Abington Heights won two out of three meetings with North Pocono, the team with which it shared the top of the Lackawanna League Division 1 baseball standings, but could not conquer the top team in District 2.
The Comets won their final meeting with division co-leader North Pocono in the district Class 5A semifinal, but lost in the district championship game against unbeaten Pittston Area.
Abington Heights finished 17-5 overall with one- and two-run losses to Pittston Area for two of just five games by those margins in the 22 wins the Patriots took into the start of Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament play.
Pittston Area 3, Abington Heights 1
EDWARDSVILLE — Two of the best pitchers in all of District 2 collided May 29 with a championship on the line.
In a duel that lived up to the hype, it was Elijah Barr that stood tall at the end — and unbeaten Pittston Area standing tall with a championship plaque.
Barr tossed a two-hitter and Pittston Area’s lineup was able to do enough damage early on to topple Abington Heights ace Nick Bradley for a 3-1 victory in the Class 5A championship game.
After shaking off some command issues and allowing a run in the first inning, Barr settled in and turned the Comets hitters away inning after inning all the way to the finish line.
“I felt like we had it all the way, I had full confidence in my team coming in here,” Barr said. “I just went out there and I threw, trusted my defense and it all worked out.”
That defense had Barr’s back the whole way as the Patriots ace pitched to ground-ball contact and was rewarded with 13 ground-ball outs, including a nifty double play 8turned by middle infielders Beau Widdick and Silvio Giardina.
Both teams were able to scratch a run across in the first inning as both Barr and Bradley took a beat to fully lock in.
Reese Zalewski drew a one-out walk and scored on an Evan Gonzalez groundout for the Comets, then Jake Aftewicz’s groundout in the bottom half scored Dominic Innamorati.
As both starters began to heat up from there, it was a two-run third inning from the Patriots that made the difference.
It started at the bottom, as Pittston Area’s nine-hitter Nick Innamorati scorched a triple into right field to start things off and scored on a sacrifice fly from Dominic Innamorati.
Barr then helped his own cause with a single, advanced to third on a double from Giardina and scored as Aftewicz put together another productive at-bat with a sacrifice fly to center.
Giardina was thrown out trying to advance to third to end the inning, but Barr didn’t need any more to guide Pittston Area on the mound.
Barr didn’t allow a hit until Noah Kayal broke through in the fifth inning, and only allowed a second hit on a Hunter Pentasuglio fly ball that got lost in the sun with two outs in the seventh inning.
The Patriots didn’t panic even as the tying run came to the plate, and another one of those groundballs did the trick: Giardina to Montigney, shortstop to first, and the celebration was on for Pittston Area.
Bradley pitched a five-hitter with six strikeouts and two walks.
Abington Heights 11, North Pocono 2
Abington Heights recovered from a stumble at the end of the regular season to defeat visiting North Pocono in the May 24 district semifinal.
Bradley held the Trojans without an earned run for 6 1/3 innings and drove in four runs to lead the way for the Comets. He struck out nine and walked just one while allowing two unearned runs on five hits. Bradley brought in three of the runs on a bases-loaded triple for a 10-2 lead in the fifth inning.
North Pocono was in front 2-1 until the Comets scored six times in the fourth and four more in the fifth.
The first seven batters reached in the fourth on four hits, two walks and an error. Hunter Pentasuglio drove in two with a bases-loaded single to break a 2-2 tie.
Gonzalez had a double and single while Zalewski also had two hits. Kayal and Conner Abel each scored twice. Thomas LaCoe doubled and stole two bases.
Recap
The Comets were on a six-game winning streak overall and were 11-0 in the division before losing two of their final three regular-season games, 8-7 to Wallenpaupack and 7-5 to North Pocono.
Abington Heights and North Pocono each finished 12-2 in the division, followed by: Delaware Valley 8-6, Scranton 8-6, Scranton Prep 5-9, Valley View 5-9, Wallenpaupack 4-10 and West Scranton 2-12.
Scheduled division championship games between the Comets and the Trojans, prior to the district playoffs, were postponed by rain
Bradley had a no-hitter in April against North Pocono, then threw a five-inning, one-hitter May 7 in an 11-1 win over Delaware Valley. He gave up just 24 hits and 11 walks while striking out 92, going 9-1 and posting an 0.71 earned run average in 59 1/3 innings. He drove in 30 runs on six doubles, three triples and two homers and batted .462, second on the team to LaCoe’s .465.
