ASHLEY — The first inning produced one hit and no runs for Pittston, but it also produced something else — a sense of confidence.
The batters stung the ball and with that there was a feeling the offense would come around. The way Ava Thomas was pitching, only one run would do the trick.
Thomas struck out 13 and surrendered just three hits — all bunt singles — as Pittston defeated Mountain Top 5-0 Wednesday night for the District 16 Little League Major Softball championship.
Pittston will join District 31 champ Back Mountain, District 17 champ North Pocono and District 32 champ Carbino Club in the Section 5 tournament. The tournament starts July 5 with either Pittston or Back Mountain hosting.
Mountain Top finished 4-0 in pool play, including a 5-2 win over Pittston.
“I think they had the confidence they would come back and win,” said Pittston manager Bill Kroski, whose team finished 2-2 in pool play. “They knew they played well (in the first game). They hit the ball well. We just hit the ball at girls and today they fell a little bit more.”
Pittston scored the only run it would need in the second inning. Natalie McAndrew singled to center, stole two bases and scored on a groundout by Thomas.
Thomas finished with two RBI, but her real contribution came in the circle. She struck out 13 and had just one ball hit to the outfield.
“I just felt it more than other nights before,” Thomas said. “Especially with a great defense behind me. It was a really good game.”
Thomas ran into difficulty once as Alexx Fromm walked to start the third inning and Addison Ciocco bunted her way on base an out later. Lia Lapsansky walked with two outs, but Mountain Top couldn’t get a runner home.
Pittston Area busted the game open in the fourth with four runs. Izzie Kroski led off by reaching on an error. She stole second and scored on a single by Ainsley Lear. Lear went first-to-third on a sac bunt and scored on a single by Biz Roman.
Roman moved to third on a single by Emily Collins and scored on a groundout by McAndrew. Thomas capped the inning with an RBI single to left for the 5-0 advantage.
Thomas finished off the last two innings by striking out five the final eight batters she faced.
“She was on fire tonight,” Bill Kroski said. “It was one of her better games this season. She gets up for these games. We have 10 of the girls from our regional team from last year and I think being in big games last year kind of helped us through this game today.”
Besides Ciocco, Araceli Martinez and Emme Seltzer had bunt singles for Mountain Top.
D16 Major Softball Championship
Pittston 5, Mountain Top 0
Mountain Top`AB`R`H`BI
Lazo ss`2`0`0`0
Stavish p`2`0`0`0
Rodgers 1b`2`0`0`0
Sinavage 3b`1`0`0`0
Martinez rf`2`0`1`0
Smedling lf`2`0`0`0
Fromm c`1`0`0`0
Seltzer cf`2`0`1`0
Ciocco eh`1`0`1`0
Petzold eh`2`0`0`0
Lapsansky eh`1`0`0`0
Weyhemeyer eh`1`0`0`
Totals`19`0`3`0
Pittston`AB`R`H`BI
Kroski c`2`1`0`0
Lear 1b`2`1`2`1
Luvender 2b`1`0`0`0
R0man 3b`2`1`1`1
Collins eh`2`1`1`0
McAndrew ss`2`1`1`1
Thomas p`2`0`1`2
Pesotini eh`2`0`1`0
Laudato cf`2`0`0`0
Distasio eh`2`0`1`0
Fediw lf`2`0`0`0
Basile rf`2`0`0`0
Totals`23`5`8`5
Mountain Top`000`000 — 0
Pittston`010`40x — 5
Mountain Top`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Stavish (L)`5`8`5`3`0`1
Pittston`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Thomas (W)`6`3`0`0`2`13
