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<p>DALLAS &#8212; Jake Griffin has a hard fastball. That&#8217;s clearly evident when it smacks the catcher&#8217;s mitt.</p><p>But what makes the Kingston/Forty Fort pitcher even more effective is the use of his offspeed pitches and breaking curves.</p><p>Back Mountain National found that out the hard way in Wednesday&#8217;s District 31 Little League 9-10 championship.</p><p>Griffin was masterful on the bump, striking out 10 batters in just 4 1/3 innings. KFF jumped out to a three-run lead after one inning and never looked back en route to a 6-0 victory.</p><p>Kingston/Forty Fort, which also took the 9-10 championship in 2014, now advances to the Section 5 tournament that begins Monday. KFF will face District 32 champ Green Ridge (Scranton) in the opening game.</p><p>The victory also avenged a pool-play loss to National.</p><p>&#8220;It was similar to the first game where we scored three quick on them, but we left off the throttle,&#8221; KFF manager Jim Griffin said. &#8220;I told the boys that we couldn&#8217;t let up anymore. And from that loss forward, we&#8217;ve never let up.&#8221;</p><p>Sure, a 3-0 lead before you even toe the rubber eases the nerves. But when you have command of all of your pitches, it&#8217;s almost lights out.</p><p>That was Jake Griffin Wednesday. He surrendered just three hits against a BMN squad that was averaging 10 or more runs in district play.</p><p>At one point, he struck out five straight batters. He needed just 38 pitches to get through three innings, pounding strike after strike into the umpire&#8217;s zone.</p><p>It was the definition of near perfection.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s been pitching well, and commanding the zone all year long.&#8221; Jim Griffin said of his son. &#8220;He is throwing hard, and he&#8217;s mixing in off-speed with that. Last time against them, he threw a lot of heat and I felt they were sitting on it. This time, we mixed it up a lot and he was spot-on.&#8221;</p><p>Back Mountain National&#8217;s best chance came in the fourth.</p><p>Graedon Finarelli drilled a one-out single to right, and two pitches later, Cole Kaiser was plunked. When Lucas Shultz drew a six-pitch walk to load the bases, momentum seemed squarely back in BMN&#8217;s dugout.</p><p>That&#8217;s where it stood. Griffin struck out the next two batters, ending any National hopes of a score.</p><p>&#8220;He almost single-handedly won this game for them,&#8221; National manager Bob Osipower said. &#8220;We are a team that scores runs. He shut us down. It&#8217;s that simple. We have nothing but good things to say about him. He came out and stole the game with his pitching.</p><p>&#8220;We focused all week on hitting hard pitching because we expected to see him. But the offspeed pitch kept us off-balance.&#8221;</p><p>KFF didn&#8217;t wait long to get started.</p><p>Four of the first five batters that stepped to the dish roped hits. Jake Griffin&#8217;s two-run double plated Philip Evan and Mason Sgarlat. Akirn Kopec&#8217;s RBI double then gave the reigning champs a 3-0 lead.</p><p>Luke Buss&#8217; RBI groundout in the third increased the advantage to 4-0, and two more runs in the fourth was more than enough with the way their pitcher was firing.</p><p>&#8220;Even down 3-0 early, we didn&#8217;t feel like we were out of the game because of the offensive power we have,&#8221; Osipower said. &#8220;We feel we are never out of a game at any point because of how we can score runs. That fourth inning was tough. That would have been a nice spark.&#8221;</p><p>Sgarlat and Jake Griffin combined for four runs, four hits and three RBI. Bryan Osipower, Finarelli and Kaiser had the lone singles for BMN.</p><p>&#8220;That fourth inning was huge,&#8221; Jim Griffin said. &#8220;I told Jake to settle down, throw strikes and get outs. I didn&#8217;t want him to worry about striking anyone out. I wanted him to pitch to contact and throw hard. That really cut down their rally.