Pittston Area coach Paul Zaffuto hugs his pitcher Elijah Barr after winning the District 2 Class 5A championship Thursday afternoon 3-1 over Abington Heights.
Elijah Barr was the winning pitcher as Pittston Area downed Abington Heights 3-1 in the District 2 Class 5A championship.
Pittston Area celebrates the District 2 Class 5A championship.
Pittston Area lifts the District 2 Championship plaque after defeating Abington Heights 3-1.
Pittston Area second baseman Beau Widdick reacts after the final out of the game is scored against Abington Heights in the seventh inning.
EDWARDSVILLE — Two of the best pitchers in all of District 2 collided Thursday with a championship on the line.
In a duel that lived up to the hype, it was Elijah Barr that stood tall at the end — and unbeaten Pittston Area standing tall with a championship plaque.
Barr tossed a two-hitter and Pittston Area’s lineup was able to do enough damage early on to topple Abington Heights ace Nick Bradley for a 3-1 victory in the District 2 Class 5A baseball championship game.
After shaking off some command issues and allowing a run in the first inning, Barr settled in and turned the Comets hitters away inning after inning all the way to the finish line.
“I felt like we had it all the way, I had full confidence in my team coming in here,” Barr said. “I just went out there and I threw, trusted my defense and it all worked out.”
That defense had Barr’s back the whole way as the Patriots ace pitched to ground-ball contact and was rewarded with 13 ground-ball outs, including a nifty double play turned by middle infielders Beau Widdick and Silvio Giardina.
“I just throw strikes because their approach is just to hit the ball down,” Barr said. “But when you have a defense like Beau, Silvio, Chase (Montigney) and Richie (Tonte) on the infield, you just let them hit the ball on the ground and the rest takes care of itself.”
Both teams were able to scratch a run across in the first inning as both Barr and Bradley took a beat to fully lock in.
Reese Zalewski drew a one-out walk and scored on a groundout for the Comets, while Jake Aftewicz’s groundout in the bottom half scored Dominic Innamorati.
As both starters began to heat up from there, it was a two-run third inning from the Patriots that made the difference.
It started at the bottom, as Pittston Area’s nine-hitter Nick Innamorati scorched a triple into right field to start things off and scored on a sacrifice fly from Dominic Innamorati.
“I actually called it that inning, I went up to Nick and I said it was going to be an ‘I-squared’ inning … Innamorati, Innamorati for a run, and it worked out,” Pittston Area coach Paul Zaffuto said. “Nicky hit the ball hard today, and so did Dom and a lot of our guys.”
Barr then helped his own cause with a single, advanced to third on a double from Giardina and scored as Aftewicz put together another productive at-bat with a sacrifice fly to center.
Giardina was thrown out trying to advance to third to end the inning, but Barr didn’t need any more to guide Pittston Area on the mound.
Barr didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning, and only allowed a second hit on a fly ball that got lost in the sun with two outs in the seventh inning.
The Patriots didn’t panic even as the tying run came to the plate, and another one of those groundballs did the trick: Giardina to Montigney, shortstop to first, and the celebration was on for Pittston Area.
A big Pittston Area crowd took over Wilkes’ Bruggeworth Field for the title game, and the Patriots made sure to send them home happy.
“You look up there and all you see is red,” Barr said. “That’s motivation.”
Pittston Area improved to 22-0 overall on the season including the playoffs, and will host District 3 runner-up Palmyra (22-1) on Monday in the first round of the state playoffs.
Barr walked three and struck out three. He joined Nick Innamorati as the only players with two hits in the game.
Bradley pitched a five-hitter with six strikeouts and two walks.
