MOOSIC – Blue Ridge sophomore Jake Decker and Montrose senior Matt Benninger came through with brilliant pitching performances on the biggest stage of their high school baseball careers when their teams needed it most.
Pitching in back-to-back games to complete a four-game series of District 2 championships May 25 at PNC Field, Decker and Benninger threw shutouts, finishing strong to protect slim leads.
Decker tossed a two-hitter, retiring nine of the last 10 batters when Blue Ridge blanked Forest City, 2-0, in the Class A championship game.
Benninger threw a three-hitter, struck out four straight batters in the sixth and seventh innings, and drove in the only run to lift Montrose to a 1-0 victory over Hanover Area in the Class AA final.
The double baseball victories were not the only District 2 championships won by county schools.
Mountain View won the District 2 Class AA softball title May 26 when it outlasted Lackawanna Trail, 2-1, in 10 innings at Mid Valley High School in Throop.
CLASS A BASEBALL
MOOSIC – Blue Ridge won its first district title since 2006 a year after letting a three-run lead get away in the fifth inning of the championship game last season.
“That was all we talked about,” Decker said of the ride to the stadium.
The disappointment of a 6-5 loss to MMI Prep helped motivate the team through this year’s playoffs.
“It got us here this year, so I guess last year wasn’t a failure,” Blue Ridge coach Billy Marvin said.
Decker shut Forest City down despite not have control of his curveball until the final two innings.
By then, Derek Stento had gone 3-for-3 to score one run and drive in the other in the Blue Ridge victory.
“He didn’t have his curveball until the sixth inning,” Marvin said. “If he had his curveball it would have probably been a little worse for their guys.”
Decker made things tough enough on the Forest City hitters. He allowed a lead-off single by R.J. Kuruts to start the game and did not give up another hit until Mitchell Blake singled with two out in the seventh inning.
Only one other Forester reached base. Blake walked to start the fifth inning in the middle of a stretch in which Decker retired 19 of 20 batters.
Decker struck out two straight pinch hitters to start the sixth inning and finished with six total strikeouts.
Stento made sure the Raiders had enough offense.
The senior shortstop led off the fourth with a single, went to third on an error and eventually scored when Evan Aldrich grounded into a force place with the bases loaded.
Stento had two of the three hits allowed by Blake in 4 1/3 innings as the starting pitcher then the only hit that Jon D’Esch gave up in 1 2/3 innings of relief.
Nick Swaha had gone all the way to third on a wild throw with one out in the fifth as the last batter against Blake.
D’Esch got the second out of the inning before Stento dropped an RBI single into shallow right field.
“A few of my at-bats, I had to battle,” Stento said. “He threw some pretty good pitches, but I managed to poke them out there and get hits.”
In addition to driving in a run, Aldrich had one of the other two hits for Blue Ridge.
The Raiders used the win to advance into state tournament play Monday where they were scheduled to face District 4 champion Montgomery.
“We’re having so much fun,” Marvin said.
CLASS AA BASEBALL
MOOSIC – The run Montrose produced in the first inning when it strung together half of its six hits in the game was all that Benninger had as a margin of error.
Over the last three innings, that appeared to be plenty.
Benninger overpowered Hanover Area late, getting the last nine outs in a row, including five on strikeouts.
“With all due respect, I knew it was over when he went out for the seventh because he was determined,” Montrose coach Josh Winn said after the Meteors produced the first District 2 title in school history.
Benninger struck out the Hanover Area fourth and fifth hitters to end the sixth inning. He turned up the high heat to strike out the first two batters of the seventh inning on seven straight strikes, before getting a flyball to end the game.
“This was probably the most special game I could ever possibly be a part of,” Benninger said. “We worked so hard to be here.”
Benninger finished his three-hitter with three walks and nine strikeouts.
“Later on in the game, I had better control,” said Benninger, who needed 98 pitches and some defensive help to get through the first six innings. “The whole stadium atmosphere was a little tough to get used to and I was a little nervous early in the game.”
Benninger, however, never let the lead get away after helping build it in the first inning.
Hunter Traver singled with two out.
Traver stole second, using an effective slide to avoid being the third out of the inning when a strong throw by Hanover Area catcher Jake Peters beat him.
“The shortstop just missed the tag,” Winn said. “Hunter said he went around it. He slid past the bag and the kid went to get him, but he dove back to the bag.
“It was just a huge moment in this game.”
The moment was made bigger when Benninger followed with an RBI single down the left-field line.
Mike Vanness followed with another single and Montrose got five more runners into scoring position but could not push in another run against a Hanover Area team that allowed just one run in 30 innings of the District 2 tournament.
“They had held everybody scoreless so getting a run in the first was a huge momentum boost,” Winn said.
Traver and Vanness each finished with two hits.
