Back Mountain opened the Little League Major Softball state playoffs with a 5-1 win over Warrington/Warrick on Tuesday afternoon at the Plymouth Meeting Little League.
Nina Barrouk was the winning pitcher and was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and triple. Carolyn Comitz hit a double, while Hannah Chipego and Amber Zimmerman added hits.
Abby Cruz and Kirsten Finarelli had defensive gems to lead Back Mountain’s defense.
Back Mountain, the District 31 and Section 5 champion, will play at 1 p.m. Wednesday against Section 3 champion South Williamsport. South Williamsport edged Section 4 champion Indiana 8-7.
DISTRICT 31
JUNIOR BASEBALL
GWA 8, Back Mountain 7
Matt Little singled in the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth to give Greater Wyoming Area the victory.
Jack Mathis threw one inning of scoreless relief for the win. Kyle Skutack also pitched two innings of relief. Starter Matt Rusinchak went five innings and allowed four hits.
Little, Skutack, Mathis and Paul Willison had multiple hits for GWA. Andrew Buckholtz was 2-for-2 to lead Back Mountain.
Sec. 5 Major Baseball set
The Section 5 Major Baseball tournament will begin Saturday with all games at the North Pocono Little League.
District 16 champion Greater Pittston Area will play District 17 champion North Pocono at 1 p.m. District 31 champion Back Mountain National will play District 32 champion Throop at 3 p.m.
Saturday’s winners will play at 3 p.m. Sunday in the winners bracket finals. Saturday’s losers play 1 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game.
The elimination bracket final will be 5:30 p.m. Monday. The winners bracket finalist and the elimination bracket finalist will play 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and again at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday if necessary.
The North Pocono Little League is located on O’Hara Road, which is off Route 690, in Moscow.
The Section 5 champion will advance to the state tournament July 21-28 at the Camp Hill Little League.
Berwick hosting states
The Berwick Little League will once again host the Junior Softball state tournament at Ber-Vaughn Park. The park entrance is located just off Route 11 by Tri-County Ace Hardware.
Section 5 champion Pittston Area will play host Berwick at 7 p.m. Thursday, the last of four games that day.
Pittston Area will play 7 p.m. Friday if it defeats Berwick or 3 p.m. Friday if it loses.
Junior Legion playoffs open
Wyoming Valley Junior Legion Baseball will begin its league playoffs Wednesday at the Mountain Post American Legion Baseball Field.
Back Mountain will play either Mountain Post of Plains/Wilkes-Barre at 3 p.m. in an elimination game. Greater Pittston will play either Mountain Post or Plains/Wilkes-Barre at 5 p.m. also in an elimination game.
Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students. Little League players wearing their jerseys will be admitted for free.
