Connellsville bows out of Junior Legion state tournament
Connellsville started out the Junior American Legion Baseball state tournament with a pair of wins but a loss on Monday evening and another on Tuesday morning ended its run at Macclesfield Park in Yardley.
Connellsville earned victories over the Yardley-Morrisville Riversharks in walk-off fashion, 3-2, on Sunday before defeating Bloomsburg on Monday morning, 12-1 in six innings. Connellsville then fell to South County, 6-2, in a game shortened to five innings later on Monday, and lost to the Boyertown Bear Cubs, 6-1, Tuesday.
Manager Jake Lee’s squad finished its season with a 14-6 overall record.
South County took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run by Easton Glass in the second inning and went up 2-0 in the third on Cooper Fox’s run-scoring single.
South County surged to a 6-0 lead with a four-run fourth inning that included doubles by Glass and Max Manning, a single by Mikey Barto, a sacrifice fly by Fox and three errors.
Connellsville loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth on walks by Keegan Lott, Jackson Lee and Wade Bryner. Nolan Feniello then delivered an RBI single and Joey Adams drew a walk to force in another run to make it 6-2. South County pitcher Justyce Carruthers got an inning-ending strikeout with the tying run as the plate.
Starting and winning pitcher Nick Askins pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and a walk with one strikeout. Carruthers was charged with two runs on one hit and six walks with one strikeout in two innings.
Glass added a double in recording two hits and Manning had a double and single for South County.
Connellsville was limited to three singles with one apiece by Feniello, Lee and Adams.
Losing pitcher Walker Beal surrendered six runs, only one of which was earned, on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts in four innings. Trevor McCoy pitched one perfect inning with two strikeouts in relief for Connellsville.
The loss to Boyerstown took a similar path as Connellsville allowed a run in the second and one in the third then three in the fourth to fall behind 5-0.
Chase Miller’s sacrifice fly in the second put the Bear Cubs ahead to stay and Jaxson Murry hit a run-scoring single in the third.
Boyerstown parlayed singles by William Harner, Miller and Samuel Schriner, a sacrifice fly by Austin Barcoski and an error into four runs in the fourth.
Connellsville’s lone run came in the fifth inning when Bryner doubled, went to third on Owen Show’s ground out and scored on Lott’s two-out single.
Harner and Murray each had two hits in the Bear Cubs’ 11-hit attack.
Lott and Bryner had two hits apiece for Connellsville. Losing pitcher Lee tossed a complete game. He gave up six runs (three earned) on 11 hits and four walks with one strikeout.