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Water work to close South Main Street in WB today

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Hanover Area agrees to ‘separation’ with superintendent, raises taxes to max

<p style="text-align: left;">SCRANTON &#8212; Two strikes or two outs, it did not matter, the Pittston Area offense was tough to contain early Thursday night.</p><p>Tori Para drove in three runs on two-out hits in the first three innings and Alexa McHugh took care of the rest as Pittston Area repeated its District 2 Class 5A softball title with a 5-0 win over Abington Heights at the University of Scranton&#8217;s Magis Field.</p><p>The title was the second in a row for Pittston Area and its second in school history. Both came under coach Vito Quaglia, who will resign at the end of the season. Quaglia is an elementary principal at Wyoming Area and has accepted the same position at Delaware Valley. He started his educational career as a teacher at Delaware Valley.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s bittersweet,&#8221; Quaglia said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a great opportunity career-wise. To give up this position is really hard. This program is loaded all the way down to about sixth grade.&#8221;</p><p>The last of four games played Thursday at Magis Field was interrupted for 13 minutes in the seventh inning for a rain delay. The teams returned to the field in a driving rain to play the last four outs of the game.</p><p>McHugh finished with the last two of her 11 strikeouts in a four-hit shutout. She also went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs and two RBI.</p><p>&#8220;The meat of that order is some of the best hitters around and she dominated them,&#8221; Quaglia said. &#8220;The whole night she was on with all of her pitches.&#8221;</p><p>Pittston Area jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on 0-2 hits by McHugh and Tori Para.</p><p>McHugh doubled with one out to score Gabby Para, who led off with a walk. Tori Para singled to score McHugh.</p><p>Gabby Para and Lexi Felinski started the third inning with singles. Two outs later, after Felinski avoided a tag that would have produced an inning-ending double play, Tori Para sent a blooper to right field to score both for a 4-0 lead.</p><p>&#8220;She is just a freshman and Tori has been doing a lot of that for us all year,&#8221; Quaglia said.</p><p>With new balls being put in play every few pitches after the rain started coming down hard in the sixth inning, McHugh launched a home run down the left-field line for the final run.</p><p>Three batters later, the teams were sent to the dugouts.</p><p>There was no break in sight on the radar and the game was past the point of being official, so it was either going to be shortened to six innings or completed &#8211; not suspended to be continued later.</p><p>Umpires sent the teams back onto the field for the final four outs.</p><p>McHugh then finished off her shutout. She retired 17 of 19 at one point, giving up just a walk and single in that stretch after back-to-back singles in the first inning.</p><p>The first inning, with two outs, was the only time Abington Heights got a runner past first base.</p><p>Pittston Area advances to Monday&#8217;s first round of the PIAA state tournament. The Patriots will open at a District 2 site against the third-place team from District 1, the winner of Friday&#8217;s game between Upper Perkiomen and Upper Merion.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class 5A Championship</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Pittston Area 5, Abington Heights 0</strong></p><p><strong>Pittston Area`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>GPara cf`3`2`1`0</p><p>Felinski 2b`4`1`1`0</p><p>McHugh p`4`2`3`2</p><p>Antal 3b`3`0`0`0</p><p>TPara ss`4`0`3`3</p><p>Mesaris dp`4`0`0`0</p><p>Lieback 1b`0`0`0`0</p><p>Williams lf`2`0`0`0</p><p>Kivler rf`3`0`0`0</p><p>Loyack c`3`0`0`0</p><p><strong>Totals`30`5`8`5</strong></p><p><strong>Abington Heights`AB`R`H`BI</strong></p><p>Hamm p`3`0`0`0</p><p>Heard 3b`2`0`0`0</p><p>Kupinski 1b`3`0`1`0</p><p>Kozar c`3`0`1`0</p><p>White cf`3`0`0`0</p><p>Kelly rf`3`0`1`0</p><p>McDonald dp`3`0`0`0</p><p>Fiorillo lf`0`0`0`0</p><p>Kobrynich 2b`3`0`0`0</p><p>Tully ss`2`0`1`0</p><p><strong>Totals`25`0`4`0</strong></p><p><strong>Pittston Area`202`000`1 &#8212; 5</strong></p><p><strong>Abington Heights`000`000`0 &#8212; 0</strong></p><p>2B &#8211; McHugh. HR &#8211; McHugh.</p><p><strong>Pittston Area`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>McHugh (W)`7`4`0`0`1`11</p><p><strong>Abington Heights`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO</strong></p><p>Hamm (L)`7`8`5`5`3`6</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area third baseman Madisyn Antal hits into a fielder&#8217;s choice advancing a runner against Abington Heights in the District 2 Class 5A softball championship at The University of Scranton on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL053119HSSB-Pittston-AH_4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pittston Area third baseman Madisyn Antal hits into a fielder&#8217;s choice advancing a runner against Abington Heights in the District 2 Class 5A softball championship at The University of Scranton on Thursday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL053119HSSB-Pittston-AH_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area first baseman Bernadette Lieback, left, gets a late throw as Abington Heights&#8217; Catherine Kupibski is safe in the District 2 Class 5A softball championship at The University of Scranton on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL053119HSSB-Pittston-AH_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pittston Area first baseman Bernadette Lieback, left, gets a late throw as Abington Heights&#8217; Catherine Kupibski is safe in the District 2 Class 5A softball championship at The University of Scranton on Thursday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL053119HSSB-Pittston-AH_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area starter Alexa McHugh delivers a pitch in the rain against Abington Heights. McHugh struck out 11 in a shutout victory and added three hits, including a home run and a double, with two RBI. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL053119HSSB-Pittston-AH_1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Pittston Area starter Alexa McHugh delivers a pitch in the rain against Abington Heights. McHugh struck out 11 in a shutout victory and added three hits, including a home run and a double, with two RBI. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL053119HSSB-Pittston-AH_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area&#8217;s Gabby Para, left, celebrates with her sister Tori Para after scoring against Abington Heights in the District 2 Class 5A softball championship at The University of Scranton on Thursday.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL053119HSSB-Pittston-AH_2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Pittston Area&#8217;s Gabby Para, left, celebrates with her sister Tori Para after scoring against Abington Heights in the District 2 Class 5A softball championship at The University of Scranton on Thursday.  </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Robinson</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>D2-3A championship game postponed</strong></p><p>The District 2 Class 3A softball championship game between Wyoming Seminary and Mid Valley was postponed Thursday due to rain.</p><p>The game will be played at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Pittston Area Primary Center in Hughestown. It will be part of a doubleheader with the D2-6A title game between Hazleton Area and Delaware Valley being played at 2 p.m.</p><p>Heavy rain hit the Hughestown area about 90 minutes before the start of the game, which was scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div>

H.S. Softball: Pittston Area defeats Abington Heights to reign against as D2-5A champion