Northwest shortstop Ali Moyer catches a pop off the bat of Back Mountain’s Lacy Youngblood in the third inning of Tuesday night’s District 31 Little League Major Softball championship game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Back Mountain catcher Alyssa Traver waits for the ball as Northwest’s Ali Miner scores in the third inning of Tuesday night District 31 Little League Major Softball title game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Back Mountain catcher Alyssa Traver chases after the ball as Northwest’s Olivia Nevel scores in the second inning of Tuesday night’s District 31 Little League Major Softball championship game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Northwest’s Callie Moyer slides into second base ahead of the throw to Back Mountain’s Gracie Coyne in the second inning of Tuesday night’s District 31 Little League Major Softball championship game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Northwest’s Natalia Ninotti is tagged out by Back Mountain third baseman Sydney Haydu during the first inning of Tuesday night’s District 31 Little League Major Softball championship game. Ninotti struck out 12 and threw a two-hitter as Northwest won 7-2.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
DALLAS TWP. — The game didn’t start well for Northwest pitcher Natalia Ninotti on Tuesday night. She walked the first three batters and an out later walked in a run.
After that, Ninotti threw a gem. She struck out 12 and surrendered just two hits as Northwest defeated Back Mountain 7-2 for the District 31 Little League Major Softball championship.
“That’s all her settling down,” Northwest manager Andy Diltz said. “I think she was amped up a little bit and then she just came together and started throwing strikes. That was it.”
Ninotti’s mother is the former Lisa Hartman, who was a standout pitcher at Wilkes and is in the university’s sports hall of fame.
Northwest advanced to the Section 5 tournament and will play July 5 against Tripp Park at 7:30 p.m. at North Pocono’s Dandy Lion Little League. District 16 champ Mountain Top will play Dandy Lion in the opener at 5:30 p.m.
Ninotti ended the game with her 12th strikeout at about 10 p.m. The game started 40 minutes late because a District 31 8-10 baseball game beforehand ran long. Plus, there were two brief delays to repair the landing area for the pitchers.
Ninotti had 16 strikeouts in a 7-4 seven-inning loss to Back Mountain earlier in the tournament. While she didn’t match that strikeout figure, she did limit Back Mountain to just two hits. Madeline DeSanto hit a liner down the right-field line that bounced into the corner in the third, resulting in an inside-the-park homer. Lucy Brunn singled to start the fifth for Back Mountain’s other hit.
“We had five hits off her last game,” Back Mountain manager John Calomino said. “She did have 16 strikeouts the last game. She’s a great pitcher. We just couldn’t catch up to her tonight.”
Back Mountain was playing catch-up all night after Northwest scored three times in the top of the second. Callie Moyer started the inning with a double and scored on an error on Olivia Nevel’s grounder. Nevel scored on a single by Ashlyn Zanoline. An error on the hit allowed Zanoline to reach third and she scored on a groundout by Andi Diltz.
Northwest stretched its lead to 5-1 in the third. Ali Miner led off with a double and consecutive singles by Ninotti and Ava Ruckle brought in runs.
A couple errors allowed Northwest’s first two runners to reach base in the fifth. Nevel bscored them with a single.
After DeSanto’s circled the bases on her liner into the right-field corner, Ninotti struck out eight of the next 10 batters she faced, including five in a row to end the game.
District 31 Major Softball Championship
Northwest 7, Back Mountain 2
Northwest`AB`R`H`BI
Miner ss`4`1`1`0
Ninotti p`3`2`1`1
Ruckle c`3`1`1`1
Moyer 1b`3`1`1`1
Nevel 3b`3`1`2`2
Zanoline lf`2`1`1`1
Birth lf`1`0`0`0
Monahon cf`3`0`0`0
Diltz 2b`2`0`0`0
Nafus 2b`1`0`0`0
Everett rf`2`0`0`0
Sutliff rf`1`0`0`0
Totals`28`7`7`7
Back Mountain`AB`R`H`BI
Traver c`2`1`0`0
Youngblood p`2`0`0`0
Haydu 3b`2`0`0`0
Rolland ss`1`0`0`0
DeSanto ph`2`1`1`1
Coyne 2b`2`0`0`1
Knorr 1b`1`0`0`0
Sholtis ph`1`0`0`0
Reilly lf`1`0`0`0
Samanas lf`1`0`0`0
Bonomo cf`1`0`0`0
Butler ph`1`0`0`0
Brunn rf`2`0`1`0
Totals`19`2`2`2
Northwest`032`020 — 7
Back Mountain`101`000 — 2
2B — Miner, Moyer. HR — DeSanto.
Northwest`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Ninotti W`7`2`2`2`4`12
Back Mountain`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Youngblood L`2.1`5`5`3`0`0
Haydu`3.2`2`2`0`0`5
