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Defense, pitching boosts Pittston Twp. to 2-0 in pool play

<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Panzarella lifts East to victory in WVC All-Star Game</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area grad Chris Panzarella (14) slides into third ahead of the tag from Valley West alum Logan Zavada. Panzarella won MVP honors for the East team in Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_allstarbaseball031.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hazleton Area grad Chris Panzarella (14) slides into third ahead of the tag from Valley West alum Logan Zavada. Panzarella won MVP honors for the East team in Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game. </caption0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_allstarbaseball011.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">East pitcher Joe Olszyk, a Nanticoke grad, was credited with the win in Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game, going three innings and allowing just two baserunners. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_allstarbaseball011.jpg</photo1><caption1>East pitcher Joe Olszyk, a Nanticoke grad, was credited with the win in Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game, going three innings and allowing just two baserunners. </caption1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_allstarbaseball041.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick grad Zach Andress (10) scrambles away from Crestwood grad Chase Jones in a rundown, allowing a run to score for the West team during Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_allstarbaseball041.jpg</photo2><caption2>Berwick grad Zach Andress (10) scrambles away from Crestwood grad Chase Jones in a rundown, allowing a run to score for the West team during Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game. </caption2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_allstarbaseball021.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas grad Jordan McCrum knocks down a line drive before throwing over to first in Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_allstarbaseball021.jpg</photo3><caption3>Dallas grad Jordan McCrum knocks down a line drive before throwing over to first in Thursday&#8217;s WVC Senior All-Star Game. </caption3></div></div>
RICE TWP. &#8212; Two all-star games. Three at-bats. Three doubles. Six RBI.Not a bad way to wind down a high school career for Chris Panzarella.A month after jump-starting a rally in the Field of Dreams Game to lift the Wyoming Valley Conference all-stars over the Lackawanna League all-stars, Panzarella was at it again on Thursday.The recent Hazleton Area grad doubled twice and drove in four runs. He made a handful of plays at shortstop. And he even got to close out the game on the mound, pitching the seventh inning of the East squad&#8217;s 7-2 triumph over the West in the WVC Senior All-Star Game.&#8220;I just go out there and have some fun,&#8221; Panzarella said. &#8220;Just play hard. I&#8217;m not going to go out there and dog it just because it&#8217;s an all-star game. Play hard and try to do what I do.&#8221;That effort earned him MVP honors for the East. That mentality helped land him a Division I scholarship from Delaware State recently.It&#8217;s been a hectic stretch for Panzarella. At the end of May, he homered in a district playoff win, only to learn afterward that the coaching staff at his original destination &#8212; Lackawanna College &#8212; had been fired, putting his own future up in the air.But he got an invitation to visit Delaware State the following week and, armed with the test grade he needed, got the Division I offer he was looking for.&#8220;It means a ton. I knew he was going to get there,&#8221; said Gino Cara, Panzarella&#8217;s coach at Hazleton Area who also coached the East team along with some of his Cougars staff. &#8220;He&#8217;s one of the best players in the area with his skill set. And he works so hard. I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if I go back and he&#8217;s taking ground balls on the field tonight.