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J.P. Crawford’s 10th-inning homer lifts Lehigh Valley over RailRiders

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Gaming grant for $230,000 will pay to refurbish Swoyersville park

EDWARDSVILLE &#8212; Back Mountain National&#8217;s first at-bat was like foreshadowing for the remainder of Tuesday&#8217;s District 31 pool-play game with West Pittston.Evan Zawadzki took a healthy swing at J.J. Hood&#8217;s sharp bender in the dirt for the third strike. But the ball snuck past the catcher, allowing the BMN center fielder to run to first.Simply put, West Pittston gave the defending District 31 champs one too many outs.Back Mountain National scored runs in all five innings, including nine in the fifth, and took advantage of seven West Pittston errors en route to a 15-2 victory at West Side Little League.National finishes pool play undefeated and will host Back Mountain American in a semifinal on Thursday. West Pittston also advances and will be at Kingston.&#8220;We like to speed the game up at practice, and we go live all the time,&#8221; BMN manager Chuck Youngman said. &#8220;Hopefully, when they get into the game, it&#8217;s like slow motion for them. We just try to keep the kids focused on one pitch at a time. They are 12-year-olds, so they get ahead of themselves sometimes. We just try to keep them focused on the pitch in front of them.&#8221;Jim Manganiello knew his West Pittston boys would need to be nearly perfect.But two errors on one play gave National its first run. Two miscues in the third led to two more runs and a 5-0 deficit after three innings.In all, BMN scored runs on six of the seven West Pittston errors.&#8220;We have a few errors early, and that&#8217;s uncharacteristic for our team,&#8221; Manganiello said. &#8220;And you can&#8217;t do that against a caliber team like Back Mountain. You can&#8217;t give them outs. We knew they had three good pitchers, and we have our one stud. We know we are most likely going to see Kingston Thursday, and they have a great team. Hopefully, we will be ready to play some ball.&#8221;Hood, West Pittston&#8217;s ace, held his own against the powerful National lineup. He struck out six in two innings of work before Manganiello pulled him &#8211; keeping him eligible for Thursday&#8217;s semifinal.&#8220;Originally, we are going to play it by ear with J.J. Hood, and see how it went,&#8221; Manganiello said. &#8220;Once they got a few runs early, we decided to get him out and save him for down the road.&#8221;National&#8217;s trio of pitchers &#8211; Killian, Will Youngman and Federici &#8211; were nearly untouchable.The three struck out 11, issued only three free passes and combined for a four-hitter.&#8220;We really have some outstanding pitchers,&#8221; Chuck Youngman said. &#8220;We wanted to keep the pitch counts low because we know that playoffs start on Thursday. That was the first time that Will came back and pitched, and he did a good job. And Chris and Ty threw heat. Each one threw the ball well.&#8221;West Pittston cut National&#8217;s lead to 6-2 in the fourth, scoring one when Blaise Sokach-Minnick&#8217;s single to center rolled past the fielder to the fence, and another on Richie Kashuba&#8217;s long sacrifice fly near the fence.The hopes of a rally didn&#8217;t last long.National strung together five straight hits to start the fifth, including back-to-back homers by Federici and Killian, and plated nine runs before the inning was completed.&#8220;Starting Thursday, we just have to focus on that game, and that&#8217;s something we will stress to the kids,&#8221; Chuck Youngman said.DISTRICT 31MAJOR BASEBALLWyo./West Wyoming 7,Swoyersville 6Owen Hizynski had three hits as Wyoming/West Wyoming finished pool play at 2-2.Jayden Rusyn had two RBI. Nick Elko struck out nine over 4.2 innings.Anthony Bayo had two hits and three RBI to pace Swoyersville (1-3).Kingston/Forty Fort 10,Northwest 0Ian Bayo and Ryan Stevens combined on a no-hitter as KFF won in four innings.KFF (4-0) will host West Pittston (3-1) in a semifinal game on Thursday.Mason Sgarlet and Jake Griffin homered for KFF. Stevens, Hunter Sgarlet and Logan Broody-Walega also contributed to the offense.DISTRICT 16MAJOR BASEBALLMountain Top 6, Jenkins Twp. 1Adam Litchofski, Ryan Petrosky and Trevor Bukowski combined for seven strikeouts in Mountain Top&#8217;s win.Nick Kruezer, Colin Wills, Ethan Stoltz and Zack Antosh had a hit apiece in the victory.Jenkins Township pitcher Karl Pecha had five strikeouts, while Matt Johnson and Matt Prociak both had hits. Jenkins finished 1-3 in pool play.Mountain Top (4-0) will host Plains in a semifinal on Thursday.Nanticoke 12, Hanover 1Derek Cease had two homers and four RBI