SCRANTON — Coming off a commanding performance on the mound in Crestwood’s semifinal win Monday, Chris Litchkofski got the ball again Friday and delivered another great performance.
Crestwood’s misfortune was that, opposite him, Mid Valley’s Lorenzo Hernandez was even better.
Hernandez allowed just four hits in a complete-game shutout, striking out 12 Comets as Mid Valley won the District 2 Class 4A championship with a 2-0 win over Crestwood on Friday at the University of Scranton’s Foley Field.
“We had two innings where we had runners on second and third, and we just couldn’t get that one hit to break the score and to let us calm down and ease in,” said Crestwood coach Sean Foley. “Their pitcher really threw well, they played good defense and had some timely hits that hurt us.”
The Spartans only managed four hits off of Litchkofski, but they did make them count.
The first was a base hit from Nick Mills in the first inning, moving Joey Romanosky to third after he reached on a fielder’s choice in the previous at-bat.
An RBI groundout from Doug Pua brought Romanosky in to score, giving Mid Valley an early 1-0 lead.
Litchkofski quickly found his footing and retired the next seven batters in a row, getting into the fourth inning before Mid Valley would scratch across another run.
Hernandez helped himself out with a base hit to lead off the inning, and a smoked line drive back up the middle from Carter Musewicz that ricocheted off Litchkofski would bring Hernandez in to make it a 2-0 game.
After a quick mound visit and some warmups, Litchkofski was good to go and quickly locked back in. The senior held the Spartans scoreless the rest of the way and allowed just one more hit over the final three innings.
But the two Mid Valley runs proved to be plenty as Hernandez prevented the Comets from getting on the board.
The Comets had runners in scoring position in the second inning, but Hernandez got a popout to the catcher and a strikeout to strand those runners.
In the fourth, Crestwood found itself in a similar spot. Josh Mylet singled with one out, Jaxson Fedak drew a walk and both runners ended up stealing to move up a base.
But Hernandez got the two outs he needed without the ball getting into play with back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam.
“Lorenzo’s got ice in his blood, these things just don’t really affect him,” said Mid Valley coach Ryan Kropa. “He’s our guy, he knows he’s our guy and there’s nobody better in that spot to come back.”
Hernandez knuckled down from there and Crestwood never seriously threatened again, with a groundout to first marking the final out in Hernandez’s championship-winning performance.
Mylet had three of Crestwood’s four hits, singling in all three of his plate appearances. Jack Rodgers had the other Comet hit, a bunt single in the third.
Litchkofski threw all six innings for Crestwood, his second straight complete game after a one-hitter in the team’s semifinal win over Wyoming Area. He allowed just the two runs on four hits while striking out seven.
It’s the second straight district title for Mid Valley, and the first in Class 4A after the Spartans won in Class 3A last year.
Both teams had already qualified for states by making it to the district title game and will be in action on Monday.
Mid Valley will host District 3 runner-up Boiling Springs and Crestwood will travel to play District 4 champ Montoursville at the Lycoming County Intermediate School in Williamsport.
District 2 Class 4A Championship
Mid Valley 2, Crestwood 0
Crestwood`AB`R`H`BI
Rodgers ss`3`0`1`0
Litchkofski p`0`0`0`0
Domzalski dh`3`0`0`0
Wagaman 1b`3`0`0`0
Stavish 3b`3`0`0`0
Mylet c`3`0`3`0
Reed cr`0`0`0`0
Fedak lf`2`0`0`0
McManus cf`3`0`0`0
Feisel rf`2`0`0`0
Wanyo ph`1`0`0`0
Galella 2b`3`0`0`0
Totals`26`0`4`0
Mid Valley`AB`R`H`BI
Balashaitis 2b`2`0`0`0
Romanosky ss`3`1`0`0
Mills 1b`3`0`1`0
Hernandez p`2`1`1`0
Pua 3b`2`0`0`1
Eshelman cf`3`0`1`0
Musewicz rf`3`0`1`1
Lukasavage dh`2`0`0`0
Cali c`2`0`0`0
Totals`22`2`4`2
Crestwood`000`000`0 — 0
Mid Valley`100`100`x — 2
Crestwood`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Litchkofski (L)`6.0`4`2`2`2`7
Mid Valley`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Hernandez (W)`7.0`4`0`0`2`12
