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Tunkhannock takes Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 softball title

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‘Superfly’ Snuka testifies he can’t remember mom’s name

RICE TWP. &#8211; For the way Crestwood was hitting Chase Nowak, something out of the ordinary was a necessity for the Comets to advance in the district playoffs.Sure enough, a pair of seventh inning wild pitches brought home the game-tying and &#8212; winning &#8212; runs to give Crestwood a dramatic 3-2 victory over Coughlin on Friday in the first round of the District 2 Class 3A baseball playoffs.&#8220;It was a heartbreaker,&#8221; Coughlin coach Moe Rodzinak. &#8220;When we hook up with them, every game is like this. One run is going to win it either way. Every run is so precious. We gave too many of them away.&#8221;Fifth-seeded Crestwood moves on to face Berwick, winner of a 1-0, eight-inning contest against Tunkhannock, on Tuesday.Trailing 2-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Crestwood plated both of its runs on pitches sent to the backstop. Jimmy Albee evened the score on a curveball that broke too early into the dirt. Matt Taleroski sent the Comets&#8217; bench into a frenzy when he crossed home on a low fastball that caromed off the plate.The Crestwood rally was sparked by its seventh-inning efficiency on the base paths. After reaching on a single and advancing on a Curtis Tokach bunt, Albee made a daring steal from second-to-third base with one out. Taleroski, a pinch-runner for Brandon Brozena, stole second and later moved to third on a Derek Distasio single.&#8220;There are a couple of kids on the team that we allow them to take third base,&#8221; Crestwood coach Tony Caladie said. &#8220;That&#8217;s his call on that. That&#8217;s one of the ones where you better be sure.&#8220;(Albee) made it quite easily. That was the difference in the field.&#8221;The loss overshadowed a brilliant performance by Nowak on the hill. Nowak allowed four hits and two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. He was hitless through four and gave up two hits through six innings.&#8220;Boy, that kid could throw &#8211; fastball, hard curveball,&#8221; Caladie said. &#8220;He&#8217;s a good pitcher. They just made a little too many more mistakes than us.&#8221;Distasio was the lone multi-hit player for the Comets with a 2 for 4 day at the plate.Coughlin was led by Eric Christian and David Ceklosky, both of whom doubled and hit safely twice.Pitching for the first time in eight days, James Graves notched the win in relief. He allowed one run in two innings. Crestwood starter Matt Mickowski did not allow an earned run and let up three hits in five innings of work.Crestwood took a 1-0 lead in the second on three errors committed by Coughlin.Christian tallied an unearned Coughlin run in the fifth on an errant throw. In its next set of at-bats, Nick Cerep hit a single up the middle to score Taylor Chronowski for a 2-1 lead.District 2 Class 3A First RoundCrestwood 3, Coughlin 2Coughlin`AB`R`H`BIChristian cf`3`1`2`0Wozniak ss`4`0`0`0Nowak p`4`0`0`0Fettig 1b`3`0`0`0Dressler c`3`0`0`0Dougalas rf`2`0`0`0Monaghan rf`1`0`0`0Ceklosky 3b`2`0`2`0Chronowski pr`0`1`0`0Cerep lf`2`0`1`1Gartley 2b`3`0`0`0Totals`25`2`5`2Crestwood`AB`R`H`BIDistasio ss`4`0`2`0Darden c`2`0`0`0Chalk ph`1`0`0`0Mickowski p`0`0`0`0Graves dh-p`3`0`0`0Macko 1b`3`1`1`0TKindler lf`3`0`0`1Kresge cf`2`0`0`0Albee rf`3`1`1`0Tokach 3b`1`0`0`0Caladie 2b`2`0`0`0Brozena ph`0`0`0`0Taleroski pr`0`1`0`0Totals`24`3`4`1Coughlin`000`011`0`&#8212;`2Crestwood`010`000`2`&#8212;`32B &#8212; Cekoskley, ChristianCoughlin`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SONowak, L`6.2`4`3`2`3`4Crestwood`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOMickowski`5`3`1`0`1`2Graves, W`2`2`1`1`0`1<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>Jay MonahanFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @ TLSports</shirttailMeta></div>

A wild way to win a District 2 Class 3A baseball playoff game for Crestwood