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.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Elijah Barr was the winning pitcher as Pittston Area downed Abington Heights 3-1 in the District 2 Class 5A championship.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Pittston Area celebrates the District 2 Class 5A championship.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Pittston Area lifts the District 2 Championship plaque after defeating Abington Heights 3-1.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Pittston Area second baseman Beau Widdick reacts after the final out of the game is scored against Abington Heights in the seventh inning.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Nick Innamorati reacts to his triple in the third inning and is congratulated by his coach Paul Zaffuto.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Dom Innamorati reacts to tying the game 1-1 in the first inning against Abington Heights.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
EDWARDSVILLE — Two of the best pitchers in all of District 2 collided on 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 Pittston Area standing tall with a championship plaque.
Barr went the distance and allowed just one run on two hits, 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 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 sacrifice 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 ground balls 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.
District 2 Class 5A Championship
Pittston Area 3, Abington Heights 1
Abington Heights`AB`R`H`BI
T. Pentasuglio rf`2`0`0`0
Zalewski ss`2`1`0`0
Bradley p`2`0`0`0
LaCoe cf`2`0`0`0
Gonzalez 3b`3`0`0`1
Patel 1b`0`0`0`0
Locker dh`3`0`0`0
Abel 2b`3`0`0`0
Kayal lf`3`0`1`0
H. Pentasuglio c`2`0`1`0
Totals`22`1`2`1
Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI
D. Innamorati cf`1`1`0`1
Barr p`2`1`2`0
Cerasaro cr`0`0`0`0
Giardina ss`3`0`1`0
Aftewicz c`1`0`0`2
Widdick 2b`3`0`0`0
Montigney 1b`3`0`0`0
Tonte 3b`3`0`0`0
Mead rf`0`0`0`0
Harnen dh`2`0`0`0
N. Innamorati lf`2`1`2`0
Totals`20`3`5`3
Abington Hts`100`000`0 — 1
Pittston Area`102`000`x — 3
2B — Giardina. 3B — N. Innamorati
Abington Heights`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Bradley (L)`6.0`5`3`3`2`6
Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Barr (W)`7.0`2`1`1`3`3
