SCRANTON — Scott Gilbert and Michael Show from Abington Heights were two of their team’s top performers July 15 when Lackawanna fell, 4-2, in the baseball half of the Lackawanna vs. Luzerne Baseball and Softball Senior All-Star Games at Connell Park.
Baseball opened the doubleheader and Gilbert got the Lackawanna start on the mound, holding Luzerne scoreless by working out of bases-loaded jams with inning-ended strikeouts in each of the first two innings. In the first inning, the struck out the last two batters after Luzerne loaded the bases with one out.
Show came off the bench to play left field and joined Ryan Cesarini from Valley View, the team’s Most Valuable Player, as the only Lackawanna players with two hits. Show went 2-for-2 with a double, driving in Gilbert with the game-tying run in the top of the seventh.
Luzerne answered Show’s RBI single with two runs in the bottom of the seventh of the nine-inning game to pull out the victory.
Gilbert got all six of his outs by strikeout while giving up three hits and three walks.
Show had an RBI single in his first at-bat in the seventh, then doubled in the ninth with Lackawanna down to its last out.
The RBI single in the seventh was the third straight hit for the Lackawanna to erase a 2-1 deficit.
Gilbert had the first hit, a single to center field with one out, in his only at-bat of the game.
Lackawanna got runners to second and third with one out, but could not take the lead.
After Scranton Prep’s Ethan Muha singled to lead off the eighth, Hazleton Area’s Matt Shamany, who finished up on the mound for Luzerne, retired six of the last seven batters with five strikeouts to earn the save.
Show’s double down the left-field line ended a streak of five straight Shamany strikeouts.
Ray Melnikoff from Lackawanna Trail also played for the Lackawanna in the game. He came off the bench to play third base and went 0-for-2.
Marcus Danchision from MMI Prep was the Luzerne MVP with a game-winning, two-run double with two out in the bottom of the seventh. The Lehigh University commit allowed one run on two hits in two innings on the mound, getting six outs on the last five batters he faced with the help of a double play and three strikeouts.
Todd Kolbicka from Hanover Area was the only Luzerne player with two hits. He had a pair of RBI doubles.
Cesarini started in center field and went 2-for-3 while scoring the game’s first run to land the Lackawanna MVP award.
The doubleheader, presented by 570 Sports Show LLC, featured recent graduates of Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conference schools. All schools were eligible, not just Lackawanna and Luzerne County schools.
