MIDDLEPORT - Schuylkill North was shut out in its first game of the two-day Area 2 15-16-year-old All-Star Tournament on Saturday morning.
It followed by scoring 29 runs in its next three games to make that start a distant memory.
And clinch the Area 2 championship.
Bobby Wagner and Brandon Rex were both 3-for-4 as the North used a nine-run second inning to key a 14-4, six-inning rout of Schuylkill Central in tournament's finale Sunday at Schuylkill Valley Stadium.
The North lost to the West 5-0 in the tournament's first game Saturday morning, but came back with a 10-1 victory over Central on Saturday afternoon.
The North then pulled out a 5-2, eight-inning victory over the West on Sunday morning, while the Central beat the West 5-4 in the middle game.
Central's victory meant the North controlled its championship destiny. After spotting Central an early 3-0 lead, the North scored a run in the first and took control with for good with its nine-run second to go up 10-1.
With the win, the North (3-1) advances to the VFW State Tournament on Aug. 1-4 at Lebanon Valley and will open against the host squad at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1.
Despite losing both of its games Sunday, the West (2-2) also qualified for the state tournament as the Area 2 runner-up and will take on the Area 3 champ at 10 a.m. Aug. 1.
Central finished the tournament 1-3.
It turned out to be quite a turnaround for the North, especially with how it started.
"I thought it was going to be very hard to come back," North manager John Chuma said after how he felt following Saturday's loss. "Looking at the other rosters, they have some pretty good players, so I thought it would kind of be hard to come back."
But the North did.
Nick Gurski had two hits, including a two-run double, in the nine-run second inning. Wagner followed with an opposite-field, two-run single on an 0-2 pitch to make it 9-3.
Rex, Josh Jacavage and Damian Knerr also had RBIs in the inning. The North finished the game with 14 hits.
"That's all we talked about, how our hitting was failing us in the beginning," Chuma said. "We just couldn't get the big hits with guys on base and all of the sudden in the last few games, everybody started hitting."
One of the other heroes Sunday for the North turned out to be Richie Zahodnick.
After pitching two innings of relief to get the win over the West in the morning, Zahodnick replaced Gurski with one out and three runs in during the top of the first against Central. Zahodnick ended up going 4.1 innings of relief to earn his second victory of the day, allowing four hits and one earned run. He struck out four and didn't walk a hitter.
"He came up big for us," Chuma said. "The kid throws strikes, he's resilient. He is just a gamer. I've known him since Little League."
Chuma figured pitching was going to be the North's strength. Each town that made up the team - Frackville, Shenandoah, Girardville, Tamaqua and Mahanoy City - gave Chuma at least one pitcher. The staff allowed only seven runs in its three wins, with Jacavage throwing a compete game in Saturday's victory over Central.
"I figured we needed two pitchers a game, so I thought eight pitchers," Chuma said. "It nearly came to that, where we needed eight pitchers.
"I am tickled to death that we won," Chuma added. "After the first game, I never thought we would be here."
Schuylkill North 5 Schuylkill West 2
MIDDLEPORT - Richie Zahodnick had two doubles and pitched two innings of relief to get the win as Schuylkill North pushed across three runs in the top of the eighth to down Schuylkill West in extra innings in the morning game.
Zahodnick hit his second double of the game in the eighth. He was then knocked in by Ian McCole with the go-ahead run. McCole later scored on a wild pitch and Josh Jacavage came home on an error to set the final.
Zahodnick struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit in his two innings of work.
The West got out to a 2-0 advantage after the first inning as Dilan Smith scored on a wild pitch and four consecutive walks forced in a run.
The North tied it in the third on an RBI double by Zahodnick and RBI groundout by Major Jordan.
Schuylkill Central 5 Schuylkill West 4
MIDDLEPORT - Donte Yeastadt was the offensive hero for Schuylkill Central, driving in all five of its runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the sixth, in a victory over Schuylkill West in Sunday's middle game.
Aaron DeAngelo led off the sixth with a single, was sacrificed to second, when to third on a groundout and scored on Yeastadt's single to left.
Yeastadt gave Central a 4-2 lead in the fourth on an opposite-field grand slam to right field. The West tied the game with two runs in the fifth on a Dilan Smith RBI groundout and Dylan Stephen RBI single.
J.J. Spehrley pitched two innings of relief to get the win.