Sunday, May 9, 2004 Little League tests interleague play By CHRIS BELL Post Correspondent field two teams from the Back Mountain.” Bob Horlacher has three ma- jor teams and Harveys Lake has two and there is a possibility the two leagues could combine BMT Baseball posts reward For the fifth time in three years, the concession stand at the Back Mountain Baseball fields has been broken into. League president Jack Snyder said the alarm went off at about 1:30 Although the calendar shows the first day of spring was a few weeks ago, baseball fans know the official start of spring does- n’t arrive until the opening of Little League season. the 2004 season has begun and it will offer a bit of history as three local leagues — Back Mountain, Harveys Lake and Bob Horlacher — will compete in interleague play at the Major League level. The leagues have competed against each other in softball and at other levels, but this is a.m. May 6. Snyder said no cash was missing. The league is offering a $1,000 reward for information lead- « ing to the arrest and conviction of the robber. Call Snyder at 675-0939 or the Dallas Township Police Dept. at 675-5251. be ferent levels,” said Back Moun- tain Baseball president Jack Snyder. “We've had a good rela- tionship with the other leagues over the years and it just seemed like the right time to give it a try.” Chuck Edkins, the head base- kids and our league,” said Bob Horlacher Wright. “We've been playing against Harveys Lake and Tunkhannock for years. It’s go- ing to provide our teams with better should help when we get to the one involved,” said Edkins. “You get to play a lot of differ- ent teams and I think the kids will really enjoy it. We're excit- ed to be associated with the other local leagues.” Back Mountain will field 10 major teams this season and come tournament time. with Back Mountain is going to We think interleague play a great experience for our president Dale competition, which an distri E the first time at the Major ball coach at College Misericor- will continue to sponsor its heat tou nAmien : . d i oyu Wright said the Bob Horlach- SEE a League level. Representatives dia and coaching coordinator own teams for the District 16 . : fal or li] HEE Lake Little L - ) er teams will continue to play FOR THE POST/JIM PHILLIPS om all three leagues are excit- for arveys € itt e eague, tournament. Interleague play against Tunkhannock teams as iL ide : ed about the latest venture. agrees with Snyder. “I think it's won't impact our all-star The Athletics’ Conner Rice fired a ball back into the infield. “It’s worked in the past at dif- a great opportunity for every- teams,” said Snyder. “We'll still See INTERLEAGUE, pg 8 ‘a ® Y Holena's bl i ) gives Giants a win "Dallas boys win Adam Holena led off the top of the sixth with a long home run to center to break open a tie game, leading the Giants over the Rangers, 6-5. Kyle Caffrey picked up the victory, strik- ing out six. Staff report Paulauskus filled a big hole in the Travis DeBona had two hits for the Black Knights’ normally weak sprint Rangers. LEHMAN TWP. — The Lake- Lehman girls track and field team P) Boris had to do all it could against its Back Mountain rival with the Wyoming Valley Track and Field League Divi- sion II title hanging in the balance on Wednesday in a tri-meet. Juniors Jamie Lipski and Allison and freshman Allison IE Brian Wengen throws discus for Dallas. events, helping Lehman to a 79-71 victory over Dallas. “We had to make do where our points were going to come from,” said Lehman coach John Sobocinski. “When we go to districts, it will be different.” The Black Knights also beat Bish- op Hoban 124-20, and Dallas downed the Lady Argents 108-31. Midway through the meet, action was halted for about 30 minutes when a thunderstorm rolled through the area. Lipski hasn’t run the 200 in her high school career, while Boris has- n't run the event this year, but both were entered on Wednesday. Paulauskas, meanwhile, stepped in to run leadoff for the Lehman 400 re- lay team, which has won just once this