LEBANON — Located at opposite ends of the bracket, Schuylkill North and Schuylkill West hoped they would face each other at some point in the VFW State Teener 15-16-year-old Teener Tournament.
A losers’ bracket game on the second day wasn’t the game they had hoped for.
That was case Saturday night when the two Area 2 representatives squared off at Fifth Ward Athletic Complex Field in an elimination game.
Schuylkill West emerged victorious, riding the strong pitching of Dylan Brown and clutch hitting by Colton Love to an 11-1 victory over Schuylkill North.
With the victory, Schuylkill West advances in the losers’ bracket to play Clearfield at 11 a.m. today. Should Schuylkill West win this morning, it would play again at 5 p.m.
“We live to play again. We get to do it again (today),” Schuylkill West manager Jim
Kramer said. “They’re feeling pretty good about themselves.
“Our bats came alive. And we’ve gotten three complete-game pitching performances so far.”
Saturday night’s victory followed the same pattern as the morning for Schuylkill West, when it defeated Hollidaysburg 6-1. The West got a stellar pitching effort, scored some runs early, then tacked on runs later in the game.
Brown, a 16-year-old right-hander from Pine Grove, limited Schuylkill North to five hits, walked one and struck out four.
He took a shutout into the seventh, when Tyler Nalesnik’s one-out pinch single gave Schuylkill North its only run.
“I had all my pitches working,” said Brown, who gave a lot of credit to catcher Tanner Levan, who called all the pitches. “I trusted my catcher, I hit my spots and I let my defense do the work.
“We’re starting to become more like a team. We know we need to win out, so we’re playing with an edge on our shoulders.”
Schuylkill West opened the scoring in the top of the first, capitalizing on a Schuylkill North error to take a 2-0 lead on Brown’s two-run, two-out single.
The West broke it open with three runs apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Love had an RBI single in the fifth and two-run single in the sixth, while Dylan Smith, who finished 3-for-5, had a two-run triple in the seventh.
Love, who only pinch-hit in the morning game, finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored, three RBIs and was hit by a pitch.
“He’s been our most consistent hitter,” Kramer said of Love. “I gave another kid a chance this morning, and he stepped up. All of our kids have been stepping up when they were called on.”
The loss was a demoralizing one for Area 2 champion Schuylkill North, which won its opener Friday only to fall 10-3 earlier Saturday to Huntingdon.
In two games Saturday, Schuylkill North scored just four runs, had 10 hits and committed nine errors.
In Saturday’s earlier games:
Schuylkill East 6
Hollidaysburg 1
LEBANON — Dilan Smith took a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning and Steele Fekette had a key two-run triple as Schuylkill East eliminated Hollidaysburg.
Smith needed just 65 pitches to get through six innings, and was relieved after Hollidaysburg loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. The Pine Grove 16-year-old finished with three strikeouts and three walks, keeping the Tigers off-balance with a good fastball, curveball and two-seam fastball.
“My fastball worked, my curveball worked ... everything just worked today,” Smith said. “It’s great to have great outfielders that can fly out there to catch any ball that is hit.”
Fekette’s triple came during Schuylkill West’s four-run second inning. Dylan Brown, who finished 3-for-3, singled with one out and Colby Harner walked. Fekette then roped a 1-1 pitch over the center fielder’s head to put Schuylkill West up 2-0.
Fekette scored on an RBI groundout by Smith. The West’s final run in the inning came when Dylan Stephen walked, stole second and scored on Nolan Hoffman’s double.
Schuylkill West’s final two runs came in the fourth when Brown doubled and Smith and Stephen later followed with back-to-back, two-out doubles.
Less than 12 hours after losing its tournament opener to Lebanon Valley, Schuylkill West came out fired up, collecting nine hits and playing error-free defense.
“That’s a good sign, when we come out and play well,” Schuylkill West manager Jim Kramer said. “They came out ready to play. We had a great pitching performance and we hit the ball today.”
HOLLIDAYSBURG (1) — Ciprich lf 3 0 1 0, Treese 1b 3 0 0 0, Storm p-ss 3 1 1 0, Servello cf 2 0 1 0, Peterson c 2 0 0 0, Cavalet ss 1 0 0 0, Sweeney cr-rf 1 0 0 0, Mackey eh-p 1 0 0 1, Walters rf-eh 3 0 0 0, Bossinger 3b 1 0 0 0, Holtz eh-3b 2 0 0 0, Hileman 2b 1 0 1 0, Parnell 2b 1 0 0 0. Totals 24 1 4 1.
SCHUYLKILL WEST (6) — Smith p-ss 4 0 1 2, Stephen lf 2 1 2 1, Hoffman eh 2 0 1 1, Herb 1b 3 0 0 0, Zimmerman 1b 0 0 0 0, Hendricks rf 2 0 0 0, Schaffer cr-rf 0 1 0 0, Weinus cf 3 0 1 0, Levan c 3 0 0 0, Brown ss-3b 3 2 3 0, Harner 2b 1 1 0 0, Love ph 1 0 0 0, Fekette 3b-p 3 1 1 2. Totals 27 6 9 6.
Hollidaysburg 000 000 1 — 1 Schuylkill West 040 200 x — 6
E —None. DP — Schuylkill West 1. LOB — Hollidaysburg 7, Schuylkill West 7. 2B — Storm, Servello, Hileman, Smith, Stephen, Hoffman, Brown. 3B — Fekette. SB — Ciprich, Stephen, Brown.
