The Dallas Post Dallas, PA July 18, 2003 Tue DALLAS POST Section 2 By JOHN ERZAR For The Dallas Post DALLAS — After pitching out of a jam in the fifth, lefty Bobby Peron pitched a perfect sixth inning, making Back Mountain National the District 16 Little League champion with a 7-4 victory over Forty Fort Monday night. National Next Game will host Sunday 2 p.m. the Section W.W. Kubis Field 4 Tourna- Against winner of Dis- ment, trict 29 vs. District 18 Which starts Sat- urday with two games. It will have a first-round bye and play at 2 p.m. Sun- day against the winner of a Saturday game between the champs from Dis- trict 29 (Poconos area) and District 18 (Hazleton area). See NATIONAL, pg 10 POST PHOTO/RON BARTIZEK Pitcher Bobby Peron and catcher Hunter Englehart celebrated after Peron struck out the final batter in the District 16 Little League Base- ball championship game. FOR THE DALLAS POST/AIMEE DILGER Back Mountain National's Casey Judge slid into an unattended home plate in Mon- day’s District 16 title game. ® Back Mountain By JOHN ERZAR For The Dallas Post WILKES-BARRE — The Back Moun- tain Junior League softball team needed some luck Tuesday, but it also needed two runs in its last at-bat. One seemed to take care of the other. “The last inning, they all touched the ribbons they wore in the state champi- onship game as 10-year-olds,” Back Moun- tain manager Rick Evans said. “That's their good luck charm. We saved it for the end.” And with a touch of the ribbons, Back Mountain touched previously unbeaten Plains for those two runs to pull off a thrilling 5-4 victory at Miners Mills Little League. Trailing 4-3, Back Mountain's Becca Banks started the seventh with a single. An error on the play advanced her to sec- ond. Kasey Corbett’s sacrifice bunt sent Banks to third, and she scored when Megan McDonald legged out an infield single. McDonald moved to third on the throw to the plate, then scored the game- winner when Alley Evans’ grounder was booted. The victory set up a final game for the title at 6 p.m. Thursday, too late for re- sults to be included in this issue. Plains defeated Back Mountain 7-6 earlier in the tournament. Evans, the winning pitcher, was strong on the mound and Back Mountains 3-0 lead entering the top of the fifth seemed somewhat comfortable. McDonald had doubled in a run in the third and Tara Dombzalski had singled home two in the fourth. Evans had allowed only one hit — a second-inning double to Brittany Bigelow — and it would be the only she would surrender all game. Plains rallied in the fifth as two batters reached on errors before the next three batters laid down bunts. The end result was a 4-3 Plains advantage. “I called time out and went out there,” Evans said. “We were letting the crowd get in our heads. I just wanted to calm them down and slow it down.” E31 4 rallies to force title game J Va Kasey Corbett finished a stellar at-bat by stealing home plate Sunday against Harveys Lake before Tina Watkins could apply a tag. After she singled, she stole second, advanced to third on an overthrow, then stole home. Left: Harveys Lake's Ramah Williams fired in a pitch Sun- day. Back Mountain defeated Harveys Lake to move on in Junior Softball playoffs. Far left: Rebekah Williams threw across the diamond to first. POST PHOTOS/JIM PHILLIPS Back Mountain wins District championship By DAVID SHUCOSKY For The Dallas Post DALLAS — Rachel Miller allowed just six hits and struck out nine to lead Back Mountain to a 9-6 vic- tory over Northwest to win the District 16 Little League softball championship July 10. Miller was no slouch at the plate either, going 3-for- 4 with a triple and three RBI. Stephanie Ashley added four hits including a double and triple. The duo combined for seven of the team’s 14 hits. “Steph just tore the cover off the ball,” said Back Mountain manager Tom Miller. “No doubt about it, she and Rachel were our two key hitters.” Northwest jumped to a 3- 0 lead in the top of the first inning. But! Back Mountain an- swered as Ashley and Miller each tripled and scored and Erin Belles singled Kate Pelleschi home to tie the PA. SECTION 4 LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL Back Mountain falls in title game HELLERTOWN — Back Mountain fell behind 5-0 in the first inning and never could recover in its 12-4 loss to West End in the deciding game of the Section 4 Little League Softball Tourna- ment. Each team had lost once in the double-elimination tournament, with Back Mountain defeating West End on Tuesday to force a deciding game. West End, though, broke out in the top of the first to take control of the contest. Back Mountain pulled within 5-2 in the bottom of the first, then 84 in the fourth inning, but stranded a number of runners and couldn't get the big rally go- ing it needed. Stephanie Ashley went 2- for-3 with a double for Back Mountain, Katee Pelleschi was 1-for-2 with a triple and two RBI, Danielle Harding was 1-for-2 with a single and an RBI and Sarah Flannery went 1-for-3. Back Mountain 5, West End 2 JULY 15 — Katee Pelleschi struck out eight and allowed three hits as h p re oar Rie game at 3. “That was huge,” Miller said. “Getting those three runs back gave us confi- dence and helped Rachel settle down.” She would go on to retire nine of the next 11 batters. Back Mountain continued to be strong at the plate. Ashley had an RBI double in the second for a 4-3 lead. And after Northwest's Alyssa Fredrickson scored on a wild pitch in the third, Back Mountain answered with three runs, keyed by Ashley’s RBI single and Miller’s two-run single for a 7-4 lead. They would up that lead to 84 on Belles’s double in the fourth. Northwest wasn’t done just yet, though. narrowing the gap to 8-6 in the fifth. Back Mountain wasn’t shaken by the rally. In the bottom of the fifth, Jill Spring doubled in Ashley for an insurance run, and Miller would close out Northwest in the sixth. Back Mountain defeated previously unbeaten West End 5-2 in a Section 4 Little League Softball game Tues- day at Hellertown Little League. Gaby Olshemski was 2- for-3 with an RBI for Back Mountain. Rachel Miller tripled and had an RBL Sarah Flannery had a single and an RBI, and played out- standing defense at first base. Danielle Harding sin- gled and had an RBI, while Stephanie Ashley added an RBI. Pelleschi, Erin Belles and Ellen Arnaud each added a single. Back Mountain 15, Hellertown 7 JULY 14 — Jill Spring went 4-for-5 with four RBI as Back Mountain defeated Hellertown 15-7 in a Section 4 Little League Softball los- ers bracket game Monday. Gaby Olshemski went 5- for-5 with a double and RBI for Back Mountain. Erin Belles went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI. Jill Jackson also added a RBI, and winning pitcher Rachel Miller al- lowed only four hits and struck out nine. West End (Stroudsburg) 10, Back Mountain 3 JULY 13 — In a game where West End scored See ROUNDUP, pg 10 Trailblazers win championship The Back Mountain Trailblazers recently won the championship in the girls division of the Back Moun- tain Youth Soccer Association’s spring developmental league. The team is coached by Len Valenti. Members of the team, from left, first row: Vanessa Par- sons, Michelle Thompson, Talia Szatkowski, Ashley Dunbar, Molly Van Scoy. Second row: Jessica Hiscox, Leah Benedetti, Sydney Myers, Jessica Valenti, and Alyssa Barre. Absent from photo are Mia Piccolotti and Morgan Decker.
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