SCOTT TWP. — Though it didn’t follow exactly the same script as an opening round win on Saturday, Abington’s showdown with Kingston/Forty Fort on Sunday stuck to a proven recipe for success.
Mash the ball, score a ton and dare their opponent to keep up.
Abington’s 13 total hits included six doubles and a home run, while three pitchers gave up just four combined hits in a 9-2 victory over Kingston/Forty Fort in the winner’s bracket final of the Section 5 Major Baseball Tournament.
A five-run third inning broke the game open for Abington after falling behind early, a big inning aided by a few miscues from the typically squeaky-clean defense of Kingston/Forty Fort.
Trailing 2-1, Max Vazquez led off the inning for Abington with a towering fly ball misplayed in the outfield, allowing the slugger to advance all the way to third.
Penn Eckenrode singled him home to tie the game, opening the floodgates for Abington. Oliver Giroux singled in another run, Ben Hillebrand brought one home on another defensive error from Kingston/Forty Fort and the District 17 champs added two more runs on wild pitches.
“You can’t spot a team of that quality anything,” Kingston/Forty Fort manager Tim Needle said. “One or two plays that we didn’t make dictated the story and made that inning bigger than it should have been.”
Abington added another run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth, with Eckenrode launching a homer to left-center and Lucas Deschaine plating another run on a sacrifice fly.
Eckenrode and Giroux both had multi-hit games for Abington, as did Justin Johnson, Dylan Lyle and Patrick Keeler. Keeler drove in Abington’s first run with a double to the wall in the second inning.
Kingston/Forty Fort grabbed the early advantage in this winner’s bracket game, taking a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Richie McCabe doubled to lead off the inning, Seth Ahart drove him in with a base hit and Russell Singer’s sac fly plated Ahart.
But the District 31 champs couldn’t add any more, as Vasquez and Johnson combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless relief with just one hit allowed between the two.
Abington will get Monday off and advance directly to the Section 5 championship, starting on Tuesday.
Kingston/Forty Fort will drop into the elimination bracket final against Greater Pittston Township, set for Monday at 6 p.m. at Lakeland Little League.
Section 5 Major Baseball Tournament
Abington 9, Kingston/Forty-Fort 2
Kingston/FF`AB`R`H`BI
Kushnir ss`2`0`0`0
Lipinski 3b`3`0`0`0
Needle p`2`0`0`0
Wadas 1b`1`0`0`0
Ringler 2b-p`2`0`0`0
McCabe c`1`1`1`0
Ahart cf`2`1`1`1
Figueroa eh`2`0`1`0
Nicholls lf`2`0`0`0
Singer rf`1`0`0`1
Dailey eh`2`0`1`0
Varzaly eh`2`0`0`0
Totals`23`2`4`2
Abington`AB`R`H`BI
Kane c`3`0`2`1
Vazquez ss-p`3`1`0`0
Eckenrode p`3`2`2`2
Johnson 1b-p`3`1`2`0
Deschaine rf`2`1`1`1
Tomachick 3b`3`0`0`0
Giroux eh`3`2`2`1
Hillebrand lf`2`1`0`0
Hizny eh`2`0`0`0
Lyle eh`2`0`2`0
Keeler 2b`2`1`2`1
McDonough cf`1`0`0`0
Totals`29`9`13`6
Kingston/FF`020`000 — 2
Abington`015`12x — 9
2B — Kane 2, McCabe, Figueroa, Johnson, Deschaine, Lyle, Keeler. HR — Eckenrode.
Kingston/FF`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Needle (L)`2.2`8`5`3`1`3
Ringler`2.2`5`4`3`0`1
Dailey`0.2`0`0`0`0`0
Abington`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Eckenrode`2.1`3`2`2`2`2
Vazquez (W)`2.2`0`0`0`1`5
Johnson`1.0`1`0`0`0`0
