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Wilkes-Barre man charged in stabbing death of Kurt Swan

Lawyers argue for Woychio’s release from home confinement

<p>MOUNTAIN TOP &#8212; Last year against almost this same exact Plains squad, Ryan Petrosky launched a walk-off, three-run homer to capture a District 16 10-11 championship for Mountain Top.</p><p>One year later, the tall clean-up hitter put Mountain Top in position to win a Major division title. This time, he did it with his arm.</p><p>Petrosky picked up the victory in relief, striking out nine, and reserve players Declan Palmiero and Josh Kollar provided the third-inning spark as Mountain Top scored 10 unanswered runs en route to a 12-5 victory Thursday in a D16 semifinal.</p><p>Mountain Top advances to Monday&#8217;s championship at Pittston Township to face off with Nanticoke, a winner in the other semifinal.</p><p>&#8220;We are excited to play in the championship. We are really looking forward to it,&#8221; Mountain Top manager Terry Kline said. &#8220;Plains has a good team, and we needed that three-run homer to win it last year. We didn&#8217;t hit a home run in this one, but we will take singles and doubles every day to get on base and score runs.&#8221;</p><p>Plains had the momentum. Brendan Tomeo crushed a ball to straight-away center, and two batters later, clean-up hitter Joe Monahan drove a two-run homer well past the fence in left. Just like that, a 2-2 tie entering the third quickly turned into a Plains&#8217; three-run lead.</p><p>Right after Monahan&#8217;s laser, Williams walked to the mound and signaled for Petrosky to take the place of starter Adam Litchkofski, who was hovering around the 50-pitch mark.</p><p>&#8220;Ryan has been really on,&#8221; Kline said. &#8220;I pulled Adam early because he was struggling a little bit. We thought it was better to rest him. Ryan just came in and threw really well.&#8221;</p><p>It was the last time Plains pushed a run across home.</p><p>Petrosky struck out eight of the first 10 batters he faced, allowed just one single to Sawyer Koretz, and really, had one trouble spot to work out from. He issued free passes to Andrew Smigiel and Robbie Watkins in the sixth to put two on with two in the books, but bore down to strike out the final batter of the game.</p><p>Both Petrosky and Litchkofski are eligible for Monday&#8217;s championship, staying under their pitch limits.</p><p>&#8220;He just came with his fastball, and his off-speed pitch would catch us off-guard,&#8221; Plains manager Jim Bush said. &#8220;We had kids that were way out in front. He set that change-up pitch really, really nice. Certainly, the velocity of his fastball helped him. He threw a nice game. He shut us down, and allowed them to get back into this game.&#8221;</p><p>Mountain Top didn&#8217;t waste any time in its half of the third to cut into that three-run lead.</p><p>Petrosky drilled the first of his three hits past second to open the frame, and a five-pitch walk to Colin Williams put two on base. Palmiero followed with a slow roller up the third-base line. The Plains&#8217; pitcher fielded the ball, but threw it past the bag at third &#8211; allowing one run to score before another crossed home on an errant throw to the dish on the same play.</p><p>Two batters later, Kollar ripped a hard grounder to third and beat out the throw for a RBI single, knotting the game at 5-5.</p><p>&#8220;Declan did a good job. He came in and did what he had to do,&#8221; Kline said. &#8220;I just wanted to see the kids fight back because we are a team that can do that. We had some tough games, like South Wilkes-Barre where we had to fight into eight innings to win that one.&#8221;</p><p>Mountain Top never looked back.</p><p>RBIs by Palmiero and Ethan Sholtz gave the team its first lead of the game in the fourth inning, and Mountain Top tacked on five insurance runs one frame later &#8211; thanks to run-scoring hits from Petrosky, Stoltz and Zach Antosh.</p><p>&#8220;We came out, hitting the ball well and playing good defense,&#8221; Bush said. &#8220;If you look at the game, it was just two bad innings where they put the ball in play and we didn&#8217;t make the outs where we needed to. That certainly was the difference. You can&#8217;t make mistakes against good teams.&#8221;</p><p>Matt Martin and Monahan combined for four of Plains&#8217; seven hits. Petrosky, Colin Wills and Stoltz each had multiple rips for Mountain Top.</p><p><strong>Nanticoke 5, Pittston Twp. 1</strong></p><p>Derek Cease and Nick Matson both hit home runs and combined for nine strikeouts on the mound as Nanticoke rolled into the District 16 championship game by controlling things from the start.