Wyoming Area landed the top seed in the 11-team District 2 Class 2A boys lacrosse tournament, then got off to an impressive start while trying to uphold that seed.
The Warriors routed visiting North Pocono, 17-2, Wednesday in a quarterfinal game.
Wyoming Area opened an 11-2 halftime lead behind four goals each from Dominic DeLuca and Sam Greenfield.
The Warriors host fourth-seeded North Pocono Monday at 5 in a semifinal game.
BOYS TENNIS
Pittston Area’s Jason Homscheck-Mike Mazurkivich won in the first round of Wednesday’s District 2-4 Class 3A Subregional doubles tournament at Kirby Park before being eliminated in the next round.
Homscheck-Mazurkivich shut out North Pocono’s Alec Aversa-Tyler Baklauff, 6-0, 6-0. They then took fourth-seeded Lucas Radulski-Ty Jackson from Williamsport to a third set before falling, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Pittston Area’s other entry was also eliminated by a Williamsport team in three sets.
Tiarnan Ferry-Liam Ferry defeated Matthew Costello-Nick Harth, 7-5 6-7 (4-7), 6-2.
Wyoming Area’s top team also picked up a win before being eliminated from District 2 Class 2A doubles.
Aaron Lewis-Austin Alder defeated Mid Valley’s James Urso-Jason Kline, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, before losing to sixth-seeded Jeff Sauers-Justen Cucera from Western Wayne, 6-1, 6-1.
Fifth-seeded Jim Tressler-Logan Gregory from Holy Cross defeated Alex Chronowski-Jason Maples, 6-0, 6-1.
BASEBALL
Wyoming Area twice took leads in the first three innings, but each time, Tunkhannock went back ahead in the bottom of the inning Friday on the way to a 6-4 victory in a District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal.
Tigers starter Connor Hulslander limited the Warriors to one earned run over six innings and Tyler Faux singled in two runs in the bottom of the sixth to create the first lead of more than one run.
Wyoming Area entered as the sixth seed in the eight-team tournament while Tunkhannock was third even though they were separated by just one win in the regular season.
Mikey Bonita got the Warriors started from his leadoff spot. He singled to start the game and scored on an Aaron Lee single.
Bonita led off the two-run third with a solo home run.
Lee also finished with two hits.
Wyoming Area loaded the bases in the seventh before Jake Stephens got a strike out for the save.
The loss ended Ron Musto’s second stint as coach at Wyoming Area. He announced his resignation prior to the first game, but said early in the season the program has been re-established as one that can contend for years to come.
“It’s been a great 19 years at Wyoming Area,” said Musto, who will consider other coaching options on the college and high school levels. “When I took over, my first stint, the goal was to make the program just as important as the football program. We may not have made it just as important, but we came pretty close. We won the school’s only three championships.
“When I came back the second time, my goal was to re-establish Wyoming Area as being one of the top teams in our classification in the district and we did that. We were either number-one or number-two seed each season (of the first two); we beat Valley West; we had the best record in the district. I feel as though I’ve re-established the program.
“People talk about Wyoming Area baseball as a team you don’t want to play. I feel that whoever gets the position, I’m leaving the cupboard full. Our junior class that is coming up won a state championship in Junior Legion. That’s a very high level of baseball. … There’s a lot more winning to go on.”
The Warriors won Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 titles in 2015 and 2016 before falling a game short of a first-place playoff this season.
Pittston Area was the fifth seed in the seven-team District 2 Class 5A tournament.
The Patriots were scheduled to play Saturday afternoon at Coughlin for a shot at top-seeded Wallenpaupack.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Wyoming Area and Pittston Area each lost their first game in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs and were eliminated.
Crestwood defeated visiting Wyoming Area, 13-5, in Friday’s quarterfinals.
While six teams had byes, Pittston Area was forced to open in Wednesday’s first round and lost at home to Abington Heights, 13-7.
Natasha Koslop scored six goals and assisted on two others as third-seeded Crestwood defeated sixth-seeded Wyoming Area for the second straight time this week.
The teams had also met in the regular-season finale with the Lady Comets winning, 13-3.
Caity Butchko scored goals 1:18 apart to erase a 2-0 deficit and lift Wyoming Area into a 2-2 tie with 17:39 left in Friday’s playoff meeting.
Crestwood scored four times in the last 7:50 of the half for a 7-3 lead.
Sydney Maguire, Carlina Urban and Cassidy Orzel scored Wyoming Area’s other goals. Butchko had an assist.
Abington Heights scored five goals in a span of less than seven minutes early in the second half to pull away from what had been a two-goal game with Pittston Area.
The Lady Comets were the eighth seed while the Lady Patriots were the ninth in a 10-team tournament.
Ashley DeRiso scored twice in the first half, then added two more goals in the first seven minutes of the second half to being the decisive outburst.
Nina Cirelli and Bailey Jordan each scored three goals for Pittston Area.
SOFTBALL
Wyoming Area is the fourth seed for the 11-team District 2 Class 4A tournament.
The Lady Warriors will host West Scranton in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Pittston Area is seeded last in the seven-team District 2-11 Class 5A Subregional.
The Lady Patriots will travel to Lackawanna League Division 2 champion Wallenpaupack, the second seed, for Tuesday’s 4 p.m. quarterfinal. The winner plays the Southern Lehigh-Wyoming Valley West winner Friday.
