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Mountan Top wins District 16 10-11 title

<p>NANTICOKE &#8211; Gary Weaver was possibly living his finest moment on the Little League diamond.</p><p>The Back Mountain National youngster couldn&#8217;t have asked for anything more in Friday&#8217;s District 31 10-11 championship. And the smile on his face told the complete story.</p><p>Weaver ripped three hits and threw a five-hitter, while teammate Cole Morio drove in five runs as National jumped out to a 9-1 lead after two innings and never looked back en route to a 13-1, four-inning victory over Northwest Area.</p><p>Back Mountain will now host the Section 5 tournament next week.</p><p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t wait to keep throwing out there, especially in front of our home fans for sectionals,&#8221; Weaver said. &#8220;This feels great.&#8221;</p><p>Up and down the lineup, National took pretty swings with the sticks. Of course, when you score more than 65 runs in five district games, including an 18-spot in the semifinals, it&#8217;s expected.</p><p>The Back Mountain boys didn&#8217;t disappoint the crowd on a breezy night in Nanticoke.</p><p>Eight different players recorded hits. Nick Spencer lambasted a ball that&#8217;s still traveling in the air. Morio put the icing on the cake with a three-run blast that cleared the center-field wall.</p><p>And when the snowball got rolling, Northwest couldn&#8217;t stop its momentum.</p><p>&#8220;Our hitting has been fantastic all year, and it&#8217;s really been from start to finish,&#8221; National manager Bob Osipower said. &#8220;Our team batting average is fantastic. This is one of the best teams that I&#8217;ve ever had. The kids who hit home runs get a lot of attention, but we&#8217;ve had a lot of hits throughout the entire tournament. We spend a lot of time on hitting, and take a lot of reps in the cages.&#8221;</p><p>It looked like a game in the first inning.</p><p>BMN got on the board as Weaver&#8217;s two-run single to left brought home Bryan Osipower and Cole Kaiser, who both drew walks.</p><p>Northwest cut the deficit in half during its first at-bat, thanks to Carter Hontz&#8217;s fielder&#8217;s choice to third.</p><p>That&#8217;s the closest it got as National unloaded in the second.</p><p>Eleven batters sent to the plate. Six hits ranging from perfectly-placed bunts in front of home to hard shots to the outfield green. Seven runs, all unearned because of two Northwest errors.</p><p>Kaiser, Mike Cumbo and Ethan Leone all had RBIs, and the big shot came off the bat of Morio, who drilled a two-run double to left-center, capping off the seven-run inning.</p><p>&#8220;The kids worked hard. We made it a little further than we did last year,&#8221; Northwest manager Travis Birth said. &#8220;We played our hearts out to get here, but unfortunately, we got a few bad bounces and we just couldn&#8217;t get going.&#8221;</p><p>It was more than enough for Weaver.</p><p>The youngster was the exact definition of efficiency on the mound. He struck out six, and didn&#8217;t issue a single walk &#8211; needing only 51 pitches to complete four frames of work.</p><p>He also did a nice job of fighting out of trouble spots in the first and second innings where Northwest threatened with runners in scoring position.</p><p>&#8220;I felt good. I never really get nervous in these big games,&#8221; Weaver said. &#8220;Those early runs helped me a lot because I knew I had a cushion to work with.&#8221;</p><p>Home runs by Spencer and Morio increased the lead to 13-1 after 3 &#189; innings, but Northwest still had one final try to extend the game. Landon Hufford ripped his second double of the night to lead off the fourth, but Weaver retired the next three batters to preserve the victory.</p><p>&#8220;We like being the visitors because we are confident in our offense that we can score some runs. As soon as we do, it takes the pressure right off and we become more comfortable,&#8221; Bob Osipower said. &#8220;Gary threw strikes, and that&#8217;s half the battle in Little League baseball. He did a fantastic job. We had no walks, and played great defense behind him. Now, we&#8217;ll move to sectionals where we will see some good teams. We&#8217;ll respect all of our opponents, but we&#8217;ll come ready to hit.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Back Mountain National 13, Northwest Area 1, 4 innings</strong></p><p><strong>Back Mtn. National `AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Osipower 2b `3`1`2`0</p><p>Adamski c `4`0`0`0</p><p>C. Kaiser 1b `2`2`1`1</p><p>Spencer ss `2`2`1`1</p><p>Weaver p `3`2`3`2</p><p>Cumbo 3b `2`2`1`1</p><p>Morio cf `3`2`2`5</p><p>E. Kaiser rf `1`1`1`0</p><p>Borton ph-rf `1`0`0`0</p><p>Lugiano ph `1`0`0`0</p><p>Leone lf `1`1`1`1</p><p>Comiskey ph `1`0`0`0</p><p>Snowden ph `1`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals `25`13`12`11</strong></p><p><strong>Northwest `AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Pierontoni cf`3`1`1`0</p><p>Noss 2b `2`0`1`0</p><p>Comiter ss `2`0`0`0</p><p>Hynick p `2`0`0`0</p><p>Hontz rf `2`0`1`1</p><p>Yaple c `1`0`0`0</p><p>Parnell ph `1`0`0`0</p><p>Hufford 1b `2`0`2`0</p><p>Hurst 3b `1`0`0`0</p><p>O&#8217;Day ph-rf `1`0`0`0</p><p>Kopco lf `1`0`0`0</p><p>Burke ph `1`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals `19`1`5`1</strong></p><p><strong>2B &#8212; </strong>Morio; Hufford 2. HR: Spencer.</p><p><strong>Back Mtn. National `270 `4` &#8211;` 13</strong></p><p><strong>Northwest Area `100 `0` &#8211;` 1</strong></p><p><strong>Back Mtn. National `IP `H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Weaver&lt; W `4`5`1`0`0`6</p><p><strong>Northwest `IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Hyrick, L `3`10`12`5`4`4</p><p>Comiter `1`2`1`1`0`1</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain National takes a victory trot around the field Friday carrying the District 31 10-11 Little League championship banner. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_BkMtn-NW-5.jpg</photo0><caption0>Back Mountain National takes a victory trot around the field Friday carrying the District 31 10-11 Little League championship banner. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_BkMtn-NW-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest&#8217;s Landon Hufford stretches at first to get Back Mountain National&#8217;s Gavin Adamski (5) out at first in Friday&#8217;s District 31 10-11 Little League Baseball championship game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_BkMtn-NW-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Northwest&#8217;s Landon Hufford stretches at first to get Back Mountain National&#8217;s Gavin Adamski (5) out at first in Friday&#8217;s District 31 10-11 Little League Baseball championship game. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_BkMtn-NW-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest&#8217;s Landon Hufford (5) is safe at second as the ball gets by Back Mountain National&#8217;s Vic Spencer. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_BkMtn-NW-4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Northwest&#8217;s Landon Hufford (5) is safe at second as the ball gets by Back Mountain National&#8217;s Vic Spencer. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_BkMtn-NW-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain National&#8217;s Gary Weaver tossed a strong game against Northwest. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_BkMtn-NW-3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Back Mountain National&#8217;s Gary Weaver tossed a strong game against Northwest. </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Weaver and Morio pace Back Mountain National to 10-11 title</subheadMeta></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>

Back Mountain National claims District 31 10-11 championship