DALLAS TWP. — The perfect summer for the Abington Major Little League Baseball all-stars continued through 11 games and the winners’ bracket final of the Section 5 Tournament.
There, the season ended with consecutive losses to host and two-time defending champion Back Mountain National.
BMN used those victories to reach state play where it finished second, losing only a pair of games to Council Rock-Newtown by a combined four runs.
Abington went 6-0 in District 16 round-robin play, then won three straight games in the double-elimination bracket to take the title and reach the Section 5 Tournament. Two more wins, including a victory over BMN in the first of three meetings, in the winners’ bracket final, gave Abington two shots at beating BMN to reach the state tournament.
Back Mountain National 7, Abington 2
Abington answered one power surge by Back Mountain National in the deciding game July 19.
It had no solution to the other.
BMN smashed four home runs and pitcher Ben Nulton quelled Abington bats after the first inning in a 7-2 victory in the Section 5 Major Little League Baseball championship game.
Carter Samanas and Nulton — the second and third hitters in the batting order — combined for the four home runs, driving in all the BMN runs. The offense was top heavy as Samanas, Nulton, leadoff hitter Kellan DeFalco and cleanup hitter Nick Federici had eight of BMN’s nine hits and scored six times.
“Very difficult,” Abington manager John Kwiatkowski said. “Those first four hitters, it doesn’t matter what you throw at them they are going to hit the ball. You just try to manage where they hit it, and obviously a couple car windshields got broken out there tonight.”
Abington tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the first. Shane Goldberg led off with a single and then Jake Kwiatkowski and Gannon Wilson hit consecutive RBI doubles.
Nulton surrendered just three singles after that and retired the last nine batters for a 84-pitch complete game.
Kwiatkowski finished 2-for-2.
Back Mountain National 6, Abington 3
Federici gave Back Mountain National a shot at its threepeat, clubbing two opposite-field home runs to drive in three runs July 18 as BMN handed Abington its first loss.
Federici tied the score 1-1 in the second inning by launching a homer over the right field fence. BMN exited the top of the second with a 2-1 lead as Wyatt Engel followed with a walk, moved to second on a single by Logan VanValkenburgh, made it to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
National increased its lead to 4-1 in the fourth when Federici blasted another homer to right that not only cleared the fence but reportedly cleared the street and landed in the firehouse lot.
Abington sliced a run off the deficit in the fourth on a “Little League home run” by Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski doubled to left and an error on the hit allowed him to score. Abington moved within 4-3 in the fifth as Brady Nalevenko doubled in Daniel Spanish, who had walked.
BMN added two runs in the sixth on consecutive two-out doubles by leadoff hitter Kevin DeFalco and winning pitcher Samanas.
Kwiatkowski, who struck out seven as the starting pitcher, went 2-for-3 and scored twice for Abington.
Abington 4, Back Mountain National 3
A huge gamble paid off for Abington in the July 15 winners’ bracket final.
Kwiatkowski, the team’s fire-balling ace Jake Kwiatkowski was pulled after two innings and 35 pitches and the game was handed over to reliever Jerry Jordan, keeping Kwiatkowski available to pitch again with a shot at its first state tournament appearance since 2011.
Jordan proceeded to hold BMN to one run and one hit over four innings of the Abington win.
“You’re always playing for today, tomorrow and the next day,” Abington manager John Kwiatkowski said. “You really have to manage your pitch counts. We had a game plan going in and stuck with our game plan.”
BMN showed its hitting prowess early as Nulton belted a home run to dead center with two outs in the first and Nick Federici led off the second with a homer to left.
BMN had just one more hit — an RBI single by Mitch Ronczka in the third. Jordan retired National in order in the fourth and sixth innings, and a 3-6 double play eliminated any problems in the fifth.
Abington snapped a 3-3 tie in the fourth when Goldberg scored on a wild pitch. He had singled with one out, moved to second on a single by Pat Donahue and to third when Flynn Volchoff walked to load the bases.
Abington scored its first run in the first when Spanish was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. A couple blooper singles to short right by Donahue and Kevin Conaboy helped produce two more runs in the second.
Donahue finished 2-for-2 as Abington won with just four singles.
Abington 10, Plains 6
One out. That’s all Plains needed Sunday to exit the fifth inning unscathed.
But by the time that out was recorded, Abington had done significant damage.
Jake Kwiatkowski’s grand slam capped a five-run fifth for Abington — with all baserunners and runs happening with two outs — as the District 17 champion defeated District 16 champion Plains in the July 14 Section 5 opener.
Plains led 6-5 and recorded two quick outs to start the fifth. Then Abington’s Henry Hillebrand singled up the middle, Brady Nalevenko walked and Conaboy was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Jerry Jordan kept the inning alive by legging out an RBI infield single to tie the score. Kwiatkowski followed with a grand slam to left for a 10-6 lead. Kwiatkowski had a solo homer in the third that hit off a vehicle searching for a parking space and cut the deficit to 6-5.
Wilson was 3-for-3 with a run scored. Hillebrand, who was 2-for-2, and Nalevanko scored twice each.
Jordan pitched the last 2 1/3 innings, holding Plains scoreless, to post the win.
Abington 13, Moosic 3
Kwiatkowski was the winning pitcher and had a grand slam in the four-inning victory July 8 to give Abington the District 17 title.
Abington outscored its nine district opponents 115-16.
Kwiatkowski allowed just two earned runs n three hits. He struck out nine and walked one.
Goldberg and Kwiatkowski each had two hits.
Abington 11, Moosic 1
Kwiatkowski struck out eight in three hitless innings and providing a home run and triple at the plate during the July 6 District 17 winners’ bracket final.
Spanish, Hillebrand, Jordan, Conaboy and Pat Donahue also had multiple hits. Hillebrand’s hits including a triple.
Abington 13, Dunmore 4
Hillebrand drove in three runs as Abington opened district bracket play July 5 with the victory.
Abington took control with eight runs in the first inning.
Conaboy, Wilson and Kwiatkowski finished with two hits each.
Spanish pitched a 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Abington 11, Moosic 1
Abington completed its unbeaten run through round-robin play July 2 with the first of its three victories over Moosic, the eventual district runner-up.
Wilson struck out five while holding Moosic to one run and one hit through four innings.
Kwiatkowski, Conaboy, Goldberg and Jordan had two hits each. Gabriel Thomas doubled for the game-ending hit.
