.
Shamokin/Mount Carmel 7
Greater Pittston 5
RICE TWP. – Bret Williams threw four hitless innings of relief, striking out seven, for Shamokin/Mount Carmel while Greater Pittston was committing six infield errors over the same stretch to let a 5-1 lead get away at Mountain Post Legion Field.
Williams, a Penn State-Harrisburg third baseman who had served as a closer for Shamokin/Mount Carmel, made his longest pitching appearance of the last two seasons.
“I wanted the ball,” Williams said.
Greater Pittston manager Jerry Ranieli said his team got too comfortable with its lead.
“They were having too much fun instead of concentrating on baseball,” he sad.
Shamokin/Mount Carmel remained aggressive, even when behind late, and stole three bases during the comeback.
“We pressured them with our running game,” Shamokin/Mount Carmel manager Brad Haupt said. “We had to get guys moving.”
When they did, Greater Pittston started making mistakes, dropping balls and throwing them away.
“The pressure got to them,” Ranieli said. “They didn’t play good pressure baseball.
“They succumbed to the pressure a bit.”
Greater Pittston got the tying runs on base and potential winner to the plate in the ninth inning before Williams finished up. The Shamokin/Mount Carmel pitcher got his last six outs by strikeout.
Matt Wright pitched well in the start for Greater Pittston. He worked 6 2/3 innings, giving up five runs, but just one earned, on five hits. He walked three and struck out four.
Mikey Bonita led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a double, stolen base, two runs and an RBI. Aaron Lee went 2-for-5. Anthony Nardell was 1-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs. Cory Lescavage drove in runs with a sacrifice fly and squeeze bunt and also scored twice.
