Little League: Mountain Top holds off GPA to win District 9-11 championship

PITTSTON — Mountain Top swept two District 16 Little League baseball titles in a doubleheader at the Pittston City Little League field July 9, including topping Greater Pittston Area, 5-3, for the 9-11-year-old title in the second game.

“It was a hard-fought baseball game,” Mountain Top manager Sean McLaughlin said. “Both teams played great, just the way you want it to be in a championship game. Kids leaving it on the field, and our team just happened to be lucky and came out on top.”

GPA left runners on second and third in the fifth inning. It had the bases loaded with two out in the sixth, but Mountain Top reliever Jake McLaughlin got a flyout to end the game and send the team to the Section 5 tournament.

McLaughlin picked up the save, striking out two while getting the last four outs without allowing a hit. Starter Kieran Koons struck out six over 4 2/3 innings to pick up the win. Koons gave up all six hits, but three came in the fourth and the damage was minimal as GPA scored once.

GPA took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Luke Silinski doubled and later scored on a throwing error. Mountain Top gained a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning. Caden Hoban had an infield single and eventually scored on Teddy Taylor’s sac fly. McLaughlin, who had walked, moved to second on the sac fly, to third on a single by Matt Rodgers and scored on a wild pitch.

Kevin Gomez tied the game 2-2 in the second with an RBI single, but the only other run GPA managed came in the fourth when Silinski doubled home Jack Horncheck, who had singled.

Mountain Top added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

DISTRICT 31 8-10-YEAR-OLD BASEBALL

DALLAS TWP. — After rolling through the District 31 tournament, Back Mountain National faced its first real threat of the season in the July 9 championship game. BMN came back to win the district title with a 9-6 win over Greater Wyoming Area.

BMN, ,which had outscored opponents by 72 runs in its first six tournament games, advanced to the Section 5 Tournament July 18-22 at Mountain Top.

Starter Carter Samanas kept GWA to just one hit in their previous meeting. And the winner of that 17-1 blowout stood 46 feet away on the pitching rubber once again.

GWA stuck to a game plan that they be patient and quicken their decision-making at the plate. They practiced for two straight days at speeds that matched Samanas’ fastball.

“Carter is awesome – he’s lights out,” GWA coach Jonathan Bradshaw said. “He throws hard. He’s accurate. So we knew what we were getting into wasn’t going to be easy.”

Trailing by two runs, GWA plated three runs in the third inning. Chase Evans drew his third walk of the game to kickstart the offense. Kellen Bradshaw hit a double down the right field line. Dillon Kivac knocked in an infield single to drive in the team’s first run. Nate Lewis singled up the middle to even the score. Brayden Snyder flared to right field to give GWA a 3-2 lead over the favorites.

“I told the team early on that it was going to be tough,” coach Bradshaw said. “We told them just to have the confidence to go out there and do your best. That’s exactly what they did. They put the bat on the ball and use our base-running ability.”

BMN remained patient and took advantage of GWA miscues in the fourth inning. After a pair of errors put two runners on base, Kellan DeFalco hit a two-out RBI single to right field to even the score. Benny Nelton drove in two runs on a go-ahead RBI double that went down the left line to take a 5-3 lead. BMN then strung together four runs in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach.

Three GWA players finished with three hits apiece. Bradshaw, Lewis and Snyder combined for nine of the team’s 12 hits. Evans scored three times.

8-10-YEAR-OLD SOFTBALL

District 16 champion Pittston is sitting out the Section 5 and state tournaments after already accepting the spot as host team for the Little League Softball 8-10-Year-Old Eastern Regional Softball Tournament, which will be held at Mountain Top, beginning July 30.

Pittston went 6-0 and outscored opponents, 79-14, in 29 innings during the district tournament. It has been off since defeating Mountain Top, 13-2, in five innings in the July 5 championship game.