PLAINS TWP. — Plains North took advantage of anything offered in Monday night’s District 16 Little League Major Baseball championship.
Plains North walked 15 times — and Braedon Hollingshead made Mountain Top pay dearly for one of them — as it posted an 11-6 victory for the championship.
The game lasted well into the night, ending at 10:52 p.m. The wait was worth it for Plains North, which will now play in the Section 5 playoffs in the Scranton area.
“Great opportunity for the kids, great opportunity for the community,” Plains North manager Don Stark said. “You saw the amount of people that were on the hill tonight. And Plains purple, it runs through everyone’s blood who lives in Plains.”
The hill along the first-base line is a popular vantage point for fans. The Plains faithful didn’t see much hitting through three innings — a bunt single by Dan Franchella and a single up the middle by Brayden Tarnalicki, both in the third inning. The Plains fans, though, saw plenty of runs created from the walks.
Omar Contreras led off the game with a walk, moved to second and then third on wild pitches. He stole home on a throw back to the pitcher for a 1-0 lead.
The seven-run second inning featured bases-loaded walks by Ronnie Faatz, Reilly Hossage, Gavin Regan and JP McKeown along with an RBI single by Tarnalicki to make it 8-1.
Mountain Top’s only run to that point came on a solo homer by Avery Brace to start the second inning. Mountain Top, though, chipped away and an RBI double by Connor Blasi and RBI singles by Caden Hoban and Miles Metz in the fourth inning cut the deficit to 8-6.
But then the walks came back to haunt Mountain Top and give Plains North a bit of a cushion.
Franchella started the fifth with a single and moved to second on an error on his hit. An out later, Hossage, who had put on quite a power display in pool play, was intentionally walked. Hollingshead made the strategy backfired by hitting a towering shot over the center field fence for Plains North’s final runs of the game.
Mountain Top outhit Plains North 11-6, but left the bases loaded in the second, third and fourth innings.
District 16 Major Baseball Championship
Plains North 11, Mountain Top 6
Plains North`AB`R`H`BI
Contreras cf`2`2`1`0
Stark p`3`1`0`0
Franchella ss`3`1`2`0
Faatz rf`2`1`0`1
Hossage lf`0`2`0`1
Hollingshead 1b`3`2`1`3
Dunsmuir c`1`1`0`0
Regan eh`1`1`0`1
McKeown 3b`1`0`0`1
Tarnalicki eh`2`0`2`1
Yuhas 2b`3`0`0`0
Ewis eh`3`0`0`0
Totals`24`11`6`8
Mountain Top`AB`R`H`BI
Hoban c`3`1`2`1
McLaughlin 3b`1`1`1`0
Metz 2b`3`0`1`2
Rodgers eh`3`0`0`0
Brace p`3`1`2`1
Zurawski ss`3`0`2`0
Gryboski lf`3`0`0`0
Lamoreaux eh`2`0`0`0
Koons 1b`3`0`1`0
Taylor c`0`1`0`0
Blasi eh`3`1`1`1
McConnell rf`2`1`1`0
Totals`29`6`11`5
Plains North`107`030 – 11
Mountain Top`012`300 – 6
2B – Conteras. HR – Avery, Hollingshead.
Plains North`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Stark (W)`3.1`7`3`2`2`6
Franchella `2.2`4`3`3`3`3
Mountain Top`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Brace (L)`2.1`1`3`3`8`6
Metz`0.2`0`5`4`4`1
McLaughlin`3.2`5`3`3`3`3