Benninger also started a 1-3-6 double play that first baseman Kyle Watkins helped complete in the second inning. Vanness made back-to-back tough defensive plays in center field in the third inning.
The Meteors were scheduled to open state tournament play Monday against District 4 champion Loyalsock.
CLASS AA SOFTBALL
Mountain View had far more chances than Lackawanna Trail through nine scoreless innings, but found itself needing a rally in the bottom of the 10th to produce the first District 2 softball championship in school history.
Hannah Phillips and Rebekah Tiffany provided the run-scoring hits that made a winner of pitcher Samantha Krisa.
Pennsylvania high school softball uses the rule that places a runner on second base to start each inning of a game that remains tied through nine innings.
Krisa threw a three-hitter, but Lackawanna Trail immediately took advantage of that rule to break the scoreless deadlock.
Kerrigan Buck started the 10th on second base because she had been the last batter of the ninth inning.
Kasey Buck, Kerrigan’s sister, doubled for Trail’s third hit and a 1-0 lead.
Krisa, who retired 19 of the final 23 batters she faced, got out of a first-and-third jam to keep the Lady Eagles within a run.
Lucy Adams was placed at second base to start the bottom half of the inning.
Phillips, who reached in all five plate appearances, finishing 3-for-3 with two walks, singled to score Adams and tie the game.
Tiffany later added the single that scored the game-winner for a Mountain View team had stranded 13 runners, leaving multiple runners on base in the first three innings and six of the first eight.
The Lady Eagles were scheduled to face Bloomsburg in the first round Monday.
STATE TRACK
Susquehanna County athletes produced three medal-winning efforts during the PIAA Track and Field Championships, which were held May 22-23 at Shippensburg University.
Montrose’s Billy Hewes, in the 110-meter high hurdles, and the Elk Lake girls 3200-meter relay team each finished sixth while Elk Lake’s Hunter Watkins placed seventh in the boys’ javelin.
All county athletes competed in Class AA. The top eight finishers in each event earned medals and scored points for their team.
Hewes made it through two rounds of qualifying to get to the finals.
In the opening day preliminaries, Hewes ran a time of 15.64 to take fourth out of eight in his heat and place 10th out of 24, who were trying for 16 semifinal spots. Needing to move up from there, Hewes ran a 15.33 in the semifinals to place fifth of the 16 and land one of the eight berths in the finals.
Hewes ran a 15.39 in the finals to take sixth.
The Elk Lake girls’ team of Julie Van Etten, Keri Jones, Katie Bennett and Justine Johns won its 13-team qualifying heat on the first day with a time of 9:50.83 to go into the finals seeded third out of 12. The Lady Warriors improved their time to 9:41.23, but wound up sixth.
Watkins was among the first set of medalists produced in the morning field events session on the meet’s first day. His throw of 178-11 was good enough for seventh out of 25 competitors.
Blue Ridge’s Lindsey Rupakus had the best finish among county athletes who did not produce a medal.
Rupakus ran a time of 46.52 in her 300-meter qualifying to finish third out of seven in her heat and 12th out of 30 overall, falling short of the eight spots in the final.
The Montrose girls finished 19th of 27 teams in the 400-meter relay in 51.60. They were sixth out of seven in their heat.
Brett Hepler from Blue Ridge was 20th of 25 in the boys’ discus with a throw of 124-4.
Elk Lake also competed in the boys’ 3200 relay where it was 21st of 25. A time of 8:42.38 put the Warriors 11th of 13 in their heat.
Blue Ridge’s Laurren Whitney threw the javelin 96-4 to take 22nd out of 27 girls at the state meet.
Elk Lake’s Bennett also competed as an individual. She was 11th of 13 in her heat and 23rd of 26 overall with an 800-meter time of 2:28.90.
Zach Mead from Montrose ran a 4:45.85 in the 1600 to place 13th of 14 in his heat and 25th of 29 overall.
The Montrose boys scored three points to tie for 60th out of 82 that scored points. Elk Lake had two points to tie for 70th.
The three points scored by the Elk Lake girls put them tied for 59th out 82 scoring teams.
District 2 had a successful weekend with five state champions.
Valley View’s Ryan Wilkes, in the Class AAA pole vault, and Lake-Lehman’s Dominic Hockenbury, in the Class AA 3200-meter run, each repeated as state titles.
Northwest’s Tyler Burger won the 300-meter hurdles.
District 2 teams won two of the three boys’ relays in Class AA with Wilkes-Barre Meyers winning the 400 and Lakeland the 1600.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The PIAA baseball and softball quarterfinals are set for Thursday.
First-round play was scheduled to have opened on Monday.
The third annual Field of Dreams senior baseball all-star games between players from the Wyoming Valley Conference and Lackawanna League is scheduled for Sunday, 1 p.m.
Joe Ross from Scranton Prep will coach the Lackawanna team while Ron Musto from Wyoming Area will coach the WVC team.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
