The Hazleton Area team throws the District 2 trophy in the air in celebration.
Mark Moran | For Times Leader
Hazleton Area’s Dom Marino celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run homerun.
Mark Moran | For Times Leader
The Hazleton Area team celebrates on the field.
Mark Moran | For Times Leader
Hazleton Area’s Logan Hearity puts the tag on Wilkes Barre Area’s Nathan Fritz.
Mark Moran | For Times Leader
Mark Moran | For Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Tyler Daugherty takes a throw on a pickoff attempt at first base.
Mark Moran | For Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Nathan Fritz delivers a pitch against Hazleton Area.
Mark Moran | For Times Leader
EDWARDSVILLE — It wasn’t necessarily a loud day for Hazleton Area’s bats on Thursday, but one massive fly from Dominic Marino made plenty of noise.
Add in some small ball and aggressive baserunning, and the Cougars had all they need to capture a remarkable eighth straight district championship.
Marino launched a two-run homer in the opening frame and was part of a four-run second inning powered largely on the basepaths as Hazleton Area defeated Wilkes-Barre Area 6-2 for the District 2/4 Class 6A championship at Wilkes University.
The Cougars only had three hits against the Wolfpack but also drew six walks and stole five bases to generate the runs needed to maintain their perch atop the district.
“Your bats are going to get cold at times, when that happens you need to have an antidote for it,” Hazleton Area coach Russ Canzler said. “You don’t need to hit a big double to get a run across.”
After leadoff man Logan Hearity drew a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, Marino strode to the plate and promptly put the Cougars ahead.
On a 2-2 pitch, Marino smoked one way out, a couple rows deep into the left-center field bleachers to give Hazleton Area a 2-0 lead.
“It felt like a great barrel, but obviously this is a huge park so I had to hustle out of the box,” Marino said. “When I finally saw the umpire signal it, I was very happy to put my team up.”
Hazleton Area tacked on four more runs in the second inning despite having just one hit, an RBI double from Nick Cunniffe, who later scored on a wild pitch.
Hearity drew a walk and made his way to third when Marino earned his own free pass and purposely got caught in a rundown between first and second base.
While that was happening, Hearity seized the opening and broke for home, sliding in just ahead of a tag while Marino ended up taking second.
During the next at-bat, Marino attempted to steal third and was able to score after the throw sailed into left field.
When all the dust settled, it was a 6-0 Hazleton Area lead. That was all the scoring the Cougars would do, but the cushion was more than enough for the pitching duo of Fred Corrado and Jack Esposito.
Corrado threw the first four innings but exited after Wilkes-Barre Area cut the lead to 6-2 on the strength of a two-run single from Teague Stahovic.
Esposito took over to start the fifth and threw three scoreless innings to finish the win.
His was one of two strong relief efforts in the ballgame: Alex Hufford got the call for Wilkes-Barre Area to relieve Nathan Fritz in an effort to keep them in the ballgame.
Hufford threw four scoreless innings with just one hit allowed, doing everything in his power to spark his team.
“Alex did a good job coming in and shutting them down, keeping them off-balance,” Wilkes-Barre Area coach Matt Skrepenak said. “We just couldn’t overcome those first couple innings.”
Hazleton Area will host District 3 third seed Hempfield at 4:30 p.m. on Monday in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament.
It’s a rematch of last year’s opening round, a 4-1 victory for the Cougars.
District 2/4 Class 6A Championship
Hazleton Area 6, Wilkes-Barre Area 2
Wilkes-Barre`AB`R`H`BI
Davies cf`4`0`1`0
Hufford 2b-p`4`0`0`0
Howe ss`3`0`0`0
Nah dh`3`0`2`0
Daugherty 1b`3`1`1`0
Fritz p-lf`1`1`1`0
Flowers c`2`0`0`0
Stahovic lf`3`0`1`2
Chupka rf`0`0`0`0
Kapelan 3b`2`0`0`0
Thomas 3b-2b`0`0`0`0
Tarreto cr`0`0`0`0
Totals`25`2`6`2
Hazleton Area`AB`R`H`BI
Hearity ss`2`2`1`0
Knelly c`3`0`0`0
Marino dh`2`2`1`2
Hidalgo 3b`2`0`0`0
Eckert 1b-rf`2`0`0`0
Corrado p-1b`3`0`0`0
Rinker cf`2`1`0`0
Cunniffe lf`3`1`1`1
Spare lf`0`0`0`0
Masias 2b`2`0`0`0
Totals`21`6`3`3
2B — Cunniffe. HR — Marino.
Wilkes-Barre`000`200`0 — 2
Hazleton Area`240`000`x — 6
Wilkes-Barre`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Fritz (L)`2`2`6`5`5`1
Hufford`4`1`0`0`1`3
Hazleton Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Corrado (W)`4`5`2`2`2`3
Esposito`3`1`0`0`1`4
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