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Liz Weston: How to profit from someone else’s financial mistake

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Local roundup: Mountain Top wins junior softball crown

<p>OLD FORGE &#8212; Back Mountain turned to often untested fielders and stared down usually nonexistent clutch hitting situations Friday.</p><p>By conquering both, Back Mountain extended the Section 5 Little League Softball Major tournament to a winner-take-all Saturday game at 1 p.m. back in Old Forge.</p><p>Facing an elimination game &#8211; and a three-run deficit midway through it &#8211; Back Mountain rallied to hand Pittston Area its first loss 9-3 and force a rematch for the title.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re very relaxed,&#8221; Back Mountain manager George Vitanovec said. &#8220;Even before the game, you would have no idea that this was an elimination game.&#8221;</p><p>Pittston Area had survived the winners bracket unscathed, allowing it to go into Friday with two shots at beating Back Mountain for the title.</p><p>Back Mountain made sure the second game was needed when, after going hitless through three innings, it put together nine hits in the final three. That included three extra-base hits, all from sixth or lower in the batting order and two of them coming from reserves in those spots.</p><p>&#8220;Some of the kids that have been struggling, I knew that they were good batters,&#8221; Vitanovec said. &#8220;Sooner or later, the law of averages says it&#8217;s going to happen.</p><p>&#8220;I have total confidence in all of our batters. Any one of them can do it.&#8221;</p><p>The section title is being decided by two playoff-experienced teams.</p><p>Pittston Area won the Section 5 title and went to the state tournament on the 9-11-year-old level last season when Back Mountain did the same in the tournament for 8-10-year-olds. With many of those players in action, both teams are trying to do it on Little League&#8217;s showcase level.</p><p>Both teams have often dominated on the district level, but have found new tests and new levels of competition at sectionals and above.</p><p>Vitanovec said his team has adjusted to facing consistently tougher pitching. It also responded to being asked to make more plays behind pitcher Victoria Spaciano.</p><p>The infield offset two errors by accounting for 11 of the 18 outs.</p><p>&#8220;As you can see, the fielding is starting to come around,&#8221; Vitanovec said. &#8220;Sometimes, you can fall asleep during districts because it&#8217;s pretty much pitching dominated.&#8221;</p><p>The bats responded with extra-base hits and multiple hits in each of the final three innings.</p><p>Amber Zimmerman, who has come off the bench to provide hits in each of the last three games, doubled in the first two runs on a play when Pittston Area outfielders Cassie Hintze and Katie Wywoda collided hard. Both were able to stay in the game.</p><p>Ava Smith, the last sub to bat, led off the fifth with a triple down the right-field line and scored the tying run.</p><p>Abby Cruz doubled to the left-field fence to drive in the go-ahead run and the first of six that Back Mountain scored in the final inning.</p><p>Spaciano did her part, striking out seven without walking a batter. She held Pittston Area scoreless over the final three innings.</p><p>While she was shutting down Pittston Area&#8217;s offense, Spaciano was helping jump-start Back Mountain&#8217;s. She had the team&#8217;s first hit and scored the first run, then led off the sixth with a hit, setting her up to score the winning run after stealing a base.</p><p>Olivia Walter went 3-for-3 for Pittston Area, driving in a run and scoring another in the second inning for the 3-0 lead.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>SECTION 5 MAJOR SOFTBALL</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Back Mountain 9, Pittston Area 3</strong></p><p><strong>Back Mountain`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Hunt c`2`1`1`1</p><p>Hudak ss`4`0`0`0</p><p>Vitanovec 1b`4`0`1`1</p><p>Spaciano p`4`2`2`2</p><p>Beyer 2b`3`1`1`1</p><p>Cruz 3b`3`1`1`1</p><p>Porasky cf`1`1`0`0</p><p>Zimmerman cf`1`0`1`2</p><p>Palka rf`1`1`0`0</p><p>Hazeltine rf`1`0`0`0</p><p>Strobel lf`2`1`1`1</p><p>Smith lf`1`1`1`0</p><p><strong>Totals`27`9`9`9</strong></p><p><strong>Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Giardina ss`2`1`1`0</p><p>Jenkins ph`1`0`0`0</p><p>Hintze cf`2`0`0`0</p><p>Nowakowski ph`1`0`0`0</p><p>Callahan c`3`0`0`1</p><p>Adams p`2`0`0`0</p><p>McCawley ph`1`0`0`0</p><p>Antal 1b`3`1`1`0</p><p>Mihalka 3b`2`0`1`0</p><p>Walter 2b`3`1`3`1</p><p>Wywoda rf`2`0`0`0</p><p>Doran ph`1`0`0`0</p><p>Soto lf`1`0`0`0</p><p>Rinaldi ph`1`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals`25`3`6`2</strong></p><p>2B &#8211; Porasky, Cruz. 3B &#8211; Smith.</p><p><strong>Back Mountain`000`216`&#8212; 9</strong></p><p><strong>Pittston Area`120`0`&#8212; 3</strong></p><p><strong>Back Mountain`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Spaciano (W)`6.0`6`3`2`0`7</p><p><strong>Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Adams (L)`6.0`9`9`5`4`4</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain&#8217;s Victoria Spaciano slides in safe to third base during Friday&#8217;s Section 5 Major Softball game at Old Forge Little League. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Back Mountain&#8217;s Victoria Spaciano slides in safe to third base during Friday&#8217;s Section 5 Major Softball game at Old Forge Little League. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area&#8217;s Gianna Adams pitches against Back Mountain on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball5.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pittston Area&#8217;s Gianna Adams pitches against Back Mountain on Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Maura Mihalka of Pittston Area runs after a hit against Back Mountain. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Maura Mihalka of Pittston Area runs after a hit against Back Mountain. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain&#8217;s Victoria Spaciano pitches against Pittston Area in the Section 5 Little League Major Softball tournament at Old Forge Little League. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball3.jpg</photo3><caption3>Back Mountain&#8217;s Victoria Spaciano pitches against Pittston Area in the Section 5 Little League Major Softball tournament at Old Forge Little League. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Back Mountain catcher Brenna Hunt tags out Pittston Area&#8217;s Maura Mihalka at home. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_TTL070718Bmtn-softball1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Back Mountain catcher Brenna Hunt tags out Pittston Area&#8217;s Maura Mihalka at home. </caption4><photoCredit4>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>D31 champ will face D16 champ Pittston Area again for Section 5 title</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Robinson</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>

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Back Mountain upends Pittston Area to force deciding game for Section 5 softball title