Back Mountain National fought all the way back through the elimination bracket, winning four straight games to earn a title shot before ultimately having to settle for second place in the Pennsylvania Little League Baseball state tournament.
“We had a real good run,” BMT National manager Todd Paczewski said. “Everything was fun.”
That included a welcoming parade when the team returned home.
“Some of the local firefighters had kids on the team,” Paczewski said. “They were nice enough to arrange a parade for us from Gerrity’s in Luzerne up to the Little League field.
“The kids were excited.”
After dropping its state tournament opener, National came back with four straight wins by a total of 38-11 to emerge from the elimination bracket and get its shot at unbeaten Red Land. National went into the meeting needing two straight wins to claim the title and keep advancing.
While National had been too much for the teams in the elimination bracket, Red Land had been even more dominant with a team that will be at the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Bristol, Conn. trying to give Pennsylvania a second straight Little League World Series participant in Williamsport.
Red Land beat all four state opponents by the 10-run rule, outscoring them, 67-2. It has now defeated 13 district, section and state opponents by a total of 182-6.
“They’ll probably go to Williamsport,” Paczewski said. “The kid we saw (Cole Wagner), I think they clocked him at 75 (mph). He was that good. He was that dominant.
“He’s like you see when you watch ESPN and you see the 6-foot-1, or 6-foot-2, 180-pound, 12-year-old man. He was big. He hit a ball, I don’t know, 300 feet. It was into the trees so it could have kept going.”
Red Land 17
Back Mountain National 0
Red Land completed its dominance of Pennsylvania Little League Baseball with a 17-0, four-inning romp over Back Mountain National Aug. 1 at the Newville Little League Field.
Cole Wagner, who threw a perfect game in his previous state tournament start, threw a four-inning, two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts.
Max Paczewski, who got his hit as the first BMT National batter in the game, and Luke Spencer had the hits in the loss.
Red Land, which hit five home runs, scored at least three runs in every inning.
“We were kind of out of pitchers,” manager Todd Paczewski said. “Most of the kids who were our main pitchers, we used every day to get to that point.
“Red Land had played four games and we had played six.”
Back Mountain National 10
Marple Township 5
Will Youngman had a homer, single, two runs and two RBI July 31 when Back Mountain National defeated Marple Township, 10-5, in the elimination bracket final.
Youngman and Kyle Sincavage each had two-run homers while Michael Rother also drove in two runs.
Michael Ropietski had two hits.
Max Paczewski worked 3 2/3 innings of relief for the win and got the offense started in a four-run first with a lead-off double.
Ty Federici singled in Paczewski with two out. Zach Holthaus doubled to score Federici and came in on Youngman’s homer for a 4-0 lead.
Marple Township fought back to within a run twice.
Sincavage’s homer made it 6-3 after four innings.
BMT National scored four times in the fifth inning. Rother doubled with the bases loaded to drive in two runs. Ropietski singled in another run and Paczewski’s sacrifice fly closed the scoring.
Back Mountain National 10
South Columbia 0
Luke Spencer threw a two-hit shutout at the Back Mountain National offense finished the game off in five innings on the 10-run rule when it avenged its first state tournament loss with a 10-0 victory over South Columbia July 30.
South Columbia had defeated BMT National, 6-4, in the opening round of the tournament.
Spencer helped make sure the second meeting went much differently. He walked one, struck out six and retired 12 straight at one point.
National scored in the first inning when Max Paczewski singled, Spencer drew the first of his four walks and Kyle Sincavage singled in a run.
After scoring twice in the bottom of the third, it ended the game with a seven-run seventh that included five walks and a hit batter.
Michael Ropietski and Michael Rother had back-to-back doubles to highlight the inning. Sincavage’s bases-loaded walk ended it.
Paczewski finished with two hits while Sincavage, Ropietski and Rother drove in two runs each and Ty Osipower scored twice.
