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<p>FLEETVILLE &#8212; The Plains 9-10 baseball all-stars left Christy Mathewson Little League on Tuesday night in an unfamiliar situation.</p><p>They gave up 13 runs that night. The normally explosive offense scored just once. They arrived home around 11 p.m. with only their second loss in tournament play.</p><p>If there was any solace, there wasn&#8217;t much time to dwell on the loss. Plains headed right back to the Little League 9-10 Baseball state tournament Wednesday morning and found its mojo along the way.</p><p>Highlighted by three-run homers by Jeffrey Kozerski and Ryan Novakowski, Plains broke open a close game with a 10-run fifth inning to defeat North Allegheny 14-4 in an elimination game. The contest ended after five innings due to the 10-run rule.</p><p>Plains, the District 16 and Section 5 champion, will play in an elimination game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Its opponent will be the loser of Wednesday night&#8217;s game between Section 7 champ Dillsburg and Section 4 champ Red Land.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great,&#8221; Plains manager Bill Cook said of his team&#8217;s response to Tuesday&#8217;s loss. &#8220;These kids aren&#8217;t quitters. They may have lost, but they didn&#8217;t hang their heads. It was like only 24 hours ago. And for a bunch of 9- and 10-year-olds to come back hard and have a short memory is a great thing for a 9-and-10 Little League team. I&#8217;m really proud of them.&#8221;</p><p>Actually, it was about 12 hours from arrival home Tuesday to returning to the field for warmups Wednesday. No matter, Plains came out strongly against North Allegheny, the District 4 and Section 2 champions.</p><p>Jason Prudente brought home a run with an RBI double and Novakowski later scored on a wild pitch as Plains took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. An RBI double by Sean Monahan and an RBI single by Novakowski in the third made it 4-0 Plains.</p><p>North Allegheny fought back with a pair of runs in the fourth, but that offense paled in comparison to Plains&#8217; outburst in the fifth.</p><p>Braeden Cook opened Plains&#8217; fifth by getting hit by a pitch, starting an avalanche of hits and runs. Kozerski and Novakowski blasted three-run homers to dead center. Novakowski&#8217;s came after he hit an RBI single earlier in the inning. He finished with a team-high five RBI.</p><p>Cook and Monahan knocked in runs with RBI singles, both coming in their second at-bats of the fifth. Jacob Hunter also had an RBI single. Jeremy Simonson singled and scored. In all, Plains sent 13 batters to the plate, had seven hits and scored 10 times in the fifth to take a 14-2 lead.</p><p>Moreover, Plains might have awakened an offense that scored 20 runs in the Section 5 championship game and 18 runs in the District 16 title contest.</p><p>&#8220;I think so,&#8221; Cook said. &#8220;We were up 4-0 and then they scored two runs. Then our top of the order came on. Everybody got on and started hitting. The two home runs were huge by Jeffrey Kozerski and Ryan Novakowski.&#8221;</p><p>Obscured a bit by the offense was the fine job Kozerski did on the mound. Tournaments mean plenty of games jammed within a tight window. So pitch counts are usually kept in check to keep pitchers eligible for multiple game.</p><p>But on the brink of elimination, Plains let Kozerski pitch a complete game. He allowed just one hit through the first three innings and six overall.</p><p>&#8220;That was big,&#8221; Cook said. &#8220;Most teams will just do pitch count, pitch count, pitch count. But since we&#8217;re in the losers bracket, we&#8217;re going for the wins and figure out what happens the next game. I don&#8217;t want to second guess myself and take him out and something happens.&#8221;</p><p>Plains needs five more wins to get the state title, but Kozerski will be ineligible to pitch the next four games. However, Cook said he&#8217;s confident in the arms available for those games should Plains advance that far.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Plains 14, North Allegheny 4</strong></p><p><strong>Plains`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Cook cf`2`3`1`1</p><p>Monahan ss`4`4`2`2</p><p>Novakowski 3b`3`3`3`5</p><p>Kozerski p`3`1`1`3</p><p>Prudente 2b`3`0`1`1</p><p>Menendez c`1`1`0`0</p><p>Mihalchik c`1`0`0`0</p><p>Simonson rf`2`1`1`0</p><p>Wychock ph`1`0`0`0</p><p>Meager 1b`2`0`0`0</p><p>Corcoran ph`1`0`0`0</p><p>Hunter lf`2`0`1`1</p><p>Kenzakoski lf`1`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals`26`14`10`13</strong></p><p><strong>N.Allegheny`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Stalter cf`3`1`1`0</p><p>Craska p`3`1`1`2</p><p>Hart ss`3`0`1`0</p><p>Melzer c`3`1`0`0</p><p>Howard 1b`2`1`1`0</p><p>DelVecchio 2b`2`0`2`1</p><p>Holowka 3b`1`0`0`0</p><p>Terravecchia 3b`0`0`0`1</p><p>Bianchin rf`2`0`0`0</p><p>Gavlik lf`0`0`0`0</p><p>Sciote lf`1`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals`20`4`6`4</strong></p><p><strong>Plains`202`0(10)`&#8212;`14</strong></p><p><strong>North Allegheny`000`22`&#8212;`4</strong></p><p>2B &#8212; Prudente, Monahan, Howard. HR &#8212; Kozerski, Novakowski, Craska.</p><p><strong>Plains`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Kozerski (W)`5.0`6`4`4`1`4</p><p><strong>North Allegheny`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Craska (L)`2.0`3`4`2`2`3</p><p>Hart`2.0`2`3`2`0`2</p><p>DelVecchio`0.1`2`3`2`1`1</p><p>Stalter`0.2`4`4`4`0`1</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Jeffrey Kozerski (20) is congratulated by his Plains teammates after hitting a three-run home run in the fifth inning Wednesday against North Allegheny in the Little League 9-10 Baseball state tournament in Fleetville. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Kozerski.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jeffrey Kozerski (20) is congratulated by his Plains teammates after hitting a three-run home run in the fifth inning Wednesday against North Allegheny in the Little League 9-10 Baseball state tournament in Fleetville. </caption0><photoCredit0>John Erzar | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Cook-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Plains&#8217; Braeden Cook (right) is safe at second on a fielder&#8217;s choice in the fifth inning Wednesday after North Allegheny shortstop Anthony Howard drops the ball. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Cook-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Plains&#8217; Braeden Cook (right) is safe at second on a fielder&#8217;s choice in the fifth inning Wednesday after North Allegheny shortstop Anthony Howard drops the ball. </caption1><photoCredit1>John Erzar | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Cook-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Plains&#8217; Braeden Cook (12) beats the tag of North Allegheny catcher Campbell Melzer to score on Sean Monahan&#8217;s double in the third inning Wednesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Cook-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Plains&#8217; Braeden Cook (12) beats the tag of North Allegheny catcher Campbell Melzer to score on Sean Monahan&#8217;s double in the third inning Wednesday. </caption2><photoCredit2>John Erzar | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Hunter.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Plains&#8217; Jacob Hunter heads to first base after hitting a line drive to the outfield in the second inning Wednesday. The ball was caught for the third out of the inning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Hunter.jpg</photo3><caption3>Plains&#8217; Jacob Hunter heads to first base after hitting a line drive to the outfield in the second inning Wednesday. The ball was caught for the third out of the inning. </caption3><photoCredit3>John Erzar | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Ten-run inning keeps local team alive for 9-10 state title</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Ten-run inning keeps Plains alive in 9-10 state Little League tournament