HUGHESTOWN — There was plenty to unbox after Tunkhannock’s 19-7 victory over Pittston Area in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 softball game Friday.
Foremost was Tunkhannock’s two-out hitting. The Tigers scored three in the fifth inning with two outs and then scored eight more times in the sixth under the same conditions.
Facing the 10-run rule, Pittston Area scored twice in the fifth to extend the game. Finally, a game that started late because of lightning in the area and didn’t seem to want to end did. But not until Pittston Area’s Marina Antal hit a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth for the game’s final runs.
“We could have packed it in,” Pittston Area coach Frank Parente said. “It would have been easy to go three up, three down or something like that. But we battled and Marina had a great swing. But that’s a helluva team over there and great coaches.”
Antal also had an RBI triple in the fifth and recorded three of Pittston Area’s four hits.
Tunkhannock pitcher McKenzie Hannon wasn’t as sharp as usual, walking 11 batters, but she made amends with her bat. She finished 4-for-4 with a solo home run, two doubles, four RBI and four runs scored.
Erin Van Ness was also 4-for-4 with four RBI for the Tigers, who improved to 8-1 in the division and 14-1 overall. Lucy Karp and MaKenzie Bevan each had three RBI. Addisyn Waterman had a pair of triples and scored four times.
Tunkhannock had 20 hits total, including seven for extra bases. But it was a pair of two-run singles by Erin Van Ness and Kianna Hannon that were key in the eight-run sixth where 13 batters went to the plate.
“We’re really happy with our offense lately,” Tunkhannock coach Bob Hegedty said. “Things are starting to click. We’re playing consistent games every other day where we are getting to see some live pitching. We still have some things to work on and we’re going to keep grinding it out and see how the season unfolds.
“But I’m happy where we are offensively.”
Pittston Area (4-4 Div. 1, 7-6) won the division last season, but consecutive losses to second-place Dallas (7-1 Div. 1, 9-3) and Tunkhannock just about ended a chance for a repeat.
Tunkhannock 19, Pittston Area 7
(6 inn.)
Tunkhannock`AB`R`H`BI
Waterman 2b`2`4`2`2
Karp rf`4`2`2`3
E.Van Ness 3b`4`2`4`4
Gavek pr`0`0`0`0
Patton ss`4`1`0`0
Newswanger cf`5`2`2`0
Kinney lf`3`3`2`0
Franko ph`0`0`0`1
Bevan c`4`0`2`3
K.Hannon ph`1`0`1`2
M.Hannon p`4`3`4`3
S.Van Ness cr-ph`1`2`0`0
Bamberger 1b`3`2`1`0
Totals`35`19`20`18
Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI
Hintze cf`2`1`0`0
Banks ph`1`0`0`0
Roman rf`0`2`0`0
Antal 3b`4`2`3`5
Herbert p`2`0`0`0
Stephenson p`2`0`0`0
Gorzkowski 1b`3`0`1`1
Haas lf`2`0`0`0
Davis lf`1`0`0`0
Colon ph`1`0`0`0
Long ss`2`0`0`0
Sarf dp`2`0`0`0
Podwika 2b`0`1`0`0
Cocco c`1`0`0`0
Viglione ph`0`1`0`0
Totals`22`7`4`6
Tunkhannock`024`238 — 19
Pittston Area`100`024 — 7
2B — Newswanger, M.Hannon 2, Karp. 3B — Waterman 2, Antal. HR — M.Hannon, Antal.
Tunkhannock`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
M.Hannon (W)`6`4`7`6`11`11
Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Herbert (L)`3`9`7`7`3`0
Stephenson`3`11`12`8`5`1
