DURYEA – Chase Montigney and the Greater Pittston Area team hurried their way into the District 16 Major Little League Baseball championship game.
Montigney threw a four-inning perfect game in less than an hour, using only 39 pitches to do so, when Greater Pittston Area shut out Wilkes-Barre, 10-0, in Wednesday night’s semifinal.
GPA will host Township Monday at the Duryea Little League field for the district title. The game will start around 8 p.m., following the conclusion of the 5:45 District 31 championship game between Swoyersville and Back Mountain National.
Both teams bring perfect records into the final.
GPA had completed a 3-0 run through Pool A with a 13-3 win over Mountain Top in four innings June 28. Township routed Wilkes-Barre, 16-0, in three innings the same day to finish 2-0 in Pool B.
Perfection took on a different meaning in the semifinal.
Montigney struck out six, handled two grounders himself and got his glove on another ball that second baseman Josh Lentewski got to in time. He did not allow a ball out of the infield and had only one pitch pulled against him in his first all-star pitching appearance this season.
“He’s had two one-hitters, but never a no-hitter,” said Ted Montigney, Chase’s father and the GPA manager.
GPA left three runners on in the first two innings, then scored all 10 of its runs in the third. The rally started with sloppiness by Wilkes-Barre’s defense, then GPA extended the inning and piled up the runs by stringing hits together.
Wilkes-Barre committed seven errors and threw five wild pitches during the inning, finding further difficulties with GPA’s constant aggressiveness running the bases.
GPA scored three times before getting its first hit of the inning.
“I wanted to try to get some momentum going,” Ted Montigney said. “Our timing was a little off in the first inning.
“I was trying to get the kids a little momentum and a little life in the heat.”
Three runs scored before Greater Pittston Area got its first hit of the inning.
GPA put together four straight hits and six from a stretch of seven batters with two outs.
Richard Tonte’s infield hit and Devon Cesaraso’s bunt single loaded the bases.
Nico Cieto then pinch hit with a two-run single to center field for a 5-0 lead.
Silvio Giardina kept the streak going with an RBI single, then runs scored on a wild pitch and a throwing error.
After Dominic Innamorati’s walk, Matt Walter and Montigney drove in the last two runs with singles through the left side.
With the lead at 10, Montigney closed the game out early, giving the team’s leaders a chance to win their third district title.
Innamorati, Chase Montigney, Logan O’Malley, Paul Rusincovitch, T.J. Johnson and Cerasaro won the 2017 District 16 title in the 9-10-year-old division.
Motigney, Innamorati, Rusincovitch and Giardina were on the Duryea/Pittston City team that won the district Major title on the Duryea field last year.
GPA took the Duryea and Pittston City combination from last year and added in players from Avoca.
Montigney and Giardina, the leadoff hitter, each went 2-for-3 Thursday. Innamorati scored twice.
