PITTSTON TWP. — Pitching, hitting, defense — Plains had everything Monday night.
The team also had something more in the end — the District 16 Little League Major Baseball championship.
Pitcher Ryan Novakowski threw a two-hitter and had a two-run homer as part of a balanced offense as Plains defeated Pittston Township 10-0 in four innings.
Plains won its first D16 Major Baseball title since 2013, but for many of the boys it was their second in three years. The group won the D16 9-10 championship in 2015. They’ll head to the same place where they played in sectionals a few years back — Green Ridge Little League in Scranton for the Section 5 tournament.
Drew Delucca, Pittston Township’s lead-off hitter, had clean singles up the middle to start the first and third innings for his team’s only hits. No other batter got the ball out of the infield against Novakowski, who finished with seven strikeouts. The other five outs were via infield grounders.
“He threw fantastic,” Plains manager Bill Cook said. “Once he settles down, he is very hard to hit. He had kids off balance, but he also has a really good fastball.”
Novakowski received run support from the onset as Jason Prudente had an RBI single and Drew Menendez knocked in a pair of runs for a 3-0 lead after one inning.
Plains bumped its lead to 7-0 after two innings. The trouble came with two outs as two runs came across the plate on an error on a grounder by Jeffrey Kozerski. Prudente struck again, this time with a two-run single.
Novakowski slammed a two-run homer to center with one out in the fourth to make it 9-0. Kozerski followed with a single and Jeremy Simonson ended the game via the 10-run rule with an RBI single to left.
In all, Plains received hits from eight of the nine batting positions.
“We’re a total team up and down,” Cook said. “Anybody can hit. Anybody can hit a home run. Anybody can get a base hit any inning. I’m really proud of all of them.”
District 16 Championship
Plains 10, Pittston Twp. 0 (4 inn.)
Pittston Twp.`AB`R`H`BI
Delucca cf`2`0`2`0
Ranieli c`2`0`0`0
Cencetti ss`2`0`0`0
Pugliese 3b`2`0`0`0
Mehal p`2`0`0`0
Sciandra 2b`1`0`0`0
Grieco 1b`1`0`0`0
Lockett ph`1`0`0`0
Barbieri rf`0`0`0`0
Clarke lf`1`0`0`0
Totals`14`0`2`0
Plains`AB`R`H`BI
Cook cf`3`2`1`0
Monahan ss`3`2`1`0
Novakowski p`2`2`1`2
Kozerski 3b`2`2`1`0
Prudente 2b`3`1`2`3
Menendez c`2`0`1`2
Simonson rf`2`0`1`1
Kenzakoski ph`1`1`0`0
Meager 1b`1`0`1`0
Wychock ph`1`1`0`0
Hunter lf`0 `0`0`0
Senape ph`1`0`0`0
Totals`21`10`9`8
Pittston Twp.`000`0`—`0
Plains`340`3`—`10
HR: Novakowski
Pitt. Twp`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Mehal (L)`1.0`4`4`3`2`2
Cincetti`3.0`5`6`3`2`4
Plains`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Novakowski (W)`4.0`2`0`0`0`7
