GPA shortstop Nick Innamorati gets under a flyball hit by Greencastle’s Chris Diller while Andrew Weaver runs toward second base during Tuesday Little League Major Baseball state playoff game at Valley West Little League.
Fred Adams | Times Leader
GPA starting pitcher Gavin Wardecki delivers a pitch against Greencastle in a Little League Major Baseball state playoff game Tuesday at Valley West Little League in Conyngham.
Fred Adams | Times Leader
GPA catcher Kellen Kroski catches a strike in the fourth inning.
Fred Adams | Times Leader
GPA center fielder Colin Rusincovitch celebrates catching a flyball at the fence in the third inning with shortstop Nick Innamorati.
Fred Adams | Times Leader
CONYNGHAM – Greater Pittston Area cruised to the District 16 championship and then, for the most part, to the Section 5 title.
The Little League Major Baseball state tournament proved to be much tougher. After a heartbreaking extra-inning loss in Tuesday’s winners’ bracket final, GPA was eliminated from contention Wednesday with another heartbreaker.
Tommy Sergio snapped a tie score with a three-run homer to left in the sixth inning, giving Upper Providence a 10-8 victory over GPA in an elimination game at Valley West Little League.
“I’m extremely proud of the kids how they bounced back from yesterday,” GPA manager Joe Rusincovitch said of Tuesday’s 6-3 seven-inning loss to unbeaten Greencastle. “It was certainly a gut punch loss, as much as we didn’t want to admit to it yesterday, and they came back resilient.
“I thought we played a really good game for the most part.”
Upper Providence then beat Greencastle, 11-1 Thursday and 2-1 Friday, to win the title and advance to the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament in Bristol, Conn. where a berth in the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport will be at stake.
The blast was that eliminated GPA was redemption for Sergio, who struggled mightily with his control on the mound. He started and walked Nick Innamorati, Kellen Kroski and Ethan Aftewicz to begin the game. Jacoby Harnen followed with an RBI single, Gavin Wardecki walked to force in another run and Colin Rusincovitch was hit by a pitch to force in a third run.
That was it for Sergio on the mound as all six batters he faced reached base. Two more scored on a fielder’s choice and wild pitch to give GPA a 5-1 advantage.
“They’re 12-year-old kids and it’s not always their day,” said Upper Providence manager Ben Ludwig, a Scranton native and graduate of Bishop O’Hara in Dunmore. “We grabbed him after that inning and we knew his time was going to come again.”
For GPA, there were no more big innings despite some opportunities.
An out into the bottom of the sixth, Rusincovitch and John Jadus drew consecutive four-pitch walks. Alex Rosencrance singled to load the bases and an out later, Innamorati singled to center to cut the deficit to 10-8. That would be as close as GPA would get as it left the bases loaded for a second time.
In the fifth, Innamorati rolled a one-out single down the left field line. Kroski the launched a deep flyball to center that was caught on the warning track. Innamorati tagged up and made it to second, only to be stranded. GPA also stranded runners in scoring position in the first, second, third and fourth innings.
Upper Providence got itself back into the game after trailing by four runs one inning. The Section 4 champion from just outside King of Prussia did so with a four-run second inning. The rally started with two outs when Timmy Burns reached on a wild-pitch third strike and ended with single by Aiden Ludwig that scored two runs. A walk and a hit by pitch — both with the bases loaded — didn’t help GPA’s cause. Neither did a pair of errors.
GPA broke the 5-5 tie in the bottom of the second on an RBI double by Harnen, but the inning overall was a lost opportunity.
“The second inning was the inning,” Rusincovitch said. “We should have been out of that inning with 35 pitches and a 5-1 lead. Instead, we had 6-5 on the board.”
Upper Providence took a 7-6 lead by plating two runs in the fourth on a double, two infield singles and an error. GPA tied it up in the bottom of the inning on Wardecki’s RBI single. But a bases-loaded lineout double play prevented a bigger inning.
Harnen and Innamorati each finished with two hits while Harnen and Wardecki drove in two runs and Kroski scored twice.
Greencastle 6, Greater Pittston Area 3
Greencastle outlasted Greater Pittston Area in seven innings in Tuesday’s winners’ bracket final.
The loss was the first for GPA, which came close to a walk-off win in the bottom of the sixth.
Alex Rosencrance ripped a double into the right-center gap that hit off the lower part of the fence. Despite the two-bagger with one out, GPA couldn’t push across the run.
Greencastle took a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh on Manny Brookens’ RBI double. Collin Flynn then singled and an error on the hit allowed Brookens to score. Kaden Walters made it 6-3 with an RBI single.
GPA threatened in the bottom of the seventh. Kellen Kroski walked to open the inning and Ethan Aftewicz followed with a single. A fielder’s choice put runners on the corners with one out. Jacoby Harnen was then intentional walked after working a 3-0 count to load the bases. Reliever Andrew Weaver got a 5-3 double play to end the game.
GPA evened the score 2-2 in the bottom of the first on a two-run single by Harnen. It took a 3-2 lead in the third when Kroski scored on a wild pitch. Greencastle tied the score 3-3 in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk.
Aftewicz finished 3-for-4 while Rosencrance was 2-for-2 with a double.
Greater Pittston Area 9, Valley West 7
Greater Pittston Area reached the winners’ bracket final July 25 when it defeated host Valley West, 9-7.
Kellen Krosky picked up the win with three strong innings of relief.
Jacoby Harnen drove in four runs, including the game-winning hit when he broke a 7-7 tie with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth.
Ethan Aftewicz, Nick Innamorati, Colin Rusincovitch, Gavin Wardecki and John Jadus all had hits in the win.
