GPT wins Section 5 Minor Baseball championship

GLENBURN TWP. – Rocco Skula was back at shortstop to settle under the soft popup for the final out of the Section 5 Minor Little League Baseball Tournament.

First, however, Skula got Greater Pittston Township pointed to its championship by holding host Abington to a single hit over the first 3 2/3 innings of a 6-4 victory in Tuesday’s final.

GPT went into the night with two shots at the victory it needed to secure the title and advance to next week’s state tournament.

The starting pitching of Skula and the relief work of Santino Rynkiewicz made sure the second game was not necessary. GPT finished 3-0 in the tournament by handing second-place Abington its second loss in four games of the double-elimination event.

“I probably triple-checked Rocco’s pitch count today to make sure we were all good,” GPT manager John Cerasaro said. “ … He did what we needed him to do. Joey Basile came in, then Santino came in to close the door.

“All three of them were fantastic today. Only allowing four runs compared to our last two games really showed our pitching quality.”

GPT made it to Tuesday with a pair of one-run victories in games where its pitching and defense allowed opponents to score in double figures.

Rynkiewicz gave up two singles, one of them an infield hit, while getting the last four outs.

Skula made it through 3 2/3 innings before hitting his 75-pitch limit. He walked four and struck out eight.

GPT built a 2-0 lead by taking advantage of four Abington errors in the bottom of the second. Anthony Cerasaro drove in one of the runs on his groundball, reached on an error and scored the other run.

Abington closed to within a run after Skula left the mound in the fourth.

Skula reached on an error to start the bottom of the inning.

Colston Tolerico tripled to right to drive in Skula, then scored when Kaysen Simmons was reaching on an error on an RBI groundball.

Basile drove in Simmons with a one-out single down the left-field line. Basile scored when Cerasaro singled, then Anthony Cortese and Crue Ziobro drew consecutive walks.

GPT gets to stay close to home as it advances to the state tournament for the 8-10-year-old division, hosted by Valley East Little League in Drums.

Back Mountain 9-11 All-Stars starting state tournament Wednesday

After two hard-fought wins over Carbino Club to win the Section 5 championship last week, Back Mountain will kick off action in the Pennsylvania 9-11 state tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

The District 31 and Section 5 champs will take on Hollidaysburg Little League, the District 11 and Section 4 champion, to begin the tournament. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at State College Little League.

To reach their second straight state tournament in the 9-11 age division, Back Mountain had to avenge an earlier loss to Carbino Club not once, but twice.

They did exactly that on Friday night, defeating Carbino Club 3-2 to force a second, winner-take-all game played right after the conclusion of the first.

Back Mountain repeated the feat in the nightcap, hanging on for a 2-1 win over Carbino Club to win the Section 5 championship.

If Back Mountain beats Hollidaysburg, their next game would be Thursday at 6 p.m., and a loss would have them playing Thursday at 2 p.m.

Section 5 Minor Baseball Championship