Ollie Bross hit a two-run home run with one out in the bottom of the sixth as Back Mountain rallied to defeat West Point 8-7 Thursday afternoon in a elimination game in the Little League Baseball 9-11 state tournament at State College Little League.
Bross’ shot cleared the left-field fence and also scored Ethan Wielgosz, who had walked. The winning homer came after Back Mountain saw a 6-3 lead entering the sixth turn into a 7-6 deficit.
District 31 and Section 5 champion Back Mountain will be back on the field at 6 p.m. Friday, playing either Section 3 champion Blue Mountain or Section 6 champion Council Rock Newtown.
Thursday’s game didn’t start well for Back Mountain. A couple errors helped Section 2 champion West Point take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
Back Mountain, though, came back with four runs in the second. Isaac Tribendis hit an infield single and Mac Hanson followed with a walk to start the inning. Josh Katyl singled to load the bases.
Bruce Knowles then singled to left to score two runs. An out later, Max Kovach made it 4-2 with a two-run single.
After West Point cut the deficit to 4-3 on an RBI single by Logan Bender in the top of the fifth, Back Mountain scored two runs in the bottom of the inning. Kovach had an RBI infield single to score Katyl and Knowles scored on an error on a grounder by Parker Page.
The 6-3 lead then evaporated in the top of the sixth. West Point’s Carter Finley singled, Lucas Henry hit an RBI double and Dom Bova had an RBI triple to start the inning and slice the deficit to 6-5. Then with two outs, Sebastian Warman hit a two-run single for a 7-6 lead.
Hanson, the Back Mountain reliever, got a strikeout to end the inning.
