Two championship teams were too strong for Greater Pittston in the Berwick Regional of the Junior American Legion Baseball playoffs.
Eventual regional champion Lower Southampton routed Greater Pittston, 12-2, in five innings in the first round of the tournament July 21. Wyoming Valley League regular-season champion Mountain Post then eliminated Greater Pittston July 22 with a 7-3 win.
Greater Pittston struggled with its defense and the control of its pitching. In the two regional games, the team walked 14 batters, hit five batters and committed eight errors.
After Greater Pittston scored its only two runs and got its only hit in the top of the fifth, Lower Southampton ended the game on the 10-run rule by scoring three times in the bottom of the inning.
Matt Walter had the only hit and an RBI.
Chase Speicher drove in two runs against Mountain Pos in the three-run top of the fifth to cut into a 5-0 deficit.
Mountain Post, though, opened the lead again by scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth.
Speicher, Lucas Lopresto and Bruno Pizzano had the only hits.
WYOMING VALLEY PLAYOFFS
Greater Pittston carried an overnight lead in a suspended game, but wound up dropping its final Wyoming Valley League Junior American Legion Baseball playoff game, 13-12, to Mountain Post.
The game determined seeding, but both teams qualified for regional tournaments.
Greater Pittston, as the third-place team from the Wyoming Valley, headed to Berwick.
When rain suspended the July 14 game, Greater Pittston led, 8-5, and was still batting in the top of the fourth. The lead did not hold up the next day.
Mountain Post trailed by five before scoring four times in the sixth inning and winning the game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Brady Bilbow doubled, singled twice and drove in five runs in the loss. Robbie Yatsko and Matt Walter also had three hits each.
Manager Lou Falzone said his team ran short on pitching and was hurt by the game being extended over two days.
Back Mountain landed the top seed from the league and headed to the Upper Perkiomen Regional.
Mountain Post and Greater Pittston finished second and third and were placed in the Berwick Regional, an eight-team, double-elimination event.
