Click here to subscribe today or Login.
PITTSTON TWP. — Back Mountain National’s journey to the Little League 9-11 baseball state championship remains a tough road, but it shortened a bit Saturday night.
BMN used a big second inning and held off a couple comeback bids from DuBois to post a 12-6 opening-round victory at Pittston Township Little League.
Section 5 champion BMN will play in the winners bracket semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Sunday against Section 6 champion Council Rock Holland, which defeated Section 2 champion Heritage 6-0. The other winners bracket semifinal will be at 4 p.m. with Section 4 champ State College playing Section 7 champ East Side.
In elimination games, Section 8 champ Whitemarsh faces Section 3 champ Ashland at 11 a.m. and Hermitage plays Dubois at 1 p.m.
The teams in the winners bracket of the double-elimination tournament need three consecutive wins to capture the championship. Those in the elimination bracket need six in a row.
“It’s very important to win the first game,” BMN manager John Morris said. “Now it’s important to win (Sunday) so you get Monday off. It’s a pitching chess match to keep pitchers available. It’s a really tough tournament to play in in that short amount of time unless you have 11 pitchers, which we don’t.”
BMN scored eight times in the second inning to open up a 9-0 lead. It was classic station-to-station baseball with Luca Pietraccini, Cole Langdon, Christian Maier, Hayden Romeo and Justin Morris all delivering RBI singles. Joey Nocito also picked up an RBI on a bases-loaded walk.
BMN switched to the long ball in the third to bump its advantage to 12-0. Mitch Onzik singled with one out and Max Casey followed with a walk. Talan Geskey then deposited a three-run homer to left onto the grassy hill.
“The kids came out on fire,” Morris said. “They hit the ball really, really well. We saw some good pitching. That’s a really good team and we really rose to the occasion.”
Facing a possible early exit via the 10-run run, DuBois rallied with four runs in the third inning. Luke Reed had an RBI double, JT Hughes had a run-scoring single and Aiden Keller brought in a run with a fielder’s choice. The other run scored on an error.
DuBois started to make things interesting in the fourth as Nate Witherite and Reed hit one-out singles and later scored. The offense, though, managed just one hit — a bunt single — the rest of the game off BMN reliever Nocito.
In the other games, State College defeated Whitemarsh 9-3 and East Side defeated Ashland 14-1.
MAJOR BASEBALL
GPA 14, DuBois 4 (5 inn.)
Section 5 champion Greater Pittston Area opened the state tournament with a 10-run rule win over Section 1 champ DuBois at Valley West Little League in Conyngham.
GPA will play Section 6 champ Valley West at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in a winners bracket semifinal. Valley West blanked Section 2 champion West Point 15-0.
Jacoby Harnen and Alex Rosencrance had home runs for GPA, which led 5-4 going into the fifth inning and scored nine times.
The other winners bracket game will be Section 8 champ Upper Providence vs. Section 7 champ Greencastle at 4 p.m.
Sunday’s elimination games will be Section 4 champion Holidaysburg vs. Section 4 champion Hepburn-Lycoming at 11 a.m. and West Point vs. DuBois at 1 p.m.
In the other first-round games, Upper Providence defeated Holidaysburg 10-5 and Greencastle defeated Hepburn-Lycoming 11-5.
Back Mountain National 12, DuBois 6
BMN`AB`R`H`BI
Morris 2b`3`2`3`0
Nocito ss`4`1`1`1
Pietraccini c`5`1`2`1
Langdon 3b`2`1`1`1
Onzik rf`3`2`2`1
Maier rf`4`1`2`1
Casey ph`0`1`0`0
Geskey cf`4`1`1`3
Dalessandro ss`1`1`1`1
Shook p`3`0`1`0
Mason ph`1`1`0`0
Romeo lf`3`0`1`1
Rinehimer ph`1`0`0`0
Totals`34`12`15`10
DuBois`AB`R`H`BI
Witherite cf`4`2`3`0
Reed ss`4`2`2`1
Burton p`2`0`0`0
Hughes lf`4`1`1`1
Price 1b`3`0`2`1
Knouse 3b`2`0`0`0
Risser 3b`1`0`0`0
Keller rf`3`0`1`1
Johnson 2b`2`0`0`0
Anyadike rf`1`0`0`0
Morelli c`2`1`0`0
Totals`28`6`9`4
Back Mountain National`183`000 — 12
DuBois`004`200 — 6
2B — Reed, Price. HR — Geskey.
BMN`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Shook (W)`2.0`3`2`2`2`2
Morris`1.1`3`2`0`0`0
Nocito`2.2`3`2`1`0`2
DuBois`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Burton (L)`1.2`7`9`7`3`1
Witherite`4.0`8`3`3`4`3
Reed`0.1`0`0`0`0`1