Greater Pittston Area will have a much longer road to the Little League Major Baseball state championship.
GPA lost for the first time in tournament play as East Pennsboro rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth for a 5-3 victory Thursday in the winners bracket finals at Camp Hill Little League.
The loss dropped GPA to the elimination bracket, where it will play Newtown-Edgmont at 6 p.m. Friday. Newtown-Edgmont defeated Exeter (Birdsboro) 14-2 in five innings in an elimination game. GPA defeated Newtown-Edgmont 3-2 in seven innings on Monday.
If GPA wins Friday, then it would have to defeat East Pennsboro on Saturday and Sunday for the state crown. East Pennsboro, which is off Friday, needs just one win for the title.
GPA led 3-2 going into the sixth, but East Pennsboro had its first four runners reach base and three of them scored. GPA was retired in order in the bottom of the inning.
Lucas Martz started East Pennsboro’s sixth with a walk and moved to third when Steel Bayer followed with a double. Mason Smith knocked in Martz with a single to tie the score 3-3. East Pennsboro then took a 5-3 lead when Bayer and pinch runner Easton Comp scored on an error.
The game started well for GPA as consecutive singles by Silvio Giardina, Dom Innamorati and Matt Walter loaded the bases with no outs. Chase Montigney then hit into a fielder’s choice, with Giardina scoring and Innamorati being erased at third. Walter, though, moved to third on the play to put runners on the corners.
Montigney and Walter then attempted a double steal. Montigney was thrown out at second as Walter scored for a 2-0 lead.
The GPA bats went quiet after the first inning as as the only other hits were singles by Giardina and Montigney in the fourth inning. They were stranded at second and third.
GPA increased its lead to 3-0 in the third as Walter, Montigney and Rusincovitch all walked to start the inning. TJ Johnson drew a walk two outs later to push across a run. GPA also had three walks in the second to load the bases with two outs, but failed to score.
Giardina kept East Pennsboro, which scored 19 runs a day earlier, in check until the fifth inning. Comp led off with a walk and Joe Erdossy followed with a homer to center to slice the deficit to 3-2.
Erdossy pitched the final four innings to pick up the win. He struck out nine and retired seven of the final eight batters he faced.
The Pennsylvania champion advances to the Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament, which is Aug. 4-10 in Bristol, Conn.
Little League Major Baseball
State Tournament
East Pennsboro 5, Greater Pittston Area 3
East Pennsboro`AB `R `H `BI
Rafferty 3b`4`0`1`0
Foster 2b`1`0`0`0
Collette ph`2`0`0`0
Seibert ph `1`0`0`0
Deibler p`2`0`0`0
Angelo cf`4`0`0`0
Martz c`2 `1`0`0
Bayer rf`3`1`1`0
Smith ss`2`0`1`1
Askins 1b`2`0`0`2
Comp lf`0`2`0`0
Gossard lf `1`0`1`0
Erdossy p`2`1`1`2
Totals`26`5`5`5
GPA`AB`R`H`BI
Giardina ss`3`1`2`0
Innamorati ss`4`0`1`0
Walter c`3`2`1`0
Montigney 3b`2`0`1`1
Rusincovitch 1b`2`0`0`0
Mead cf`3`0`0`0
Wardecki lf`0`0`0`0
Tonte lf `1`0`0`0
O’ Malley ph`0`0`0`0
Johnson rf`1`0`0`1
Lentowski 2b`1`0`0`0
Cielo ph`2`0`0`0
Cerasaro ph`0`0`0`0
Totals`22`3`5`2
East Pennsboro`000`023 – 5
Greater Pittston Area`201`000 – 3
E – GPA 2. LOB – EP 8, GPA 9. 2B – Bayer. HR – Erdossy. SB – Comp, Walter. CS – Montigney.
East Pennsboro`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Deibler`1.1`3`2`2`1`2
Bayer`0.2`0`1`1`5`1
Erdossy (W)`4.0`2`0`0`2`9
GPA`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Giardina`5.0`2`2`2`4`8
Innamorati (L)`0.0`2`3`2`1`0
Montigney `1.0`1`0`0`0`2