season. The results decided the meet. Lip- ski (27.3) and Boris (27.4) finished 1-2 in the 200-meter dash and Paulauskas jumpstarted Lehman's 400 relay team to victory in 53.6. Boris also won the 400 (1:02.6), with Lipski taking second and Paulauskas adding a second-place finish in the 100. “I was nervous, but it was a big competition against our rival,” said Paulauskas. Making things bigger yet was Dal- See TRACK, pg 9 FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Lake-Lehman’s Ryan Ruda cleared a hurdle. He finished third in both the 110 and 300 meter races. Phillies 6, Red Sox 1 The Phillies bats came alive in the fifth inning to break open a pitchers’ duel between Carson Baker and Cody Plesnar. Baker picked up the win for the Phillies, striking out 10 and scattering five hits. Baker also helped himself at the plate with two hits. Matt Bevan, Hunter Englehart, Adam Paulauskas and Colbey Evans had hits for the Phillies. Plesnar struck out nine and al- lowed five hits in a losing effort. The Red Sox offense came from Brandon Harding and Scott Riccetti, each with two hits. Mark Malloy also had a hit for the Red Sox. Pirates 5, Red Sox 0 Tom Smith’s pitching kept the Red Sox batters in check, striking out sev- en. Solid defense from Jason Schilling and J.P. Henry preserved the shutout. Marc Noyalis provided all the offense that was needed with a home run in the third to break open a scoreless game. Eric Baines struck out six in a los- ing effort. James Youngman, Tanner Baloh and Cody Plesnar had hits for - the Red Sox. Dodgers 12, Yankees 0 Austin Carr and Hayden Jenkins See BMT BALL, pg 8 oundu TENNIS Wyoming Seminary 5, Dallas 2 May 4 — Wyoming Seminary swept the singles matches to de- feat Dallas 5-2 in a special boys tennis play-in match to earn the third seed for the District 2 Class 2A Team Tournament semifinals. P.J. Marranca, Joseph Yoo, Rob Silverblatt and Ross Fein- stein recorded singles wins for the Blue Knights, the four-time defending D2 team champs. GIRLS SOCCER : place on Uneven Bars The teams of Jeff Pace/Ryan Dallas 2, Coughlin 0 and Floor Exercise, and Murphy and Drew Abington Heights 2, Apr. 30 — Caitlin Dukas sixth place on vault and Slocum /Cory Shultz won dou- Lake-Lehman 1 J scored two goals as Dallas balance beam, bles matches for Dallas. May 5 — Traci Ragukas clinched a District 2 playoff earned her the All- Wyoming Area 4, Tunkhannock 3 May 3 — Matt Turbish, Adam Roscoe and Ned Zelinka won singles matches for the Tigers. Dallas 7, Coughlin 0 Apr. 29 — Ryan Murphy over- came a 5-0 deficit in a first-set tiebreaker to win at No. 1 sin- gles 7-6 (9-7), 1-6, 6-4 for Dallas. Also winning singles matches were Drew Slocum, Cory Shultz and sean Carter. The Mountaineers’ No. 3 dou- bles team of Chris Nicholson and Ben Rother finished the reg- ular season undefeated with a 6- 2, 6-3 victory. Murphy teamed with Dave Menzel to win a dou- bles match and the team of max Shultz and Max Strasser also won. scored for Lake-Lehman, which led 1-0 at halftime. The Black Knights had their game at North Pocono postponed Wednesday when no referees showed up. The game has been tentatively rescheduled for Mon- day. Dallas 4, North Pocono 0 May 4 — Caitlyn Dukas scored two goals in the first half, and Ashleigh King and Alyssa Miller scored in the second half as Dallas shut out North Pocono. Rosalyn Wentko stopped all three shots the Mountaineer defense allowed. Pittston Area 5, Tunkhannock 3 May 4 — Katie Hurst, Amy Love and Jamie Domko scored for the Tigers. berth with a shutout of Cough- lin. : Hallie Williams and Megan McDonald each had an assist as the Mountaineers improved to 9-0-1. Dallas also defeated Abington Heights on Wednesday, with See ROUNDUP, pg 9 Mariel Adams wins state gymnastics championship Mariel Adams, a seventh grade student at Dallas Middle School, won the 2004 PA YMCA All- Around Level 7 State Gymnastics title. The meet was held in Brookville, PA. Mariel’s strong performances in all four events, third Around Championship. Mariel competes for the Wilkes Barre YMCA.