&#8220;He has worked so hard to get where he&#8217;s been. Intuitively, he knows the game as well as lot of a coaches. He plays the game with a great intensity and a great work ethic.&#8221;In Thursday&#8217;s game, Panzarella capped off a strong day on the mound for the East, following Jared Witner (Crestwood), Joe Olszyk (Nanticoke) and fellow Hazleton Area grad Kyle Rogers. The group combined on a four-hitter.Olszyk was credited with the win, allowing just one baserunner in three innings. Chase Jones (Crestwood) and Kyle Rosick (Nanticoke) drove in a run apiece while Jason Hoggarth (Holy Redeemer) added a double.A.J. Sweppenheiser (Dallas) earned MVP honors for the West, throwing four innings of three-hit ball. Zach Andress (Berwick) added an RBI single.&#8220;This was one of the most fun games I&#8217;ve ever had,&#8221; Cara said. &#8220;We had a great time in this dugout with these guys. They&#8217;re a unique bunch.&#8220;We have to, as coaches, get together and make sure this happens every year.&#8221;Perhaps the driving force behind it has been Hanover Area coach Mike Zapotoski, who has helped organize the event in three of the last four summers. The game has a long history in the area but had been played sporadically in recent years.Northwest&#8217;s Lou DiPasquale and Wyoming Area&#8217;s Ron Musto, who coached the West along with Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s John Milius, both credited Zapotoski&#8217;s work in getting the game back up and running.&#8220;He&#8217;s the guy who busted his butt to get this going,&#8221; DiPasquale said. &#8220;He set it all up. And he doesn&#8217;t have to do this. His record speaks for itself. I think he needs credit here. I helped him call coaches, but he did it. He&#8217;s the man at this, and that&#8217;s great. He needs to be recognized for this.&#8221;Though the coaches involved said they would like to work on the timing of the game, they want to ensure that it continues.&#8220;This is very important,&#8221; Musto said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not so much of getting the kids together on the field, it&#8217;s getting them together in the dugout. Listening to the conversations, getting to know each other. Even though there&#8217;s social media today, nothing beats the face-to-face interactions.&#8220;You&#8217;re looking at the kids that were the go-to guys on most teams and yet they&#8217;re all gentlemen. The reason they&#8217;re good players is because they&#8217;re good kids. They get to this point because they&#8217;re good kids, and that&#8217;s a reflection of their parents.&#8221;HonorsDuring the game, baseball fixture John Kashatus was recognized for his four decades of involvement with the sport in the area. Kashatus &#8212; a former coach at Nanticoke who now works with his son, Ken, at Dallas &#8212; was in the dugout with the West squad as an assistant during Thursday&#8217;s game.Wyoming Valley West was also recognized for its run to the state finals in June.WVC Senior All-Star GameEast 7, West 2West`AB`R`H`BIMcCrum ss`2`1`1`0Lopatka cf`2`0`0`0Gregory 2b`2`1`1`0Andress rf`2`0`1`1Thomas c`2`0`0`0Gavenonis rf`2`0`1`0Zavada 3b`2`0`0`0Williamson 3b`2`0`0`0Sweppenhsr p`1`0`0`0Zezza lf`1`0`0`0Lupole ss`1`0`0`0Baron lf`1`0`0`0Musto c`1`0`0`0Harrison 1b`1`0`0`0Carey 2b`0`0`0`0Techmanski 1b`1`0`0`0Ungvarsky p`1`0`0`0Totals`24`2`4`1East`AB`R`H`BIKlein rf`2`1`1`0Delaney cf`2`1`1`0Semanek 1b`1`1`1`0CJones 1b`2`0`0`1Rogers 3b`1`1`0`0Rosick ss`1`2`1`1Panzarella ss`2`0`2`4Dolan 3b`2`0`0`0Porpiglia 2b`2`0`0`0Butry c`2`0`0`0Hoggarth cf`2`1`1`0Dasher lf`2`0`0`0Witner p`2`0`0`0Kwiatkwski 2b`2`0`1`0Olszyk p`2`0`0`0Totals`27`7`8`6West`200`000`0`&#8212;`2East`500`011`x`&#8212;`72B &#8212; Panzarella 2, HoggarthWest`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KUngvrsky (L)`1.0`3`5`5`3`0Sweppenhsr`4.0`3`1`1`0`1Williamson`1.0`2`1`0`0`0East`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KWitner`2.0`4`2`1`0`1Olszyk (W)`3.0`0`0`0`1`1Rogers`1.0`0`0`0`0`0Panzarella`1.0`0`0`0`0`0<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton Area grad Chris Panzarella lifts East to victory in WVC Senior All-Star Game