CRESSONA — What a difference a year makes.
In 2014, Cressona’s 9-10-year-old team managed just one win in the District 24 Little League Tournament.
Twelve months later, many of those same boys led Cressona to the top with Saturday’s 5-4 win over Upper Dauphin County in the District 24 Little League 10-11-year-old championship game.
Cressona starter Branson Devitt threw five strong innings, giving up three runs on six hits and striking out five.
Devitt also sparked Cressona’s offense in a four-run fourth
inning, reaching first base on an infield error before scoring on Austin Heydt’s RBI double.
Devitt scored again in the fifth on Gavin Guers’ RBI single, which proved to be the difference.
“He was incredible,” Cressona manager John Carroll said of Devitt. “I gave him the ball, and he was a trooper out there on the mound. He absolutely battled at the plate, too.”
With the win, Cressona (6-0) moves on to the Section 3 Tournament. It will open against the District 12 champion Thursday, July 23, at a District 15 site to be announced.
Devitt and UDC starter Bryant Hoover went back and forth through the first two and half innings before either side could knock in a run.
UDC (5-1) struck first on Nic Joseph’s RBI double to left that plated Serene Boyer to make it a 1-0 game.
Cressona stormed back with its four-run fourth, tying the game on Heydt’s RBI double and taking the lead on Adam Carroll’s RBI single.
Christopher Moyer’s two-run single to right put Cressona on top 4-1.
In the fifth inning, Cressona made it 5-1 when Devitt reached first on an infield error and scored on Guers’ RBI single.
“I think part of the reason why we lost is we had a few misplays, which isn’t like us,” UDC manager Kevin Hoover said. “Our defense is usually solid, but when you’re playing a team like this, little mistakes like that hurt.”
UDC got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Trey Wenrich scored on a fielder’s choice by Dawson Klinger to make it 5-2.
Bryant Hoover was relieved in the top of the sixth by Hunter Zerby after he hit the leadoff batter with a pitch.
Hoover finished allowing five runs on six hits, striking out six and walking two over five innings.
“He threw well,” Kevin Hoover said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t hit the ball enough to back him up.”
UDC battled back into the game when Brayden Shadle led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, and Brady Evans followed with a two-run homer over the center field fence.
Adam Carroll, Cressona’s second reliever, came in to quiet UDC’s suddenly hot bats. He got the next three batters to fly out, strike out and ground out, respectively, to cap his team’s championship run.
“They’ve done this all year, so they don’t disappoint,” John Carroll said. “They are resilient kids. When they’re down, they come back. When they’re up, they make everything exciting.
“They just go up there and they hit and they field,” he added. “If they make an error, they leave it behind them, and that’s what you need to do in baseball.”
Cressona overcame a mighty challenge after this same team, then in the 9-10 year-old tournament, won just one game in pool play last year, and nearly missed playing this year altogether.
“We almost didn’t have a team, because there almost weren’t enough players to play,” Carroll said. “But we got it together, and I broke it down to fundamentals this year.
“I told them that I didn’t care if we won just one game again, but I was going to make them baseball players. Now they’re champions, and no one can ever take that away from them.”
Game Summary
District 24 Little League
10-11-year-old Championship
At Cressona
CRESSONA (5) — Moyer ss-p-ss 4 0 1 2, Koch cf 3 0 0 0, Devitt p-1b 1 2 0 0, Guers c 3 0 1 1, Heydt 3b 2 1 1 1, Carroll 1b-ss-p 3 1 1 1, Hine lf 3 0 0 0, Kline 2b 2 1 1 0, Fritz rf 1 0 0 0, Cryts rf 1 0 1 0. Totals 23 5 6 5.
UPPER DAUPHIN COUNTY (4) — Laskowski ss 3 0 0 0, Joseph c 3 0 2 1, Klinger 1b 3 0 1 1, Hoover p-2b 3 0 0 0, Shadle 3b 3 1 1 0, Evans cf 3 1 1 2, Zerby 2b-p 3 0 0 0, Boyer rf-ph 1 1 0 0, Wenrich rf 0 1 0 0, Whiteash lf 2 0 1 0. Totals 24 4 6 4.
Cressona (6-0) 000 410 — 5
Upper Dauphin (5-1) 001 012 — 4
E — Cressona 1, Upper Dauphin County 2. DP — Upper Dauphin County 1. LOB — Cressona 6, Upper Dauphin County 5. 2B — Heydt, Joseph, Shadle. HR — Evans. SB — Koch.
Cressona IP H R ER BB K
Devitt W 5 5 3 3 1 5
Moyer 0 1 1 1 0 0
Carroll 1 0 0 0 0 1
UDC IP H R ER BB K
Hoover L 5 5 5 3 2 6
Zerby 1 1 0 0 1 0
Moyer pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.
HBP — by Hoover (Kline), by Devitt (Boyer). PB — Joseph 3. T — 1:40.