Pittston Area’s Bella Giardina drives the ball in the gap for a two-run double in the fifth inning Wednesday against Tunkhannock.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area senior center fielder Kallie Booth went 2-for-3 at the plate and scored two runs.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area ace Gianna Adams helped her cause by driving in two runs on her way to tossing a four-hitter against Tunkhannock on Wednesday.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area’s Ava Callahan reacts after hitting an RBI triple in the sixth inning Wednesday against Tunkhannock.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Pittston Area second baseman Bella Giardina throws to first baseman Gabby Gorzkowski to get out Tunkhannock Area’s Ella McNeff in the third inning Wednesday.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
HUGHESTOWN — As Pittston Area’s Bella Giardina walked to the plate in the fifth inning, some armchair coaches in the crowd offered up their opinion.
The consensus — Tunkhannock shouldn’t pitch to the senior clean-up hitter. In retrospect, they were correct.
Giardina broke a scoreless tie with a two-run double and Pittston Area tacked on three more runs in the sixth to defeat Tunkhannock 5-1 Wednesday in a battle of the top two Division 1 teams in Wyoming Valley Conference softball.
“I’m always ready for them to pitch to me,” Giardina said. “I’m never expecting a ball. I think being ready in all situations is what’s keeping us going as a team.”
Tunkhannock (8-1 Div. 1, 12-1 overall) remained in first place, but Pittston Area (7-1, 10-1) closed the gap.
Tunkhannock has three divisional games remaining while Pittston Area has four with a game next week with a very good hitting Hazleton Area team as the toughest of the bunch.
“They make us better and hopefully we make them better,” Pittston Area coach Frank Parente said. “It’s a rivalry, but it’s two teams that love competing with each other.”
Kallie Booth led off the fifth with a double and Gianna Adams followed with a walk. Ava Callahan’s sac bunt moved the runners along before Giardina doubled to left-center field to make it 2-0.
Adams was cruising in the circle to that point, striking out nine and allowing no hits. Tunkhannock’s offense, though, awoke in the sixth.
Ella McNeff walked to start the sixth and consecutive singles by Gabby Wood, Paige Marabell and Sydney Huff resulted in a run and a bases-loaded, no-out situation. Adams got out of it with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts.
Pittston Area built its lead to 5-1 in the sixth on consecutive triples by Adams and Callahan, with Adams bring home Gabby Gorzkowski and Booth. Gorzkowski’s one-out single was key because it allowed the Patriots to flip the batting order with a runner on base.
“Huge hit for Gabby there,” Parente said. “That’s what started it off. That inning doesn’t happen without Gabby’s hit.”
Tunkhannock had two runners reach with two outs in the seventh, only to have Adams record her 12th strikeouts to end the game.
“We wanted to own the game,” Adams said, “but we also wanted to have a good time. The great balance between that was we were relaxed the entire game and we were just cruising.”
Hazleton Area 10, Wyoming Valley West 7
Olivia Williams homered and had two RBI as Hazleton Area defeated Wyoming Valley West.
Kelsie Peters had a triple, double and two RBI for Hazleton Area. Ashley Seiwell had two RBI.
Trinity Shaver homered and had two RBI for Valley West. Kyla Hand also had two RBI.
BASEBALL
Nanticoke Area 12, Lake-Lehman 2
Nanticoke Area scored six runs in the fourth inning to pull away and added three more in the fifth to end the game.
Justin Spencer had three RBI for the Trojans while Trentyn Harter and Brad Higgins added two each.
Brandon Wozniak pitched a complete-game three-hitter.
Tunkhannock 3, Berwick 1
In a game played Tuesday, Aidan Paduck threw a one-hitter with seven strikeouts as Tunkhannock defeated Berwick.
Pittston Area 7, Dallas 1
In a game played Tuesday, Nick Cerasaro homered and had four RBI and Pittston Area broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the sixth inning.
Jeremy Cawley was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI for the Patriots.
SOFTBALL
Pittston Area 5, Tunkhannock 1
Tunkhannock`AB`R`H`BI
K.Hannon p`3`0`0`0
McNeff 2b`2`1`1`0
Wood 1b`3`0`1`0
Marabell c`3`0`1`1
Keeney cr`0`0`0`0
Huff 3b`3`0`1`0
Van Ness lf`3`0`0`0
Patton ss`3`0`0`0
M.Hannon dp`3`0`0`0
James cf`3`0`0`0
Karp rf-pr`0`0`0`0
Totals`26`1`4`1
Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI
Booth cf`3`2`2`0
Adams p`3`0`1`2
Soto cr`0`2`0`0
A.Callahan c`3`0`2`1
G.Callahan cr`0`0`0`0
Giardina 2b`3`0`1`2
Herbert ss`3`0`0`0
Mihalka 3b`3`0`1`0
Antal lf`2`0`0`0
Gorzkowski 1b`3`1`1`0
C.Hintze dp`3`0`0`0
L.Hintze rf`0`0`0`0
Totals`26`5`8`5
Tunkhannock`000`001`0 — 1
Pittston Area`000`023`x — 5
2B — Booth, Giardina. 3B — Adams, A.Callahan.