</p><p>Matson&#8217;s two-run blast gave Nanticoke a 4-0 lead in the first inning, and Cease launched a solo shot in the second to send the team rolling into Monday&#8217;s 7:30 p.m. district title game against Mountain Top at the Pittston Twp. Little League Field.</p><p>Cease earned the victory on the mound, finishing with six strikeouts while allowing three hits over 3 1/3 innings. Matson finished up by strikeout out three batters over the final 1 2/3 innings.</p><p>Cease and Collin Piestrak each added a double in the victory, Devyn Sura drove home an early run with a single and Ethan Egenski and Ayden Everett also singled for Nanticoke.</p><p>Anthony Cencetti had two hits for Pittston Twp., including a double. Drew Delucca doubled and Brayden Powers had a single despite the defeat. Zach Elko scored the lone run for Pittston Twp.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Mountain Top 12, Plains 5</strong></p><p><strong>Plains`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Koretz 2b `4`0`1`0</p><p>Tomeo lf `3`1`1`1</p><p>Martin p `3`2`2`0</p><p>Monahan 3b `3`2`2`2</p><p>Bush 1b `3`0`1`2</p><p>Kane c `2`0`0`0</p><p>Pampus ph `1`0`0`0</p><p>Pahler ss `1`0`0`0</p><p>Smigiel ph `0`0`0`0</p><p>Simko cf `1`0`0`0</p><p>Kenzakoski ph `1`0`0`0</p><p>Shedlock ph `1`0`0`0</p><p>Watkins rf `1`0`0`0</p><p>Yuknavich ph`1`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals `25`5`7`5</strong></p><p><strong>2B &#8212; </strong>Martin, Monahan;<strong> HR </strong>&#8212; Tomeo, Monahan</p><p><strong>Mountain Top `AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Wills 2b `4`1`2`1</p><p>Litchkofski p `4`2`2`0</p><p>Kreuzer rf `3`1`0`0</p><p>Petrosky ss `4`3`3`2</p><p>Williams 1b `1`2`1`0</p><p>Bukowski cf `2`0`0`0</p><p>Palmiero ph-lf `2`1`1`1</p><p>Stoltz c `3`2`2`2</p><p>Antosh 3b `2`0`1`1</p><p>Boich ph-3b `1`0`0`0</p><p>Dunnum lf `0`0`0`0</p><p>Kollar ph-rf `3`0`1`1</p><p><strong>2B</strong>: Antosh.</p><p><strong>Totals `29`12`13`8</strong></p><p><strong>Plains `203 `000 &#8211; 5</strong></p><p><strong>Mountain Top `113 `25x &#8211; 12</strong></p><p><strong>Plains `IP `H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Martin `2`4`4`2`3`4</p><p>Pahler (L) `3`9`8`5`2`2</p><p><strong>Mountain Top `IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Litchkofski `2.1`6`5`5`0`3</p><p>Petrosky (W) `3.2`1`0`0`3`9</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Mountain Top&#8217;s Declan Palmiero, right, makes it safely to first base against Plains in District 16 Little League action Thursday evening. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Mountain Top&#8217;s Declan Palmiero, right, makes it safely to first base against Plains in District 16 Little League action Thursday evening. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Plains&#8217; Joe Monahan, right, connects for a double ahead of Mountain Top catcher Ethan Stoltz in Thursday&#8217;s District 16 major baseball semifinal. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Plains&#8217; Joe Monahan, right, connects for a double ahead of Mountain Top catcher Ethan Stoltz in Thursday&#8217;s District 16 major baseball semifinal. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Plains&#8217; Brendan Tomeo, right, rounds third base after hitting a home rum against Mountain Top in District 16 Little League play on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Plains&#8217; Brendan Tomeo, right, rounds third base after hitting a home rum against Mountain Top in District 16 Little League play on Thursday. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Plains&#8217; Joe Monahan celebrates on his way to score after hitting a home run against Mountain Top in District 16 Little League action on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_5.jpg</photo3><caption3>Plains&#8217; Joe Monahan celebrates on his way to score after hitting a home run against Mountain Top in District 16 Little League action on Thursday. </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mountain Top&#8217;s Colin Williams, right, scores ahead of the tag of Plains&#8217; John Bush as home plate umpire Jim McMonagle watches in a District 16 Little League semifinal Thursday in Dorrance Township. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_TTL070816Plains-Mtp_spt_1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Mountain Top&#8217;s Colin Williams, right, scores ahead of the tag of Plains&#8217; John Bush as home plate umpire Jim McMonagle watches in a District 16 Little League semifinal Thursday in Dorrance Township. </caption4><photoCredit4></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>

Mountain Top Little League earns trip to D16 title game