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 31 Little League</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>9-10 championship</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Kingston/Forty Fort 6, B.M. National 0</strong></p><p><strong>Kingston/FF`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Evan rf-3b`2`1`1`0</p><p>Moytka cf-rf`4`0`0`0</p><p>Sgarlat ss-2b`4`2`2`1</p><p>Griffin p-ss`4`2`2`2</p><p>AKopec 2b-p `2`0`1`1</p><p>McLaughlin c`2`0`0`0</p><p>Buss 1b-lf `2`0`0`1</p><p>Murach cf-lf`1`0`0`0</p><p>Banas lf`1`0`1`0</p><p>Brunn 1b`2`0`0`0</p><p>LKopec 3b`1`0`0`0</p><p>Matlowski lf-rf`2`1`1`0</p><p><strong>Totals`27`6`8`5</strong></p><p><strong>BM National`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Osipower 2b-ss`2`0`1`0</p><p>Healey c`3`0`0`0</p><p>Shiskowski ss-p`2`0`0`0</p><p>Finarelli 3b`3`0`1`0</p><p>Kaiser cf`2`0`1`0</p><p>Shultz 1b`1`0`0`0</p><p>Weaver p-lf`2`0`0`0</p><p>Spencer lf`1`0`0`0</p><p>Adamski 2b`1`0`0`0</p><p>Konigus rf`1`0`0`0</p><p>Wallace rf`1`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals`19`0`3`0</strong></p><p><strong>Kingston/FF`301 `200`&#8212;`6</strong></p><p><strong>BM National`000 `000`&#8212;`0</strong></p><p><strong>2B &#8212;</strong> Motyka, AKopec, Banas</p><p><strong>KFF `IP `H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Griffin (W) `4.1`3`0`0`2`10</p><p>AKopec `1.2`0`0`0`0`0</p><p><strong>National `IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Weaver (L) `3`6`5`4`2`2</p><p>Shiskowski `3`2`1`1`1`1</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Kingston/Forty Fort players celebrate their District 31 Little League 9-10 championship on Wednesday after beating Back Mountain National 6-0. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kingston/Forty Fort players celebrate their District 31 Little League 9-10 championship on Wednesday after beating Back Mountain National 6-0. </caption0><photoCredit0>Charlotte Bartizek | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mason Sgarlat slides safely into home to help Kingston/Forty Fort build a 3-0 lead in the first inning of Wednesday&#8217;s District 31 championship. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Mason Sgarlat slides safely into home to help Kingston/Forty Fort build a 3-0 lead in the first inning of Wednesday&#8217;s District 31 championship. </caption1><photoCredit1>Charlotte Bartizek | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kingston/Forty Fort&#8217;s Mason Sgarlat (left) gets the tag on Back Mountain National&#8217;s Bryan Osipower at second base during Wednesday&#8217;s title game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Kingston/Forty Fort&#8217;s Mason Sgarlat (left) gets the tag on Back Mountain National&#8217;s Bryan Osipower at second base during Wednesday&#8217;s title game. </caption2><photoCredit2>Charlotte Bartizek | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Akirn Kopec closed out the title win for Kingston/Forty Fort on the mound while adding a double at the plate. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-5.jpg</photo3><caption3>Akirn Kopec closed out the title win for Kingston/Forty Fort on the mound while adding a double at the plate. </caption3><photoCredit3>Charlotte Bartizek | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jake Griffin struck out 10 while also picking up two hits and two RBI in Kingston/Forty Fort&#8217;s District 31 9-10 championship victory on Wednesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL-071615-BMT-vs-Kingston-FF-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Jake Griffin struck out 10 while also picking up two hits and two RBI in Kingston/Forty Fort&#8217;s District 31 9-10 championship victory on Wednesday. </caption4><photoCredit4>Charlotte Bartizek | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Fox</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Kingston/Forty Fort defends District 31 Little League 9-10 crown