WEST PITTSTON — The road to a District 16 Little League title often means having to deal with Plains somewhere along the way.
Mountain Top did just that Saturday afternoon at the West Pittston Little League.
Garrett Chalker struck out 10 through five innings and Mountain Top was opportunistic enough on offense for a 5-1 victory over Plains for the District 16 8-10 Baseball championship.
“The last two years before this, I was in the championship with the 11-year-olds and 12 year-olds,” Mountain Top manager Phil Malay said. “And Plains beat me last year with the 12-year-olds. It’s good getting some payback here with the small guys and taking them to sectionals.”
Plains defeated Mountain Top 10-8 in pool play on June 24.
The two leagues aren’t done squaring off, as they will meet at Plains on Monday for the District 16 Major Baseball title.
Chalker gave up consecutive one-out singles to Will McKeown and Jordan Stark in the first inning and then pretty much shut down the Plains offense the rest of the way. He strung together five straight strikeouts and struck out the side in the third and fifth innings.
“Garrett is our ace. He’s been a horse all year,” Malay said. “He’s going to challenge you every time. He’s not going to throw junk, he’s going to throw it by you. And he did today.”
Eli Metz pitched the sixth and after having issues finding the strike zone ended the game with two strikeouts.
An RBI single by Metz and an RBI groundout by Luke Fauerbach gave Mountain Top a 2-0 lead after one inning. Doubles by Braxtyn Wenzel and Luke Bendowski helped bump the lead to 4-0 in the second.
Plains got its run in the fourth. Malakai Vanderburg chopped an infield single to third with two outs. He swiped two bases and scored on a wild pitch. Plains’ only other hit was a bunt single by Jayce Miller to start the sixth.
A pair of errors led to Mountain Top scoring a run in the fourth, with Anthony Darco crossing the plate.
District 16 8-10 Championship
Mountain Top 5, Plains 1
Plains`AB`R`H`BI
Vanderburg ss`2`1`1`0
W.McKeown p`1`0`1`0
Stark 2b`2`0`1`0
Anderson eh`1`0`0`0
Hollingshead 1b`2`0`0`0
Miller 3b`1`0`1`0
Paulino c`1`0`0`0
Lara cf`1`0`0`0
Gavin eh`1`0`0`0
Isaac eh`2`0`0`0
Balent lf`2`0`0`0
B.McKeown rf`1`0`0`0
Totals`17`1`4`0
Mountain Top`AB`R`H`BI
Chalker p`3`1`1`0
Galella 3b`2`0`1`0
Metz ss`2`1`2`1
Fauerbach lf`2`0`0`1
Malay cf`2`0`0`0
Darco c`1`1`0`0
Wenzel eh`2`2`1`0
O’Neill rf`2`0`0`1
Bendowski 1b`2`0`1`1
Nealon 2b`1`0`0`0
Greeley eh`2`0`0`0
Graboski eh`2`0`0`0
Totals`22`5`6`4
Plains`000`100 — 1
Mountain Top`220`10x — 5
2B — Wenzel, Bendowski.
Plains`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
W.McKeown (L)`4`6`5`3`1`1
Lara`1`0`0`0`0`1
Mountain Top`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Chalker (W)`5`3`1`1`2`10
Metz`1`1`0`0`3`2
