The Abington Minor Little League Baseball team advanced to the state tournament, where it won two games by resounding margins and lost to the eventual champions and the host team.
Abington finished fourth in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament July 27-August 2 at the Upper Providence Little League in the Philadelphia suburb of Phoenixville.
The season ended on the last day of July with a 3-2 loss to Upper Providence.
Prior to that, Abington had opened the tournament with a 16-0, three-inning rout of Ingomar, lost 6-1 to the Southern York County team that went on to win the title and won 10-0 over St. Marys in five innings.
Noah Troy started and pitched three hitless innings, allowing only a walk, in the win over St. Mary’s.
Jack Keeler and Stephen Strauch each had two hits and drove in two runs. Ford Eckenrode also had two hits, while Patrick Scanlon also drove in two runs.
Abington opened the state tournament with 13 runs in the first inning and a combined no-hitter from its pitchers.
Connor Mitchell, Scanlon and Santo Zanghi each pitched an inning.
Abington reached the state final of the tournament for 8-10-year-olds by rolling through the District 17 and Section 5 tournament brackets untouched.
Abington beat host Valley East twice at the section tournament in Drums. Between 10-3 and 9-4 victories over Drums, it shut out Back Mountain 4-0.
Valley East took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth, but Abington rallied to win the July 22 championship game.
Abington had just two hits — a first-inning single by Strauch and a second-inning double by Scanlon — heading to the bottom of the fourth. Abington, though, had an offensive outburst in the fourth, scoring seven times.
Eckenrode, who pitched a complete game, had the first of five consecutive singles in the inning. He was followed by Noah Troy, Zanghi, Rowan Walsh and Scanlon.
Abington reached the section final when Strauch neutralized the bats of a Back Mountain team that came in averaging more than 13 runs per game in district and section play. He tossed a five-hit shutout.
Strauch needed just 51 pitches to go wire-to-wire on the mound for Abington. He didn’t issue a single walk, struck out three and was given a boost by an error-free effort from the defense behind him.
“I knew (Strauch) was good, but that was beyond how good I thought he was,” Abingon manager Paul Keeler said. “That was impressive to watch. He had them off-balance, he was pounding the zone, and our defense backed him up.”
That defense was on full display in the final inning when Mitchell made a diving snag of a pop-up at shortstop, and catcher Jack Keeler caught a runner off base.
Abington broke through in the third with an RBI double by Drew Cognetti and an RBI single by Keeler.
Eckenrode singled in one run and scored the other in the top of the sixth.
Strauch had two hits and four RBI in the tournament opener against Valley East.
Abington won its pool, then combined to punish three bracket opponents in the District 17 tournament, 57-3.
The title came July 11 with a 15-2 win over Old Forge.