as Nanticoke (4-0) finished pool play undefeated. It will host Pittston Township in the semifinals on Thursday.Nick Matson added two hits and combined with three other pitches for 10 strikeouts in the four-inning game.Ethan Egenski, Collin Piestrak, Bryant Keegan and Devyn Sura all doubled, with Sura knocking in three runs. Owen Brown and Charlie Casey each had singles. Hayden Reakes had an RBI.Austin Schiel had a single and RBI for Hanover (1-3). Zach Murphy and Gavin Isopi each singled.Duryea 9, NWADP 5Connor Mulhearn posted eight strikeouts as Duryea finished 2-2.The Duryea offense was led by Jeremy Cawley (2 for 2), David Behm (2 for 3), Ryan Zapko (2 for 3) and Mickey O&#8217;Malley (2 for 4).Cameron Krugel homered for NWADP (0-4). David Girman had two hits.DISTRICT 1610-11 BASEBALLSouth Wilkes-Barre 15, Nanticoke 5John Barker was 3 for 3 with three runs scored and struck at three on the mound in South Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s win.South Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Isiah Parker went 2 for 4 with four runs scored, while Kael Ropietski doubled. Mark Atherton, Cayden Woods, Dilan Veras, Charlie Revitt each singled for the victory.Nanticoke was led by Jeff Ultsh&#8217;s double and Ryan Coleman and Braden Zaremba&#8217;s single.Plains 10,Pittston Twp. 0Jeffrey Kozerski and Ryan Novakowski combined on a one-hitter with nine strikeouts for Plains in its four-inning win.Jason Parente had a two-run homer for Plains. Novakowski (3 RBI), Kozerski and Sean Monahan (2 RBI) added two hits apiece.Ethan Clarke had Pittston Township&#8217;s only hit.Hanover 12,Avoca/Dupont 0Brandon Smith, Collin Klein and Aiden Kelsall had two hits apiece for Hanover. Klein was also the winning pitcher. Timothy Seriani added a hit.Trent Winters and Nicky Franchetti each singled for Avoca/Dupont.Back Mtn. National 15, West Pittston 2Back Mtn. National `AB`R`H`BIZawadzki cf `4`2`1`0Youngman ss `4`2`2`1Federici 1b `3`4`1`2Killian p `4`1`2`4N. Finarelli lf `4`1`1`0Adamski rf `1`0`0`0Shiskowski ph-ss `2`2`1`0Sholtis 2b `2`1`0`0Shultz ph `1`0`0`0Murray 3b `2`2`2`1G. Finarelli `1`0`1`0Hromisin c `2`0`0`1Healey ph`0`0`0`1Totals `30`15`11`10West Pittston `AB`R`H`BIMelberger cf `1`0`0`0H.Rosen ph `1`0`0`0Elmes ss `2`0`2`0Pitcavage ph `1`0`0`0Hood p `2`0`0`0Kelleher 3b `3`0`0`0Wiedl 2b `2`1`1`0Skch-Mnnck rf `2`1`1`0Ross lf `1`0`0`0Kashuba ph `0`0`0`1M. Rosen 1b `2`0`0`0Wrobleski c `1`0`0`0Janosky ph `0`0`0`0Totals `18`2`4`1Back Mtn. National `212 `19`&#8211;`15West Pittston `000 `20`&#8211;`22B: Zawadzki, Killian. 3B: Youngman. HR: Federici, Killian.Back Mtn. National `IP `H`R`ER`BB`SOKillian (W) `2`1`0`0`1`5Youngman `2`3`2`2`1`3Federici `1`0`0`0`1`3West Pittston `IP`H`R`ER`BB`SOHood (L) `1.2`1`3`0`0`6Elmes `2.1`2`3`0`0`1Melberger `0.0`5`6`5`0`0Wiedl `1`3`3`1`1`1<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain National shortstop Joe Shiskowski was 1 for 2 with two runs scored on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070616LittleLeague1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Back Mountain National shortstop Joe Shiskowski was 1 for 2 with two runs scored on Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070616LittleLeague2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain National&#8217;s Evan Hromisin is tagged out at second by West Pittston&#8217;s by Jason Wiedl during a District 31 game on Tuesday at West Side Little League. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070616LittleLeague2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Back Mountain National&#8217;s Evan Hromisin is tagged out at second by West Pittston&#8217;s by Jason Wiedl during a District 31 game on Tuesday at West Side Little League. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070616LittleLeague3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain National&#8217;s Ty Federici waits for the throw from pitcher Will Youngman. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070616LittleLeague3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Back Mountain National&#8217;s Ty Federici waits for the throw from pitcher Will Youngman. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070616LittleLeague4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">West Pittston&#8217;s Blaise Sokach-Minnick slides safely into home plate as Back Mountain National&#8217;s Chris Killian waits for the throw. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070616LittleLeague4.jpg</photo3><caption3>West Pittston&#8217;s Blaise Sokach-Minnick slides safely into home plate as Back Mountain National&#8217;s Chris Killian waits for the throw. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</shirttailMeta></div>

BMN stays perfect in pool play