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Montoursville to title game

The first game was all about defense and a late push. The second game was all about the offense.

In Keystone’s third game it faced the most complete unit yet in a Montoursville team that advanced with two convincing wins.

Montoursville used a big second inning and scored in the third, fourth and fifth innings, to defeat Keystone 13-4 at South Williamsport’s Lions Field.

The loss marks the first time in three years Montoursville has defeated Keystone. It also marks the first District 12 Little League Tournament loss for Keystone in nearly two years.

Montoursville advanced to the District 12 Major Baseball title game at 2 on Friday at Volunteer Stadium. An “if” game would be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Volunteer Stadium.

For the first time in a long time, Keystone will have to figure out how to rebound from a loss. They will take on tonight’s Williamsport vs. South Williamsport winner at 6 Thursday at Hepburn-Lycoming

“We came up with a couple errors there in the beginning. There were a couple missed plays that we have to buckle down and not give up next time,” Keystone coach Kreg Stark said. “We can’t give teams outs. There are 18 outs in a Little League game and that’s all we can give those guys.”

Keystone gave Montoursville plenty of opportunities in the game.

Keystone hit two batters in the second and walked another to help Montoursville load the bases in the second inning. After giving up a run, Logan Ott, who finished in the game pitching for Montoursville, connected with a grand slam to give Montoursville a 5-0 lead.

Keystone got a run back in the third, but hit another batter and issued a walk in the bottom half of the inning to give Montoursville another run.

“Keystone is always the team to beat. They are well organized and really a good baseball team,” Montoursville coach Lee Ranck said. “We always tell the kids to try and win every inning. When they score a couple, we have to come back and score a couple more.”

After adding a run in the third inning Cameron Wood, who finished the game with three hits and two runs scored, blasted a home run to open the fourth. Just two batters later Dylan Moll connected with Montoursville’s third home run of the night for an 8-1 lead.

“We are going to go back and talk about this as a group,” Stark said. “We just need to regroup and refocus. I think the kids are just putting too much pressure on themselves.”

Zane Probst and Landyn Carson singled in the fifth, which eventually led to four Keystone runs. Carson connected with his single to drive in two runs and cut the Montoursville advantage down to 8-4.

The small spark only seemed to add to Montoursville’s confidence.

Jaxon Delena added a double as did Hunter Shearer and CJ Signor to help Montoursville score five more runs and all but put the game away in the bottom of the fifth.

Keystone managed a single in the sixth, but Ott, who entered at the start of the inning, recorded three strikeouts to give Montoursville the win.

Keystone 001 030-4 7 1

Montoursville 051 25X-13 13 1

Ross Glossner, Ryan Bennett (3), Zane Probst (5) and Tommy Pringle. Hunter Shearer, Logan Ott (6) and Eric Rodriguez. WP: Glossner. LP: Shearer.

Top Keystone hitters: Ross Glossner 2-3, 2B, RBI; Hayden Heickel 2B. Top Montoursville hitters: Jaxon Delena 3-4, 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Logan Ott 1-4, GS; Cameron Wood 2-3, HR, 2 runs, RBI; Hunter Shearer 2B; Dylan Moll 3-4, HR, 2 runs.

Records: Keystone 2-1. Montoursville 3-0. Next: Keystone vs. TBA, Thursday, Hepburn Lycoming, 6 p.m.

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