Anthony Cerasaro receives a slap on the back from Greater Pittston Township teammate Anthony Cortese after Cerasaro drew the game-winning, bases-loaded walk in Sunday’s 11-10 win over Carbino Club/Archbald. Dominic Macario is at right.
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
GLENBURN TWP. — Santino Rynkiewicz turned in scoreless pitching performances in all three games supporting a potent offense as Greater Pittston Township captured the Section 5 Minor Little League Baseball Tournament by going undefeated in the event for 8-10-year-olds.
Rynkiewicz had a decision in all three games, posting wins in the first two, then getting the last five outs for a save in the final.
Rocco Skula, who had the win in the championship game, and Joey Basile, who had a save in the opener, also pitched in all three games.
GPT scored 32 runs in the three-game tournament with Kaysen Simmons scoring six times while going 4-for-8. Basile and Anthony Cerasaro each drove in four runs.
GPT gets to stay close to home as it advances to the state tournament, hosted by Valley East Little League in Drums. It opens against Bellefonte Monday at 1 p.m. The tournament continues through Saturday.
Greater Pittston Township 6, Abington 4
Rocco Skula held host Abington to one hit over the first 3 2/3 innings as, after two wild high-scoring games, Greater Pittston Township secured the title.
GPT went into the night with two shots at the victory it win the championship.
The starting pitching of Skula and the relief work of Santino Rynkiewicz made sure the second game was not necessary.
“I probably triple-checked Rocco’s pitch count today to make sure we were all good,” GPT manager John Cerasaro said. “ … He did what we needed him to do. Joey Basile came in, then Santino came in to close the door.
“All three of them were fantastic today. Only allowing four runs compared to our last 2two games really showed our pitching quality.”
Rynkiewicz gave up two singles, one of them an infield hit, while getting the last four outs.
Skula walked four and struck out eight before reaching his 75-pitch limit.
GPT built a 2-0 lead by taking advantage of four Abington errors in the bottom of the second. Anthony Cerasaro drove in one of the runs on his groundball, reached on an error and scored the other run.
Abington closed to within a run after Skula left the mound in the fourth.
Skula reached on an error to start the bottom of the inning.
Colston Talerico tripled to right to drive in Skula, then scored when Kaysen Simmons was reaching on an error on an RBI groundball.
Basile drove in Simmons with a one-out single down the left-field line. Basile scored when Cerasaro singled, then Anthony Cortese and Crue Ziobro drew consecutive walks.
Greater Pittston Township 11, Carbino Club/Archbald 10
Anthony Cerasaro’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth forced in Kaysen 8Simmons with the winning run as GPT recovered from letting a seven-run lead evaporate in the winners’ bracket final.
“Every one of our kids is battling,” GPT manager John Cerasaro said. “That’s a great team, Carbino-Archbald to come back with seven on the board in one inning, but I think we’re grateful that we had the last at-bats today.”
GPT scored five runs each in the first and second innings for a 10-3 lead.
Carbino/Archbald combined three hits, three walks, two hit batters, four stolen bases, two passed balls and two wild pitches into the seven-run fifth for the 10-10 tie.
The GPT offense had stalled, with six straight batters retired at one point and no runs in the third, fourth or fifth inning.
Simmons started the bottom of the sixth by reaching on an error.
Santino Rynkiewicz singled to right field to put runners on the corners.
Anthony Cerasaro fouled off a 3-2 pitch before working out a walk to end the game.
Basile also struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings as the second GPT pitcher. Rynkiewicz got the last four outs in succession after allowing a hit to the first batter he faced.
“We were playing for that day of rest, so we were able to use our pitchers today up to 35 pitches and get a couple innings out of some,” John Cerasaro said.
Still, GPT was stretched to the limit again after its 10-3 start.
Rocco Skula and Simmons had hits in each of the first two innings. Skula scored the first run and singled to center field for the last two of the second. Simmons drove in Skula and singled in the first.
Anthony Cerasaro had a triple in the first and Crue Ziobro led off the second with a double.
Greater Pittston Township 15, Abington 14
The first inning of the tournament could not have gone much better for Greater Pittston Township.
A half-dozen runs scored in the top of the inning and a half-dozen pitches were all Colston Talerico needed for a 1-2-3 run through the bottom of the inning.
A series of ups and downs followed, but GPT never let the advantage earned in the first inning get completely away.
After building the lead as high as eight, GPT escaped a bases-loaded jam for the game’s final out and a one-run victory.
GPT manager John Cerasaro chose to issue a bases-loading, intentional walk.
Having a force at every base helped when shortstop Rocco Skula capped his standout game defensively by fielding a groundball on the next pitch and flipping to second base for the final out.
Joey Basile, the last of six pitchers used by GPT as it combined keeping arms eligible for future games with securing the opening win, had walked his first batter. He got the save by retiring the second that he actually pitched against.
“We were hoping to jump out early being the visiting team, but I wasn’t expecting six runs,” GPT manager John Cerasaro said. “ … We had our pitchers limited to no more than one day (mandatory rest).
“The sectional tournament is tough. You’re playing every day for five days. We have enough arms as long as the defense and hitting do their part.”
The six-run first was the result of three singles, a costly Abington error and some aggressive GPT baserunning.
Connor Yonki led off with a single up the middle, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a one-out infield single by Talerico.
Santino Rynkiewicz had an RBI single, Basile came all the way home from second base as two runs scored when Anthony Cortese grounded into the second out of the inning and Anthony Cerasaro raced home with the sixth run on a wild pitch.
Rynkiewicz, who scored three times and drove in three more, doubled in two runs while helping push the lead to 12-4 in the third inning.
Abington scored 11 unearned runs on nine GPT errors. It made things interesting with five runs in the fifth and four runs in the sixth as well as stranding five runners.
Doubles by Kaysen Simmons and Basile produced three GPT runs in between for the needed insurance.
“We were talking midway through the game that no matter what number is up on that board, it’s not enough in a game like this,” John Cerasaro said.
