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Montgomery Juniors blank South Williamsport; reach winner’s bracket final

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montgomery's shortstop attempts to tag South Williamsport's Torin Haug (6) at second during a District 12 All-star game on Friday at Kiwanis Field in Montoursville. Montgomery won 9-0.

The statistics make it look like Montgomery made another powerful statement and played a sensational game Friday night.

And in a way, Montgomery did all that for a second straight District 12 Junior Division all-star game. But coach Tom Persing is looking beyond the numbers. Add in all the intangibles to go along with the productivity and he knows this team could really achieve some greatness.

That is the goal moving forward, but it sure is nice learning while winning and Montgomery did that once again in convincing fashion Friday night at Montoursville’s Mussina Field.

Briar Persing threw a two-hit shutout and struck out 13, while his cousin Parker Persing went 3 for 4 as Montgomery blanked South Williamsport 9-0 in a winner’s bracket semifinal. Eight players combined for 11 hits as Montgomery earned a spot in Wednesday’s winner’s bracket final back at Montoursville against Keystone, a 21-10 winner over East Lycoming.

“Any 9-0 win in any all-star game is a good win. We didn’t do anything wrong. In the baseball terms it was a good game, but we just lacked the game-time presence of hustling to the ball, moving in and out, and having a serious approach,” Tom Persing, who coached Montgomery’s high school team to the 2012 Class A state final, said. “There’s going to come a time when you have to turn the switch and you can’t just turn it on and off at will. You have to turn it on at the start and leave it on until the end. That’s something we have to focus on.”

Montgomery hit that switch a few times, scoring in the bottom of the first, three times in the third and five times in the sixth. South, however, put up a good fight and was a few hits from being right in the hunt until Montgomery’s big sixth inning.

Many of these players from each team met during the regular season and Montgomery blasted South, so South takes a lot of positives from the rematch into Tuesday’s elimination game against Montoursville at East Lycoming. That goes double after Montgomery opened its tournament by thumping Jersey Shore/GSV, 17-1.

“I told the guys we knew what we were getting into playing these guys. They are loaded the whole way through with good pitching and a lot of sticks, but I was pleased that we went the distance with them,” South coach Seth Caputo said. “The kids had good attitudes the whole way through, and we played great defense. We just couldn’t string some hits together, but Persing pitched a heck of a game.”

He certainly did.

A year after dominating at the Major Division level and helping Hepburn Lycoming/Montgomery captured District 12 and Section 3 championships, Persing is making a smooth transition to the next level.

The hard-throwing right-hander mixed his fastball with well-placed curves and opened the game with 3 2/3 no-hit innings. Persing has played up an age group with the 14-year-olds this season and struck out multiple batters five times with at least one strikeout in all seven innings. He worked ahead, pounded the zone and threw five or fewer balls in five of his seven innings.

Montgomery used seven different pitchers in its opener and may have done that again Friday if the weather forecast not been calling for a chance of storms. Not wanting to burn pitchers in case of a potential Saturday game, Tom Persing let his son go the distance and he has all the pitchers on a deep staff eligible for Wednesday’s game.

“Parker is pretty dominant on the mound and Lucas Naughton throws hard with a good curveball,” Persing said. “We should be able to compete with just about anybody in that aspect and if we play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, we’ll be competitive.”

Naughton put Montgomery ahead to stay in the bottom of the first when he hit an RBI single. He added another RBI during the three-run third inning as Montgomery went up, 4-0. Briar and Parker Persing followed with an RBI double and RBI single, respectively.

South fought hard but Montgomery landed the knockout blow in the sixth inning. After Briar Persing drew an RBI walk, Parker Persing, Camron Spangler, Layne Clingery (2 for 4) and Cody Sechrist followed with RBI singles as Montgomery took a 9-0 lead.

Ten Montgomery players reached base and they produced hits in six different innings, highlighting the team’s prowess and depth.

“They lay a lot of ball. Some of them play in different travel leagues, so they see a lot of pitchers and a lot of pitches throughout the year,” Tom Persing said. “Fundamentally, we’re pretty sound in the hitting department and all-around. We just need to put it all together and have a complete game in all aspects and we’ll be competitive in each game.”

Levi Butler threw four gutsy innings for South and prevented Montgomery from breaking the game open during his outing. He held Montgomery scoreless in two of his four innings and came big in some tough spots, stranding five runners.

“Levi Butler had a heck of a game. He mixed pitches extremely well, threw a lot of strikes and kept those guys off-balance,” Caputo said. “I was very impressed with the way Levi conducted himself on the mound. He gave us a shot.”

So did third baseman Torin Haug. The 14-year-old third baseman went 2 for 3 and was the only South player to produce a hit against Persing, drilling singles in each of his last two at-bats.

As impressive as Haug’s hits were his approaches. He fought back from a 1-2 count in the fourth inning to work a full count before going the opposite way for the single which broke up Persing’s no-hitter. In the seventh inning, Haug shortened his swing on an 0-2 pitch and again went the opposite way, hitting a single into right field before stealing second base.

“This is Torin’s last year in Little League and I was super proud of him today. He’s a great kid who hustles all the time. He has a fantastic attitude and is a team leader,” Caputo said. “I was super impressed with him. That was a good start for him and hopefully he can continue that going into the rest of the tournament which hopefully goes more than one more game.”

South 000 000 0–0 2 2

Montgomery 103 005 x–9 11 1

Briar Persing and Lucas Naughton, Parker Persing (4). Levi Butler, Cole Gerber (5) and Trace Wertz. W–Persing. L–Butler.

Top South hitters: Torin Haug 2-3. Top Montgomery hitters: P. Persing 3-4, 2 RBIs; Layne Clingery 2-4, 2B, RBI; Naughton 1-3, 2 RBIs, R; B. Persing 1-3, 2B, 2 RBIs, 2R; Max Furman III 1-2, 2 BB, R; Seth McClintock 1-4, 3R; Camron Spangler 1-1, RBI; Cody Sechrist 1-2, RBI, R.

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