PLAINS TWP. — Adversity isn’t a bad thing, especially when the end result is a victory.
The Plains North all-stars faced some against Township National on Wednesday night in a District 16 Little League Major Baseball semifinal game. Once the turbulence subsided, Plains North was on its way to an 8-0 victory.
Plains North will play for the championship at 8 p.m. Monday at home against Mountain Top, which defeated Hanover 14-4 in four innings.
Plains North steamrolled through pool play, defeating three opponents by a combined score of 47-5. But when Township National’s Ethan Sarti and Jack Bernardi led off the game by lining single, Wednesday night’s game didn’t look like it would be easy.
“We knew coming in Township would be a tough out,”Plains North manager Don Stark said. “And they certainly showed it tonight.”
Township National failed to capitalize on the consecutive single. Nor was it able to score in the second inning when Chase Dudek singled and Ryan Reza followed with a double with one out.
After Reza’s single, Township North managed just one more hit. Plains North pitcher Donny Stark retired the final 12 batters he faced and finished with seven strikeouts.
“I did change our strategy,” Don Stark said. “We came in and were going to throw a lot of off-speed stuff. They were poking it and hitting it really hard. We talked about it and went back to throwing the fastball and spotting it in, out and down on the knees.”
Plains North took a 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly by Nolan Franchella. Reilly Hossage continued his power surge with a solo homer in the second to make it 2-0.
Plains North went up 3-0 in the third as Omar Contreras singled and then circled the bases on a couple errors on a stolen base.
After scoring two more runs in the fourth without the benefit of a hit, Plains received RBI singles from Stark and Ronnie Faatz as part of a three-run fifth.
Mountain Top 14, Hanover 4
Colton Gryboski came up with a double, a triple and two RBI in a four-inning semifinal win.
Miles Metz struck out five for the win, allowing six hits. He had two hits, including a double, and an RBI at the plate. Kieran Koons added two hits and two RBI while Matt Rodgers and Ryder Zurawski (double) each drove in a pair of runs. Avery Brace had a triple and an RBI. Jake McLaughlin doubled and scored.
Ryan Bennet finished 2-for-2 with an RBI for Hanover. Tyler Coke doubled.
DISTRICT 31
MAJOR BASEBALL
Back Mountain National 12, Swoyersville/Northwest 2
Michael Viglone pitched a three-hitter and struck out six in a four-inning semifinal victory. Viglone added two hits and two RBI at the plate.
Gavin Bayer drove in four runs and doubled twice while Jack Oliver had two hits with an RBI. Carter Samanas tripled and George Rolland added a double.
Nathan Long led Swoyersville/Northwest with two hits.
Back Mountain American 1, Greater Wyoming Area 0
Nathan Longfoot drove in Brady Miller with a base hit in the top of the seventh for the game’s only run in American’s extra innings victory.
Nick Federici started the game for American, going 3.2 innings, giving up four hits and striking out seven. Justin Dale threw the rest of the way, striking out four.
David Favata started the game for GWA, going 5.1 innings, only surrendering 1 hit while striking out 11. Favata also had a double.
Plains North 8, Township National 0
Twp. National`AB`R`H`BI
Sarti cf`2`0`1`0
Bernardi p`2`0`1`0
Shannon ss`2`0`0`0
Salvo 2b`2`0`0`0
Burney 1b`1`0`0`0
Shovlin eh`2`0`0`0
Whitling lf`1`0`0`0
Dudek rf`2`0`1`0
Reza c`2`0`1`0
Roman 3b`2`0`0`0
Rossi eh`1`0`1`0
Bilbow eh`1`0`0`0
Totals`20`0`5`0
Plains North`AB`R`H`BI
Contreras cf`2`3`2`0
Stark p`2`1`1`1
Franchella ss`1`0`0`1
Faatz rf`3`1`1`1
Hossage lf`2`1`1`2
Hollingshead 1b`2`1`0`0
Dunsmuir c`1`0`0`0
Regan eh`2`0`1`0
McKeown 3b`2`0`0`0
Tarnalicki eh`0`0`0`0
Yuhas 2b`2`0`0`0
Ewis eh`2`1`1`0
Totals`21`8`7`5
Township National`000`000 – 0
Plains North`111`23x – 8
2B – Reza, Regan. HR – Hossage.
Twp. National`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Bernardi (L)`4`4`5`3`5`5
Shannon`0`3`3`3`3`0
Sarti`1`0`0`0`0`1
Plains North`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Stark (W)`6`5`0`0`2`7
