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Pittston Area edges Tunkhannock in 9 innings to reach District 2 Class 3A softball title game

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Lottery Numbers for Thursday, May 26

WEST PITTSTON &#8212; A two-strike pitch was fouled off. Then a second. Then a third.Wyoming Area was down to its final strike of the season, but with the tying run at first, there was still a chance for the reigning two-time WVC Division 2 champs.North Pocono found a way to shut the door.The Trojans sealed it with a strikeout in the bottom of the seventh, knocking off the Warriors 2-1 in Thursday&#8217;s District 2 Class 3A semifinals at Atlas Field.It was the second straight year the Warriors lost by that score in the third round to a Lackawanna League team, falling to Valley View in 2015. Coach Ron Musto said it was the fifth time total the Warriors fell short in the district semis during his two stints leading the team.&#8220;I&#8217;ve had a lot of accomplishments coaching, but just can&#8217;t get past this game,&#8221; an emotional Musto said. &#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m responsible. Five times we&#8217;ve lost here in this game. It&#8217;s just a tough pill to swallow. A tough pill to swallow. Five times at home &#8212; just can&#8217;t get it done.&#8220;Our kids battled all year. We had a great year. No disrespect to North Pocono, they&#8217;re a great program. But I really thought we were lined up to get over the hump here.&#8221;Midway through the game, it felt like it might happen.The second-seeded Warriors shook off an unearned run against them in the top of the fourth as Tyler Dougherty delivered in the home half.Fellow senior Cory Lescavage led off the frame with a base hit and advanced to second on a ground out. With two outs, Dougherty ripped an 0-1 pitch down the line in left to tie the game up.Lescavage, who started on the mound, proceeded to set down the Trojans with just eight pitches in the fifth, striking out two and building the Warriors&#8217; momentum.The bottom of the lineup proceeded to put two men on with one out in the bottom of the fifth as Aaron Lee drew a walk and Steve Homza singled. But Trojans starter Charlie Lamparter settled down and got two straight fly balls to end the threat.North Pocono responded with an RBI double by Matt Fisch with two gone in the sixth to take the lead. Lamparter pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth before sophomore Cory Wall came on in the seventh to record his second save in as many playoff games.&#8220;We had a lot of opportunities,&#8221; Musto said. &#8220;It was your typical high school baseball game. Never comes down to one play. I just thought it was a very well-played, well-coached game on both sides.&#8220;Unfortunately, unless your team wins the state championship, this is what happens. I really wanted to get the kids to PNC Field.&#8221;That trip will go instead to the Trojans, who will take on top-seeded Valley View and Virginia-bound ace Max Kranick in the 1 p.m. game on Monday.WVC rivals Hanover Area and Northwest will open the annual four-game Memorial Day series with the 2A championship at 10 a.m. Wyoming Valley West takes on Delaware Valley in the 4A finals at 4 p.m. and the nightcap will be Blue Ridge and Forest City in the Class A game at 7 p.m.It was an impressive rebound for North Pocono, which started the season 1-5 and was 3-6 in Lackawanna League play before winning three straight to finish at .500.Because of the parity in Class 3A this year, that was actually enough to get the Trojans the No. 3 seed and a first-round bye. Like with Wyoming Area, there were plenty of tight games along the way.&#8220;At one point, we lost five straight one-run games,&#8221; Trojans coach Brian Jardine said. &#8220;You try to preach to the kids that eventually, the law of averages of here, it&#8217;s gonna come back. We&#8217;re gonna win a couple of those games.&#8220;I&#8217;d rather win them now than in the middle of April. That&#8217;s a credit to my kids. They&#8217;re a resilient group.&#8221;Not surprisingly, both senior pitchers were efficient and in command, both allowing just four hits and one earned run.Lescavage went the distance, striking out six in his final game for the Warriors. Lamparter fanned three in six innings of work.&#8220;You can&#8217;t expect to go into a district semifinal and win with one run,&#8221; Musto said. &#8220;We have to score more than one run to get to a district final. You have to. And we just weren&#8217;t able to do that today, and I take full responsibility for not being able to produce more than one.&#8221;Musto said he wasn&#8217;t sure how many more years he&#8217;d coach the Warriors this time around but said he was glad the school district &#8220;put politics aside&#8221; and gave him the opportunity to return a year ago.&#8220;I had a point to prove and I proved it,&#8221; Musto said. &#8220;I&#8217;m happy. We did what we needed to do. Wyoming Area&#8217;s back on the map. We are a baseball program that needs to be reckoned with.&#8220;We finished in the final four the last two years and have back-to-back conference championships. Keep politics out of it and Wyoming Area kids can be successful in anything.