PINE GROVE - There were no question marks about whether or not Pine Grove would survive another round of the Schuylkill-Berks Legion League playoffs Sunday night.
There were only exclamation points.
The Grovers' 9-1 win over tournament No. 1 seed Muhlenberg at Stump Stadium kept them alive and pits Pine Grove (12-10) against Southern Area (14-6) at 7 p.m. today to determine who plays Muhlenberg (16-3-1) for the league title Tuesday.
Southern Area defeated Tamaqua 5-1 in an elimination game earlier Sunday at Pine Grove.
"This is what tournament baseball is all about," Pine Grove coach Frank D'Agostino III said. "It's fun, especially when everything is going your way. We're hitting the ball well now, putting the ball in play, putting pressure on the defense, executing and bringing home runs."
Everything went Pine Grove's way in just a couple of innings Sunday against Muhlenberg - but a couple of innings was all it took.
In the third inning, Jed Blankenhorn singled with one out and Brian Reichert reached base on an error. Steve Zimmerman drove home Blankenhorn before Grovers' pitcher Kobe D'Agostino reached on another error.
Logan Levan executed a sacrifice squeeze bunt to put the Grovers ahead 3-0.
Muhlenberg had D'Agostino in trouble in the third and fourth innings, loading the bases with two outs, but the lefty got a strikeout in the third and a popup in the fourth to get out of the jams.
"I was getting a little wild," Kobe D'Agostino said. "I was just trying to throw strikes because I knew my infield and outfield would make plays for me. That's what they did all day today, make plays. As long as they're making plays, we're going to win a lot of ball games."
Pine Grove scored the remainder of its nine runs in the fifth. Blankenhorn led off the inning getting hit by a pitch and advanced to second on an error from a fielder's choice by Reichert.
After a Zimmerman single, Levan delivered a two-run single to put the Grovers ahead 6-0.
"I knew I just wanted to put the ball in play, make them make plays and get quality at-bats," said Levan, who finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored.
Two more Muhlenberg errors and an RBI bunt single by Jared McCabe gave Pine Grove its final three runs.
In all, Muhlenberg committed five errors.
"In this game, it's all about scoring runs," Frank D'Agostino said. "It doesn't matter how they get in there - just as many as you can get and keep going until they get you three outs."
In the first game Sunday, Southern Area pitcher Dean Stramara prevented Tamaqua (11-9) from doing just that.
Stramara allowed just one run on five hits and struck out 12 in seven innings of work - the first complete game of the season for an A's pitcher.
"That's pretty high for me," Stramara joked about his strikeout total. "I was just pounding the zone with my fastball, used my slider to get them chasing away, and sneak the curveball in on their hands."
Stramara struck out the side in the fourth with just 10 pitches. Only three Blue Sox avoided striking out.
"He was on target today," Southern Area coach Jerry Freiwald said of his starter. "He did an outstanding job out there today. He threw a lot of strikes and we had the defense behind him to play it."
Third baseman Mike Ulsh made two sparkling defensive plays in the third inning, picking a bouncing grounder and throwing to first for the second out and making a diving catch in foul territory for the third out.
The A's scored their first runs with two outs in the second. Zach Martin was hit by a pitch before back-to-back walks to Zavier Webb and Ulsh loaded the bases. Tamaqua pitcher Owen Bates plunked Brett Moore to plate Martin before Stramara's two-run single scored Webb and Ulsh.
RBI singles by Troy Moyer and Danny Blugis in the fifth inning gave Southern Area its final runs.
Derek Rottet singled and scored in the seventh to provide the Sox with their only run.
"I don't know why, but we couldn't put the bat on the ball," Tamaqua coach Todd Heisler said. "Way too many strikeouts."
The Blue Sox were in a similar situation this year as last year, losing in the winners' bracket final and playing the early elimination game the following day.
The result was the same this year as it was last - elimination.
The 7 p.m. meeting at Stump Stadium tonight will be the second of this postseason between Pine Grove and Southern Area.
The Grovers beat the A's 5-3 in the first round Wednesday in Orwigsburg. Pine Grove has scored 43 runs in six playoff games - just over seven runs per game.
"We're going to play whoever shows up in the other dugout. That's our mindset," Freiwald said. "We go day by day. It went from Friday to make it to Saturday, Saturday to make it to Sunday, Sunday to make it to Monday and we'll play whoever is in that other dugout and see what we can do with it."
The winner of tonight's game receives a berth in the Region 2 American Legion Tournament and plays Muhlenberg at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Stump Stadium to decide the league champion.
