Abby Favata drives in 4, Berwick rolls past Pittston Area

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Lackawanna Trail Prom an enchanted celebration

HUGHESTOWN &#8212; Berwick took advantage of three Pittston Area errors to plate five runs in the opening frame as the Bulldogs rolled past the Patriots, 14-1, in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 softball.Abby Favata&#8217;s bases-clearing hit in the second inning gave Moriah Lynn enough run support as the senior hurled a five-inning, three-hitter with four strikeouts for the win.Berwick (7-3) remains one game back of Hazleton Area, while Pittston falls to 3-8.&#8220;It&#8217;s a quick field because it&#8217;s dry,&#8221; Berwick coach Brian Bridge said. &#8220;There was a lot of bounce to it, and we saw that warming up. We knew that if we could hit the ball and put it in play, that was going to put a lot of pressure on the defense.&#8221;Pittston Area coach Vito Quaglia couldn&#8217;t ask any more of Taylor Baloga.She did throw strikes. The defense was just off.The first two Berwick hitters reached base on back-to-back infield bobbles. And the Bulldogs made Pittston pay for extending the inning.Courtney Hummel destroyed a RBI ground-rule double to deep center field. And Lexi Fries, Favata and Kylene Welsh passed the magic bat down the order for consecutive run-scoring, one-out singles.Before Pittston even got a chance to bat, Berwick had a five-run lead.&#8220;We made some critical errors early,&#8221; Quaglia said. &#8220;You can&#8217;t let a team as good as Berwick have gifts. The wind early was tough on the outfield. Balls were dropping in front of our kids, and we are usually a little better there. Then, we just couldn&#8217;t field some of the infield grounders. We felt we were just as good as they were. They just outplayed us, and we made more errors.&#8221;An error in the second inning also proved detrimental because it loaded the bases for Favata. The senior center fielder found an open hole in center on a 2-1 pitch, clearing the bases and increasing her team&#8217;s advantage to 9-0.&#8220;That hit felt good,&#8221; Favata said. &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t that great of a hit off the bat, but the wind and the sun made it tough for the fielder. It landed, which was the most important thing. It got three runs across the plate.&#8221;Baloga threw only two innings, allowing 11 runs &#8211; but only two of those earned. Pittston finished with six errors.&#8220;Taylor is a good pitcher that throws hard. She gave us a real battle at our place,&#8221; Bridge said. &#8220;We knew she would throw it hard. We just had to get the ball in play, which we did a nice job of doing.&#8221;On the other side, Lynn was efficient.Her only troublesome inning was the first. Taryn Ashby ripped a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield, and Lynn plunked Mindina Lieback with the next pitch. Just like that, the Patriots had some life.But Lynn struck out the next batter, and coaxed back-to-back grounders to third baseman Kylie Levan to escape any damage.Pittston scored its lone run in the second. Julie Silinskie was hit by a pitch, took two bases via an error on Liz Cappelloni&#8217;s grounder to short, and scored on a sacrifice squeeze by Theresa Domarasky.&#8220;I told our girls to stay on their toes because of the field,&#8221; Bridge said. &#8220;I told them to see the ball right into the glove. And Moriah was working everything today. Her curve was working well, and her screwball was on. When she is moving, she is tough.&#8221;Hummel, Favata and Welsh each had two hits for Berwick. Ashby was 2 for 3 for Pittston Area.&#8220;We couldn&#8217;t put too many good at-bats together against Lynn,&#8221; Quaglia said. &#8220;She kept us off-balance, and we were guessing a lot. We were looking fastball, and she would come with soft stuff. We just have to keep battling because there is a lot of parody in the league. We just have to get hot for the playoffs.&#8221;Berwick 14, Pittston Area 1, 5 inn.Berwick `AB`R`H`BILynn P `3`1`1`1Dent CR-PH `1`1`0`0Levan 3B`3`2`0`0East PH `1`0`0`0`Hummel RF `2`2`2`2Hostetter PH `1`0`0`0Petty 3B `2`2`1`1`Missien PH `1`0`0`0`Starr SS `2`2`0`0Taylor PH `1`0`0`0Fries DP `2`2`1`2Zalutko PR `0`0`0`0Stout C `1`0`1`0Favala CF `3`1`2`4Welsh 2B `3`1`2`1Katsock LF `1`0`0`0Whitmire LF`1`0`0`0Totals `28`14`10`11`3`0`0Pittston Area `AB`R`H`BIAshby SS `3`0`2`0Lieback C `2`0`0`0Cencetti 1B-P `3`0`1`0`Dragon LF-DP `3`0`0`0Bradigan 3B `2`0`0`0Baloga P-LF `2`0`0`0Cegelka PH `1`0`0`0`Silinskie CF `0`1`0`0`Shamnoski PH `1`0`0`0Cappelloni DP `1`0`0`0`Gardner PH-2B `1`0`0`0Domarasky RF `0`0`0`1Yost PH `1`0`0`0Quaglia 2B `0`0`0`0Totals `19`1`3`12B &#8212; BER, Hummel, Petty, Stout.Berwick `635 `00 &#8211; 14Pittston Area `010 `00 &#8211; 1Berwick `IP `H`R`ER`BB`SOLynn (W) `5`3`1`1`0`4Pittston Area `IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOBaloga (L) `2`8`11`2`2`2Cencetti `3`2`3`3`1`5