&#8221;Valley View 7, Crestwood 2The Comets struck first with a run in the top of the second, but No. 1 Valley View fired back with seven in the home half to win Thursday&#8217;s other Class 3A semifinal.Curtis Tokach went 2 for 3 and his RBI single gave No. 5 Crestwood the brief lead. The Comets had edged WVC foes Coughlin and Berwick in the first two rounds before falling to the Cougars.District 2 Class 3A semifinalsNorth Pocono 2, Wyoming Area 1North Pocono`AB`R`H`BINoon cf`3`0`0`0Kravitz ss`1`1`0`0JWalsh rf`3`1`2`0Fisch c`3`0`1`1Cicerini 3b`1`0`0`0Lamparter p`0`0`0`0Misiura dh`2`0`0`0Wrobleski ph`1`0`0`0Woloszyn 1b`3`0`1`0DWalsh pr`0`0`0`0Haddock lf`3`0`0`0Blaine 2b`3`0`0`0Totals`23`2`4`1Wyoming Area`AB`R`H`BIBonita cf`3`0`0`0Lescavage p`3`1`1`0Nardell lf`0`0`0`0Kopcza dh`3`0`0`0Charney 3b`3`0`1`0Doughrty 2b-ss`2`0`1`1CBarletta rf`3`0`0`0Webb ss-2b`2`0`0`0Minichello ph`1`0`0`0Lee c`2`0`1`0Homza 1b`3`0`1`0Totals`25`1`5`1North Pocono`000`101`0`&#8212;`2Wyoming Area`000`100`0`&#8212;`12B &#8212; Fisch, DoughertyN. Pocono`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KLmprtr (W)`6.0`4`1`1`1`3Wall (S)`1.0`1`0`0`0`2Wyo. Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KLescvge (L)`7.0`4`2`1`4`7District 2 Class 2A semifinalsHanover Area 8, Riverside 0Riverside`AB`R`H`BINSottile ss`3`0`0`0Amaral p`2`0`0`2Muth 1b`2`0`0`0PSottile c`3`0`1`0Bernardi 3b`3`0`0`0Connor 2b`3`0`0`0Kielar cf`2`0`0`0Quick rf`3`0`0`0Weisenfluh lf`2`0`0`0Totals`22`0`1`0Hanover Area`AB`R`H`BIMorgan cf`3`0`1`0Clarke ss`2`1`1`1Kowalski p`3`1`0`0Rimmer 3b`3`1`1`0Gately 1b`4`1`1`1Piscotty rf`3`2`2`1Peters c`4`1`2`2Wheeler lf`0`0`0`0Wasickanin dh`4`1`1`1Windt 2b`3`0`1`2Totals`29`8`10`8Riverside`000`000`0`&#8212;`0Hanover`024`002`x`&#8212;`82B &#8212; PetersRiverside`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KAmaral (L)`2.2`6`6`5`4`0Quick`3.1`4`2`1`1`2Hanover`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KKwlski (W)`7.0`1`0`0`2`6District 2 Class 2A semifinalsNorthwest 6, Holy Cross 3Northwest`AB`R`H`BIEvans cf`2`2`2`1Reno ss`3`2`1`2Boberick lf`3`0`1`0Campbell 3b`4`0`0`0Harrison 1b`4`0`3`2Ford c`4`0`1`0BriHardmn p`3`0`1`0Godfrey rf`0`0`0`0BraHardmn dh`1`1`0`0Piestrak 2b`3`0`0`0Totals`27`6`9`5Holy Cross`AB`R`H`BIBoyle 2b`4`0`2`2Miller ss`2`0`0`0AuShattin p`3`0`0`0Backus 1b`4`0`2`0Palmiter 4b`3`0`0`0James c`1`0`0`0DeGrazia c`3`0`1`0Connolly rf`3`1`1`0AlShattin cf`4`2`2`1Mies lf`2`0`1`0Totals`29`3`9`3Northwest`202`101`0`&#8212;`6Holy Cross`010`200`0`&#8212;`32B &#8212; Harrison 2, Ford, Evans; HR &#8212; AlShattinNorthwest`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KBriHrdn (W)`5.2`7`3`2`4`0Godfrey (S)`1.1`2`0`0`2`1Holy Cross`IP`H`R`ER`BB`KAuShttn (L)`3.1`6`5`4`3`5DeGrazia`2.2`2`1`1`2`1Palmiter`1.0`1`0`0`0`0<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Area's Tyler Dougherty tosses the ball to third base to get out North Pocono's Sean Haddock in Thursday's high school baseball game at Atlas Field. (Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_wanpbaseball01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Area's Tyler Dougherty tosses the ball to third base to get out North Pocono's Sean Haddock in Thursday's high school baseball game at Atlas Field. (Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_wanpbaseball02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Area's Ryan Webb fields a grounder in Thursday's high school baseball game against North Pocono at Atlas Field. (Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_wanpbaseball02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Area's Ryan Webb fields a grounder in Thursday's high school baseball game against North Pocono at Atlas Field. (Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader)</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_wanpbaseball03.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Area's Tyler Dougherty tags out North Pocono's Pat Kravitz at second base in Thursday's high school baseball game at Atlas Field. (Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_wanpbaseball03.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wyoming Area's Tyler Dougherty tags out North Pocono's Pat Kravitz at second base in Thursday's high school baseball game at Atlas Field. (Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader)</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Northwest, Hanover reach finalsOne of the Wyoming Valley Conference&#8217;s most competitive series in recent years is heading to PNC Field.No. 7 Northwest and No. 9 Hanover Area both won their District 2 Class 2A semifinal games on Thursday to set up a rubber match on Monday, with the championship on the line.The Rangers knocked off No. 3 Holy Cross 6-3 on the road to advance to the finals for the first time since 2008 when the program was in the Class A bracket. The Hawkeyes blanked No. 12 Riverside 8-0 at home to advance to their third straight title game.It sets up another potential nailbiter between the Division 3 rivals, who split the regular season series. Hanover Area won 5-4 in extra innings on April 14 while Northwest prevailed 3-0 on May 12.The Rangers have now eliminated two Lackawanna division champions, beating defending district champ Montrose on Tuesday before knocking out Holy Cross. Bryce Harrison shined against the Crusaders, going 3 for 4 with two doubles and two RBI.Hanover Area got yet another shutout from Kyle Kowalski, who threw a one-hitter in the semifinals for the second straight season. In four career district tournament starts, Kowalski is 4-0 and has not allowed a run in 30 innings.</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Wyoming Area baseball falls in district semifinal nailbiter