Back Mountain National takes a victory laps after defeating Abington 15-5 Saturday morning at the Dunmore Little League for the Section 5 Little League Major Baseball championship.
John Erzar | Times Leader
Back Mountain National poses with its Section 5 Little League Major Baseball championship banner. National defeated Abington 15-5 Saturday morning for the title and a place in the state tournament.
John Erzar | Times Leader
DUNMORE — About 12 hours after a painful loss, Back Mountain National all-stars had to regroup. They played Saturday morning like what happened the night before didn’t exist.
The offense got off to a quick start and even a quicker ending as National defeated Abington 15-5 in four innings at Dunmore Little League to clinch the Section 5 Little League Major Baseball championship.
District 31 champion National won sectionals for a second consecutive year and will play Section 3 champion Mifflinburg at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of the state tournament at Newtown Edgmont Little League in Newtown Square.
District 16/31, which consists of leagues in the Wyoming Valley, also continued its dominance in the Section 5 playoffs. It has won nine consecutive titles in a tournament which also has two district champs from the Scranton area.
Friday night’s 5-3 win by Abington featured a sixth inning where a third-out catch was ruled invalid, a grand slam turned into a two-run homer when an Abington player missed home plate and a visit from the Dunmore Police was requested to quell a potentially volatile situation.
Saturday morning was much calmer except for National tying its high for runs in the postseason.
“We did a great job about forgetting last night and coming in and playing baseball,” National manager John Oliver said.
National took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Landon James opened with a single to left and Jack Oliver followed with a walk. Both scored on an error on Gavin Bayer’s grounder.
The lead increased to 6-0 in the second as National used three walks, two errors, an RBI groundout by George Rolland and an RBI single by Dom Smacchi to score its runs.
“We had to do it. We had to jump on them quick,” John Oliver said. “That’s why I took visitor when I won the flip. I had a feeling we’d get out ahead and put pressure on their pitchers.”
The tournament started Tuesday and both teams were getting thin in the pitching ranks. National, though, had more in reserve.
Lefty Michael Viglone threw a complete game. While not as effective as in his 3.1 innings of relief in a 2-1 win over Abington on Wednesday, he was able to mix a strong breaking ball with a sneaky fastball. Plus, he worked quickly to try to keep Abington batters unsettled in the box.
“I was using a curverball,” Viglone said. “You have to get them off balance. They’re a good hitting team.”
Abington showed that as Mikey Vazquez’s two-run homer and Jack Johnson’s RBI single sliced the deficit to 6-3 after two innings.
National answered right back with five runs in the third, taking advantage of everything offered. Bayer had an RBI single and Viglone knocked in a run with a sac fly. Oliver and Lorenzo Zangardi singled and scored. Trever Cunningham walked and scored. Rolland and Carter Samanas were hit by pitches with the bases loaded.
National made it 15-5 in the fourth as Oliver and Viglone had RBI doubles and Zangardi and Samanas had RBI singles.
Viglone worked a 1-2-3 fourth to end the game via the 10-run rule. It was the only time all game a team was retired in order.
Abington’s final runs came on a two-run homer by Graham Kelly in the third inning.
“We just didn’t show up today and you can’t not show up against a great team,” Abington manager Chris Davis said. “We battled with them the first two games and we didn’t show up today.”
Section 5 Major Baseball
Back Mountain National 15, Abington 5 (4 inn.)
BMN`AB`R`H`BI
James ss`3`2`1`0
Oliver 3b`2`2`2`1
Cunningham lf`2`1`0`0
Bayer 1b`3`2`1`2
Nulton eh`3`2`0`0
Viglone p`1`2`1`2
Zangardi 2b`3`2`2`1
Samanas c`1`1`1`2
Comitz cf`2`0`0`0
Rolland eh`1`1`0`2
Smacchi rf`1`0`1`1
Fostock eh`2`0`0`0
Totals`22`15`8`11
Abington`AB`R`H`BI
Repshis p`2`0`0`0
Davis ss`2`0`1`0
Kayal c`2`1`1`0
Kelly 1b`1`1`1`2
Fisne 2b`2`0`0`0
Georgia cf`1`1`0`0
Vazquez 3b`2`1`1`2
Shay eh`1`1`1`0
Shimko eh`1`0`0`0
Lyon lf`2`0`0`0
Johnson eh`1`0`1`1
Coslett eh`1`0`0`0
Totals`18`5`6`5
Back Mtn. National`245`4 — 15
Abington`032`0 — 5
E — BMN 1, Abington 5. DP — Abington 1. LOB — BMN 6, Abington 5. 2B — Oliver, Viglone. HR — Kelly, Vazquez. SF — Viglone. SB — Viglone, Rolland.
BMN`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Viglone (W)`4`6`3`3`1`7
Abington`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Repshis (L)`1.0`2`5`4`3`0
Fisne`1.2`4`6`4`2`2
Davis`1.1`4`4`0`1`0