Hollidays. IP H R ER BB K
Storm L 2 4 4 4 4 3
Mackey 4 5 2 2 0 4
Sch. West IP H R ER BB K
Smith W 6 4 1 1 3 3
Fekette 1 0 0 0 1 2
Smith faced 3 batters in the 7th.
HBP — by Smith (Mackey). WP — Smith. T — 1:49.
Huntingdon 10
Schuylkill North 3
LEBANON — Schuylkill North committed six errors, including three in a pivotal fifth inning, in a loss to Huntingdon in a winners’ bracket game.
Schuylkill North took a 1-0 lead in the first when Joe Nahas scored on a wild pitch, then built a 3-1 cushion on Nahas’ two-run single in the third.
Huntingdon sliced the deficit to 3-2 after an error and a double steal in the fourth, then took the lead with three runs in the fifth. In that frame, Schuylkill North couldn’t catch a two-out foul pop-up in front of its dugout that would have ended the inning, and Huntingdon took control when Kody Heaton’s two-out fly to deep center with the bases loaded was dropped by the center fielder, plating three runs.
“It was evident, one through nine in their lineup, that they swung the bats well,” acting Schuylkill North manager Mick Jacavage said. “With a team like that, you can’t give them extra outs. And we did that a couple of times and it came back to haunt us.”
Huntingdon pulled away from there, adding three in the sixth and two in the seventh. The Area 5 champions finished with seven hits and stole eight bases.
Reliever Daniel Kyper quieted the Schuylkill North attack after Huntingdon took the lead, allowing just one hit in 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.
“When it rains it pours, and that’s what happened today,” Jacavage said.
HUNTINGDON (10) — J. Wagner ss 3 2 2 2, Price p 0 0 0 0, Alleman dh-lf 3 1 1 1, Fisher rf 3 1 1 0, Heaton 3b 3 1 0 0, D. Kyper lf-p 4 2 0 0, Speck cf 4 1 1 1, Brown c 4 0 1 2, Stratton 2b 3 1 1 0, Huntsman cr-2b 1 1 0 0, A. Kyper 1b 4 0 0 0. Totals 32 10 7 6.
SCHUYLKILL NORTH (3) — Zahodnick 2b-p 2 0 0 0, Nahas ss 3 1 1 2, McCole p-2b 3 0 1 0, Jordan eh 3 0 0 0, Gurski 3b-1b 3 0 1 0, Murray cf 2 0 0 0, Bolinsky cf 1 0 0 0, Jacavage 1b 2 0 0 0, Nalesnik 3b 1 0 0 0, Rex lf 1 0 0 0, Mueller lf 1 0 0 0, B. Wagner rf 0 1 0 0, Grigas rf 2 0 1 0, Knerr c 1 1 1 0, Caputo c 0 0 0 0. Totals 25 3 5 2.
Huntingdon 001 133 2 — 10 Schuylkill North 102 000 0 — 3
E —Huntingdon 1, Schuylkill North 6. DP — Huntingdon 1. LOB — Huntingdon 6, Schuylkill North 5. 2B — Alleman. HR — J. Wagner. SB — J. Wagner, Alleman, D. Kyper 3, Speck 3. CS — Murray.
Huntingdon IP H R ER BB K
Price W 4.1 4 3 2 3 2
D. Kyper Sv 2.2 1 0 0 1 1
Sch. North IP H R ER BB K
McCole L 5.1 7 8 4 3 4
Zahodnick 1.2 0 2 0 1 2
WP — Price, Zahodnick. T — 2:03.
Game Summary
VFW State Teener 15-16 Tournament
At 5th Ward Field, Lebanon
SCHUYLKILL WEST (11) — Smith ss 5 3 3 2, Stephen lf 3 1 0 0, Love 2b 3 2 2 3, Hoffman eh 2 1 1 1, Herb 1b 3 0 0 0, Zimmerman 1b 0 0 0 0, Brown p 3 0 1 2, Weinus cf 3 0 0 1, Levan c 4 1 1 0, Schaffer rf 1 0 0 0, Hendricks ph-rf 2 1 1 0, Fekette 3b 2 1 0 0, Harner ph 0 1 0 0. Totals 31 11 9 9.
SCHUYLKILL NORTH (1) — Zahodnick 2b-lf 3 0 1 0, Nahas p-2b 3 1 1 0, McCole ss 3 0 0 0, Jordan eh 2 0 0 0, Nalesnik ph 1 0 1 1, Gurski 3b 2 0 0 0, Jacavage ph 1 0 0 0, Murray 1b 2 0 0 0, Rex lf 1 0 0 0, Mueller lf-p 1 0 0 0, Bolinsky rf 1 0 0 0, Grigas cr-ph-rf 0 0 0 0, Wagner cf 2 0 1 0, Knerr c 1 0 1 0, Caputo ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 24 1 5 1.
Sch. West 200 033 3 — 11 Sch. North 000 000 1 — 1
E —Schuylkill West 0, Schuylkill North 3. DP — Schuylkill West 1, Schuylkill North 1. LOB — Schuylkill West 10, Schuylkill North 3. 3B — Smith. SB — Smith, Brown. CS — Grigas, Zahodnick. S — Stephen. SF — Hoffman.
Sch. West IP H R ER BB K
Brown W 7 5 1 1 1 4
Sch. North IP H R ER BB K
Nahas L 4.1 5 5 3 5 6
Mueller 2.2 4 6 1 0 1
HBP — by Nahas (Love), by Mueller (Weinus, Harner, Stephen). WP — Brown, Nahas 3. PB — Knerr. T — 2:14.