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KINGSTON — The Kingston/Forty Fort All-Star team was able to find some much-needed separation from their Greater Wyoming Area opponents in the top of the sixth inning Thursday, scoring six times in the frame.
As it turned out, the offensive flurry would become even more crucial than it seemed.
Greater Wyoming Area managed to get the tying run up to the plate after a big sixth inning of their own, but Kingston/Forty Fort was able to hold on for a 9-5 win to improve to 3-0 in District 31 Majors pool play.
Reliever TJ Needle pitched himself into trouble, allowing GWA’s first five hitters to reach and the first three to score, but managed to maintain his poise and strand the bases loaded. He struck out the final two batters he faced to seal the victory.
“They hit the ball, they were finding gaps … sometimes, that’s going to happen,” Kingston/Forty Fort manager Tim Needle said. “We just continued to work. … Ultimately we knew we had a little bit of room, so we just stuck what we were doing.”
The two teams picked up where they left off on Wednesday, when driving rains forced the stoppage of play with Kingston/Forty Fort leading 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
Greater Wyoming Area’s bats were awake right from the jump, with Chase Evans lacing a one-out double and scoring on a base hit from Kellan Bradshaw. GWA made it a 3-2 game in the fifth inning, with an RBI single from Frank Pacelli.
Momentum had swung toward the GWA side heading into the sixth inning, but Kingston/Forty Fort wasn’t bothered.
After a out from the first batter of the inning, Kingston/Forty Fort had eight of their next nine hitters reach base safely (with the one who didn’t, Chase Morgan, driving in the team’s first run of the inning with an RBI groundout).
Jaden Vazquez drove in two runs with a base hit, while Nick Lipinski and Richie McCabe each picking one up RBI. By the time the inning was over, Kingston/Forty Fort’s lead had ballooned to 9-3.
“We talked about that it heading into the inning, that we had to give ourselves some room with some insurance runs,” Needle said. “The kids put the ball in play and when you put the ball in play, usually good things will happen.”
Things felt comfortable for Kingston/Forty Fort, but Greater Wyoming Area was far from finished. After the first three batters reached to start the sixth, Nate Lewis drove in two runs with a single and Jonah Labar followed up with an RBI single of his own, making it a 9-5 ballgame.
Two batters later, Lucas Laskaris worked a walk to load the bases, but TJ Needle found his best stuff when he needed it most.
A pair of strikeouts wrapped things up, and moved Kingston/Forty-Fort to the top of the pack in District 31 with a 3-0 pool play record.
Kingston/Forty Fort will be off on Saturday and will wrap up pool play on Monday against Back Mountain National (2-0).
Greater Wyoming Area (2-1) will host Back Mountain National on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the West Pittston Little League.
District 31 Major Baseball
Kingston/Forty Fort 9, Greater Wyoming Area 5
Kingston/Forty-Fort`AB`R`H`BI
Kushnir ss-p`2`1`1`0
Munster c`3`0`0`1
Stitzer p`2`2`2`0
Bobb 1b`1`1`0`1
Morgan lf`3`0`0`1
Lipinski 2b`3`1`1`1
Needle 3b-p`3`1`0`0
Vasquez eh`3`1`1`2
Wadas eh`3`1`2`0
McCabe cf`3`0`3`1
Shortz rf`3`1`2`0
Ahart eh`2`0`0`0
Totals`31`9`12`7
Greater Wyo. Area`AB`R`H`BI
Kivak c`2`1`0`0
Evans ss-p`3`2`1`0
Bradshaw ss-p`2`1`1`1
Lewis 1b`3`0`2`2
Labar lf`3`0`2`1
Wardell 2b-p`2`0`0`0
Laskaris 3b`1`1`1`0
Pacelli cf`3`0`1`1
Reynolds eh`3`0`1`0
Smith rf`2`0`1`0
Lazarowicz eh`2`0`0`0
Kohler eh`2`0`0`0
Totals`28`5`10`5
Kingston/Forty-Fort`201`006 – 9
Greater Wyo. Area`000`113 – 5
2B – Kushnir, Stitzer, Shortz, Evans, Reynolds, Smith.
Kingston/FF`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Stitzer`2`1`0`0`2`2
Kushnir`3`7`2`2`0`7
Needle`1`3`3`3`3`3
Greater Wyo. Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Bradshaw`2.2`5`3`3`2`5
Evans`1`0`0`0`1`2
Wardell`0.1`0`0`0`0`0
Lewis`2`7`6`5`2`2