Keystone minors beat WALL; advance to District 12 championship
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent A Keystone runner is safe at third base as Williamsport's third baseman loses the ball on the tag in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's runner safely steals second base as Williamsport's second baseman fields the throw in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Williamsport's Kysir Johnson is safe at home as Keystone pitcher Carter Leone loses the ball during the tag at home in the third inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's Ryker Parkech is chased back to third base by Williamsport catcher Elliot Kenyon on an attempted squeeze play in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Williamsport third baseman Chase Ward comes up short on a line drive down the fourth base line on a double by Keystone's Carter Leone in the third inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's Karter Markle is safe at third base as Williamsport third baseman Chase Ward loses the ball on the tag in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's Adam Meyer rounds third base on his way home on the double in the first inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone second baseman Ryker Packech fields a ground ball in the first inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent South Williamsport's Cole Gerber tries to dive back to first as Montoursville looks to pick him off on Thursday in the District 12 junior baseball final. The game Thursday was suspended due to rain and concluded on Friday.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent A Keystone runner is safe at third base as Williamsport's third baseman loses the ball on the tag in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's runner safely steals second base as Williamsport's second baseman fields the throw in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Williamsport's Kysir Johnson is safe at home as Keystone pitcher Carter Leone loses the ball during the tag at home in the third inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's Ryker Parkech is chased back to third base by Williamsport catcher Elliot Kenyon on an attempted squeeze play in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Williamsport third baseman Chase Ward comes up short on a line drive down the fourth base line on a double by Keystone's Carter Leone in the third inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's Karter Markle is safe at third base as Williamsport third baseman Chase Ward loses the ball on the tag in the second inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone's Adam Meyer rounds third base on his way home on the double in the first inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Keystone second baseman Ryker Packech fields a ground ball in the first inning.
MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent South Williamsport's Cole Gerber tries to dive back to first as Montoursville looks to pick him off on Thursday in the District 12 junior baseball final. The game Thursday was suspended due to rain and concluded on Friday.
Trending
While one team on Friday evening had a game to write home about, the other left Montoursville with a disappointing loss. Keystone scored runs in bunches through the second and third innings on its way to a 14-2 victory at Montoursville, along with its bid to play in the championship game at Lamade Stadium in the minor baseball tournament.
Keystone is set to play the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Montoursville and Williamsport for the district title Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. Williamsport will look to beat Montoursville to get a rematch with Keystone.
In terms of scoring, things started off relatively tame.
Williamsport Area started off strong defensively, dishing out back-to-back outs with a ground out and fly out before a walk and triple from Keystone's Giovanni Cej got its opponent on the scoreboard. A quick ground out would conclude the half.
Then Keystone starting pitcher Carter Leone would retire his side to send his team into the second inning with a 1-0 lead.
But the game would start to unravel from there.
A few botched throws from Williamsport Area in the inning that followed proved disastrous, with one allowing Dylan McDermott to get home from first off a Ryker Parkech single and another allowing Parkech and Karter Markle to advance into scoring position off a bunt.
Then Parkech and Martle found their way home on the following at-bat, as the Williamsport Area outfield struggle continued.
While a 4-0 deficit is possible to overcome at any level of baseball, what happened in the third would pretty much put the game away for Keystone.
Four of the first five Keystone batters were walked and, although the Williamsport Area coaching staff opted for a pitching change within that sequence, it would do little to alleviate Keystone's impact on the scoreboard.
By the time the dust cleared and Williamsport Area earned its coveted final out to get back on offense, it had surrendered nine runs in the third inning alone.
Although Williamsport Area would respond with some life on offense, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third, it couldn't get within ten runs by the end of the fourth and put the mercy rule into effect.
Though the result may not have been what Williamsport Area wanted, its manager Ryan Miller was proud of his team's fight and credited his team with keeping the game manageable in the first and second innings.
"They're a good baseball team," said Miller. "But our guys stuck in there and kept fighting. I'm very confident that if we play them again, we'll continue to fight the next time we play them."
On the defensive side for Keystone, Leone had an incredible game. He pitched all four innings, where he surrendered just two runs and five hits. He also had five strikeouts and pitched 45 strikes on 67 pitches.
"He was throwing them low but started bringing them back up high and started getting balls, can't ask for anything better," said Keystone manager Jason Markle on Leone. "He's resilient and he'll keep battling through it and working through it."
Keystone 1391 - 14 10 2
Williamsport Area 0020 - 2 5 1
C. Leone and J. Germello. J. Elswerth, J. Swigart (3), M. Roan (3), E. Kenyon (4). W: Leone. L: Eiswerth.
Top Keystone hitters: D. McDermott 2-2, RBI; run. Parkech 2-2, RBI, 2 runs; G. Cej 1-2, RBI, 3B, run, A. Meyer 1-1, 2 runs. Top Williamsport hitters: C. Ward 2-2; K. Johnson 1-1, RBI, run; N. Roudabush 1-1, run.