Tunkhannock`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
K.Hannon (L)`6`8`5`5`3`6
Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Adams (W)`7`3`1`1`5`12
Hazleton Area 10, Wyo. Valley West 7
WVW`AB`R`H`BI
Seip 1b`4`1`1`0
Yurko 2b`3`1`0`0
M.Austra c`2`1`1`0
Hand cf`4`1`1`2
K.Austra 3b`3`2`2`0
Shaver lf`3`1`1`2
Geffert ss`2`0`0`1
Yanalevitch p`3`0`0`1
Yeisley rf`3`0`1`1
Totals`27`7`7`7
Hazleton Area`AB`R`H`BI
Kupsho`0`0`0`0
Williams cf`4`2`2`2
Daniels 3b-lf`4`1`1`0
Almedia`0`0`0`0
Hoffman lf`4`2`3`1
Balay 1b`4`1`2`0
Lagowy`1`0`0`1
Klesh`1`0`0`0
Peters c`3`1`2`2
Mummey 2b`2`1`0`0
Forsythe ss`2`1`0`0
Seiwell p`3`1`1`2
Flaim rf`0`0`0`0
VanBlargan`0`0`0`0
Totals`28`10`11`8
Wyo. Valley West`020`005`0 — 7
Hazleton Area`210`700`x — 10
2B — Peters, Daniels. 3B —Peters. HR — Shaver, Williams.
WVW`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Yenalevitch (L)`6`11`10`9`1`0
Hazleton Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Seiwell (W)`7`7`7`7`7`9
BASEBALL
Nanticoke Area 12, Lake-Lehman 2 (5 inn.)
Nanticoke`AB`R`H`BI
D.Shemanski c`3`2`0`1
Butczynski 1b`4`1`1`0
Spencer 3b`2`2`1`3
J.Shemanski dh`3`2`1`1
Wozniak p`2`1`0`0
Harter rf`2`0`1`2
Higgins 2b`3`1`1`2
Miller ss`2`1`0`0
Stachowiak cf`2`2`1`0
Totals`23`12`6`9
Lehman`AB`R`H`BI
Sholtis lf-cf`3`0`0`0
C.Kaiser cf-p`2`1`0`0
Morris p`0`0`0`0
G.Finarelli ss`3`0`1`0
Bean 3b`2`0`1`0
S.Finarelli 1b`2`1`0`0
Gaus dh`1`0`1`0
Naugle 2b`0`0`0`0
Bucholtz c`1`0`0`0
E.Kaiser c`1`0`0`0
T.Jones rf-lf`1`0`0`0
Wallace p-rf`2`0`0`0
Warzynski cr`0`0`0`0
Totals`18`2`3`0
Nanticoke Area`300`63 — 12
Lake-lehma`011`00 — 2
2B — J.Shemanski.
Nanticoke`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Wozniak (W)`5`3`2`1`2`2
Lehman`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Wallace (L)`3.1`3`8`8`6`5
C.Kaiser`1.0`2`3`1`0`1
Morris`0.2`1`1`0`0`0
Tunkhannock 3, Berwick 1
(Tuesday)
Tunkhannock`AB`R`H`BI
Brown ss`4`1`1`0
Munley c`3`1`1`1
Paduck p`3`0`0`0
J.Welles 1b`3`0`0`0
Roxby 3b`3`0`0`0
Gregory cf`3`1`1`0
Spudis`3`0`0`0
Volker rf`3`0`0`0
DeMarco 2b`3`0`1`1
Totals`28`3`4`2
Berwick`AB`R`H`BI
Andrews cf`3`0`0`0
Lonczynski 3b`3`0`0`0
Rinehimer 1b`0`0`0`0
Mausteller`0`1`0`0
Evensen c`3`0`1`0
Peters lf`2`0`0`0
Guerriero p`2`0`0`0
Sult`3`0`0`0
Kupsky 2b`2`0`0`0
DiPippa ss`2`0`0`0
Totals`20`1`1`0
Tunkhannock`002`100`0 — 3
Berwick`000`000`1 — 1
2B — Munley.
Tunkhannock`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Paduck (W)`7`1`1`1`4`7
Berwick`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Guerriero (L)`7`4`3`0`0`6
Pittston Area 7, Dallas 1
(Tuesday)
Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI
Cawley ss`4`0`3`2
DeLucca cf`4`0`0`0
Davis rf`3`0`0`0
Barr 2b`3`0`0`0
Mead 2b`1`1`0`0
Menendez 1b`3`1`1`0
Aftewicz c`2`0`2`0
Rainieli lf`3`1`0`0
Cerasaro p`2`2`1`4
Cencetti 3b`3`0`1`1
Bonomo cr`0`2`0`0
Totals`29`7`8`7
Dallas`AB`R`H`BI
Adamski c`3`0`0`0
Paczewski 2b`3`0`1`0
Peters rf`1`1`0`0
S.Healey 1b-3b`3`0`1`0
Nocito ss`3`0`1`0
Rischawy lf`3`0`1`1
Zangardi dh`2`0`0`0
Shaver 3b-p`2`0`0`0
Maxfield p`0`0`0`0
Williams`1`0`0`0
Timinski cf`2`0`0`0
Totals`23`1`4`1
Pittston Area`000`003`4 — 7
Dallas`000`000`1 — 1
2B — Aftewicz, Cawley. HR — Cerasaro.
Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Cerasaro (W)`7`4`1`1`2`4
Dallas`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Barrouk`5.0`6`0`0`2`5
Weaver (L)`0.1`0`4`3`4`1
Shaver`1.1`2`3`3`1`0
Maxfield`0.1`0`0`0`0`0
