Michael Fanti got the bats started for GWA at the top of the first inning against Plains at Plains Little League Field on Monday. His dad, Mike Fanti, coaching third base, looks on.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Christian Cavalieri pitched a solid game for GWA against Plains on Monday night at Plains Little League.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Cam DePriest (2) cleared the bases with a hit just inside the line in left field getting 3 RBIs for GWA against Plains.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
GWA’s Gavin Johnson (22) challenges the toss to home and is out by Plains catcher Malakai Vanderburg (8) at home.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Plains second baseman Harrison Endler (10) forces out GWA’s Michael Fanti at second base.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
PLAINS TWP. — After working into some trouble to start the fifth inning and then having to wait out a rain delay of over two hours, GWA reliever David Hiller found himself in a tight spot once play resumed.
With GWA nursing a 6-3 lead and Plains threatening to rally with the bases loaded and one out, Hiller dug down deep to preserve the lead — and extend his team’s season in the process.
Hiller escaped the inning with a 6-4 lead and GWA tacked on plenty of insurance in the top of the sixth to defeat Plains 10-4 in a District 31 Major Baseball pool play game on Monday night.
The game was a de facto elimination game; GWA advanced to the semifinal round on Thursday as the second seed out of Division 2 while Plains saw their season end.
GWA exploded for five runs in the third inning to take control of the game and tacked on one more to make it 6-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Christian Cavalieri had sailed through the first four innings but hit his pitch limit after allowing a leadoff double to Edwin Caraballo and hit the next batter.
Enter Hiller, who struggled at first to find his rhythm in the rain as Plains started to cut into the lead. Hiller got an out, but three Plains runs came across to score before the umpires brought the teams off the field as the rain intensified.
When the game finally resumed around 9:30 p.m., Hiller issued a bases-loaded walk to Malakai Vanderburg to trim the lead to 6-4.
But the reliever knuckled down and made two huge outs: the first on a fly ball snared in center field that failed to bring a runner home from third, and the second on a routine grounder to shortstop Michael Fanti to escape the jam.
To give Hiller some cushion, GWA went out and scored four runs in the sixth. Bryce Bauman started it off with a single, Cavalieri doubled and a pair of Plains errors helped bring them home along with Cam DePriest and Stephen Arnold.
DePriest was the catalyst for GWA’s first big inning, the five-spot they scored in the top of the third.
With GWA out to a 2-0 lead with the bases loaded, DePriest ripped a hard liner that landed just inside the left-field line.
When the dust settled, all three runners aboard came across to score as DePriest ended up with a three-run double, his second hit of the day.
Fanti, Bauman and DePriest all had multi-hit efforts as part of a highly potent top of the order for GWA. Cavalieri had a double and drew two walks, scoring twice, and Albert Cordero drew a bases-loaded walk to push a run across in the cleanup spot.
Jordan Stark, Bryce Hollingshead and Matt Keating each singled and had an RBI for Plains. Caraballo and Chris Hugh each had a double, with Caraballo the only Plains player with two hits on the evening.
Greater Wyoming Area will advance to the semifinal round of the District 31 Major Baseball tournament, set for Thursday.
They’ll travel to Greater Pittston Area, the top seed in the Division 2 pool, with the winner advancing to the District 31 final on Sunday.
Kingston/Forty Fort 11, Wilkes-Barre 1
On the other side of the pool from GWA in Division 2, Kingston/Forty Fort also managed to secure a semifinal spot with a win over Wilkes-Barre.
The two teams were both 0-1 with losses to Greater Pittston Area, meaning this was a game where the winner moved on and the loser was done.
Emery Yurko launched a two-run homer for KFF as part of a multi-hit night, and also pitched three innings in relief to help lock down the win.
Kolton Kosloski got the start for KFF and struck out six hitter over three strong innings, also adding two hits at the plate.
David Cortico had two hits and drove in the lone run for Wilkes-Barre. Maylon Lopez had two hits.
Kingston/Forty Fort will travel to Back Mountain on Thursday night in the District 31 semifinals.
D16 MAJOR BASEBALL
Hazleton 11, Northwest 1
Henry García threw three innings with nine strikeouts and just one earned run to lead Hazleton to a win in their pool play finale.
Garcia added two hits to help his cause. Matthew Nunez and Kendry Mordan each had a homer and two singles for Hazleton, who tallied 16 hits total as a team in the win.
Nathan Sinclair had a triple for Northwest. Frank Biller and Jack Homnick each had a base hit.
Hazleton finished up pool play at 3-1 with the win and earned themselves the second seed out of Division 1 in Thursday’s semifinals.
They’ll visit Valley East on Thursday for a trip to the District 16 championship.
Mountain Top 5, Valley East 4
Mountain Top scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to rally for a win over Valley East to force a three-way tie atop Division 2 and land themselves into the semifinal round.
The win had Mountain Top finishing at 2-1 in pool play, tied with Valley East and Freeland. The district uses runs allowed as a tiebreaker in that case, with Valley East earning the top seed and Mountain Top leaping over Freeland for the second spot.
Eli Metz and Brody May drove in runs for Mountain Top in that crucial fifth inning. Parker Wise doubled and had two RBI to help his team.
Metz threw 5.2 innings with all four of his runs allowed coming unearned. He allowed five hits and struck out 12 hitters to earn the win.
Brantlee Butcher had two RBI for Valley East. Aiden Ferdinand had two hits and scored two runs.
Valley East will still be the top seed out of Division 1 despite the loss, hosting Hazleton in the semis.
Mountain Top will travel to Valley West in Thursday’s other semifinal game.
Freeland 10, Hanover 0
Kavon Cottle threw a four-inning no-hitter, striking out six hitters to help Freeland end pool play on a victorious note.
Dominic Marchetti had two hits and drove in two runs for Freeland. Brayden Forschner tripled as part of a two-hit night, and Brody Sheman added two hits and two runs scored for Freeland.
Mason Qualters was the lone runner to reach base for Hanover, getting hit by a pitch.
Freeland finished pool play at 2-1, in a tie at the top with Mountain Top and Valley East, but were the odd team out due to a tiebreaker of runs allowed that sent the other two teams through to the semifinals.
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