Fayette American Legion Baseball League
Connellsville’s Welsh shuts out Point Marion CONNELLSVILLE TWP. – Greg Welsh pitched a gem for Connellsville Thursday night, allowing three hits and one walk in six shutout innings.
The Connellsville bats thrived as well, pounding out a 14-0 victory over visiting Point Marion in Fayette American Legion Baseball League action in a game moved to Geibel Catholic’s baseball field.
“My hats off to their pitcher who did an excellent job,” said Point Marion coach Dennis Santella.
Welsh finished the game with seven strikeouts and utilized his infield to shut down Point Marion.
“Greg was outstanding tonight. Everything was working for him,” said Connellsville coach John Przybylinski. “He had great defense behind him.”
Connellsville had just one error and was equally impressive at the plate, tallying 14 hits to match its run total.
Connellsville wasted no time, putting up three runs in bottom of the first inning. Leading 6-0 heading into the home half of the sixth inning, Connellsville blew the top off the affair by scoring eight runs with the final run coming home on a home run from lead-off batter Cody Ward.
Andrew Brooks also had a terrific day for Connellsville with a 3-for-3 performance.
“I think we are a strong team. I felt good coming into this game, they just really hit the ball,” said Santella.
Run support was a non-issue for Welsh, who also added a triple and four RBIs for Connellsville.
“I was working ahead in the count and I had good defense behind me,” said Welsh. “I was locating the fastball and trying to keep them off-balance with the curve.”
Przybylinski’s squad displayed its talents for offense, pitching, and defense, and if they get that quality of play consistently Connellsville will be tough to beat moving forward.
“We found the gaps. It’s the total opposite of what was happening in the beginning of the year,” said Przybylinski. “We have to keep it up and the results will follow.”