Marian Catholic at Crestwood Baseball

Marian Catholic and Crestwood played in Mountain Top on Thursday afternoon in an exhibition matchup. James Graves was the starter for the Comets and D Salerno was starting on the mound for the Colts. Marian Catholic would start off the game with a lead off walk by Salerno, who later stole second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a ground ball to the shortstop, which was misplayed. Crestwood had 3 errors in the field in the first inning and the Colts lead 4-0 in the 1st. A two out walk by Derek Distasio  would be the only baserunner in the first and would be left there after a fly out ended the first. James Graves would settle down in the second, getting a fly out for the first out, gave up a single but later picked him off and induced a groundouts to third for the third out. Salerno was on today, wouldn't give up a hit til RJ Kresge hit a single with 2 outs in the third but a fielder's choice ended the inning. Inama lead off the fourth with a single but was out on a fielder's choice by Michaelesko. Michaelesko would later score when a throw on a bunt was overthrown and Marian Catholic would lead 5-0. Crestwood threatened in the bottom of the 4th when Distasio reached on an error and Jimmy Albee singled with two outs but Tim Kindler grounded into a fielder's choice. Curtis Tokach came in to pitch in the 5th inning and recorded a 1-2-3 inning. Anthony Kovalchik hit a 1-out single but the threat ended on an inning ending 1-6-3 double play. Inama led the inning with a walk and Kubishin hit a 1-out single, but a ground out and a fly out ended the top of the 6th. Schmidt came in to pitch for Marian Catholic and had a 1-2-3 6th inning. The Comets threatened to score in the bottom of the 7th when Tokach singled and Jimmy Albee walked. Tim Kindler grounded out to short to force out Albee, Matt Taleroski popped out to the catcher and Anthony Kovalchik struck out to end the game and Marian Catholic took the victory 5-0.

Thoughts on the game: Rough first inning for the Comets, allowing 4 runs, had 3 errors in the first inning and 5 overall on the game. Great pitching performance by Marian Catholic's Salerno, who gave up up 4 baserunners, 3 hits and a walk. The pitchers for Crestwood pitched great as well, exclude the first inning, they gave up 1 run after the first inning.

Marian Catholic 5 Crestwood 0

Marian Catholic 4 0 0 1 0 0 0

Crestwood 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Marian Catholic

P Salerno 3 1 1 0

P Schmidt 0 0 0 0

3B Nahas 3 1 1 0

C Sneer 3 1 1 1

2B Paisley 0 0 0 0

DH Keer 4 1 1 0

SS Evitts 3 0 1 1

1B Inama 2 0 2 0

RF Michalesko 3 1 0 0

CF Kubishin 2 0 1 0

LF DeAngelo 1 0 0 0

Crestwood

1B/CF Kresge 3 0 1 0

C Darden 3 0 0 0

SS Distasio 2 0 0 0

P/3B Graves 3 0 0 0

3B/P Tokach 3 0 1 0

CF/LF Albee 2 0 1 0

LF Kindler 2 0 0 0

1B Macko 1 0 0 0

RF Wegener 2 0 0 0

RF Taleroski 1 0 0 0

2B Caladie 0 0 0 0

DH Kovalchik 3 0 1 0

Pitching 

Marian Catholic IP R H K BB ER

Salerno (W) 5 0 3 1 1 0

Schmidt      2 0 1 1 1 0

Crestwood IP R H K BB ER

Graves (L) 4 5 4 0 3 3

Tokach     3 0 1 0 1 0

Northwest at Crestwood

Crestwood and Northwest played Tuesday afternoon in an exhibition matchup. Colin Macko got the start on the mound for the Comets and Brian Hardiman was the starting pitcher for the Rangers. Both pitchers would allow a hit in the first inning with one out each but both would get out of it with no runs allowed in the first. Bryce Harrison would lead off with a single in the second but a double play and a strikeout ended the threat. The Comets would have bases loaded with 1 out after Jimmy Albee singled and Tim Kindler and Curtis Tokach drew walks, but a strikeout and a fly out to right ended the threat for the Comets. In the third inning, Piestrak singled to lead off the inning and Gelco would walk to make it first and second with no outs. Brandon Reno and Piestrak would execute a suicide squeeze play to give Northwest a 1-0 lead. Bottom half of the inning, Crestwood would answer. After Justin Darden was hit by a pitch, Derek Distasio drew a walk and James Graves singled, Jimmy Albee would drive in Darden and Distasio to give Crestwood a 2-1 lead. Andrew Boberick, Doug Campbell and Bryce Harrison each drew walks and the bases were loaded with no outs, Brian Hardiman singled to score Boberick to tie the game at 2. Steve Wegener came in to pitch for the Comets. Andrew Ford would draw a bases loaded walk to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. Piestrak came in to pitch for the Rangers with 1 out in the 4th. In the bottom of the 5th, James Graves was hit by a pitch with 2 outs then stole a base, then Jimmy Albee singled to right to score Graves and tie the game at 3. The Rangers would threaten to take the lead with second and third but a fly out to right ended the threat. Brett Caladie would draw a 2 out walk but a ground out ended the inning. The 7th inning would be interesting for the Rangers. Brandon Hardiman singled with 1 out and Brandon Reno doubled to make it second and third with one out. Matt Mickowski came in to pitch for the Comets. A ball went passed the catcher , but Graves was able to throw the ball to Mickowski who tagged Hardiman for the second out, then struck out Evans for the third out. Northwest would have a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 7th and they would settle for a tie.

Thoughts on the game: Great game by both teams. The pitchers pitched a great game. Both teams combined for 17 men left on base (10 by Crestwood, 7 by Northwest).

Crestwood 3 Northwest 3

Northwest

SS Reno 3 0 2 1

CF Evans 4 0 1 0

C Boberick 2 1 0 0

3B Campbell 2 1 0 0

1B Harrison 2 0 2 0

P/1B Bri Hardiman 3 0 1 1

RF Ford 2 0 1 1

2B/P Piestrak 3 1 1 0

EH Gelco 2 0 0 0

LF Bra Hardiman 3 0 1 0

2B: Reno

Crestwood

CF/1B Kresge 4 0 0 0

2B Darden 3 1 1 0

SS Distasio 3 1 0 0

P Macko 4 0 0 0

P Wegener 0 0 0 0

P Mickowski 0 0 0 0

C Graves 2 1 1 0

RF Albee 3 0 3 3

LF Kindler 2 0 0 0

3B Tokach 2 0 0 0

1B Chalk 1 0 0 0

CF Paranich 1 0 0 0

EH Kovalchik 2 0 1 0

2B Caladie 0 0 0 0

Pitching IP R H K BB ER

Northwest

Bri Hardiman 3.1 2 4 2 4 2

Piestrak 3.2 1 2 2 1 1

Crestwood

Macko 3 3 4 1 4 3

Wegener 3.1 0 5 1 1 0

Mickowski 0.2 0 0 1 0 0

Crestwood at Hanover Area Baseball

Crestwood traveled to Hanover Area in their first game of the season. Matt Mickowski was the starting pitcher for the Comets and Kevin Rimmer was the pitcher for the Hawkeyes. We start in the second inning where Colin Macko started the inning with a single and eventually scored on a Tim Kindler RBI single and took a 1-0 lead. The Hawkeyes would answer in the bottom half. Kevin Rimmer had a one-out double and would score on a Peters single to tie the game at 1. After a Morgan walk, Yost would drive in 2 and the Hawkeyes took a 3-1 lead. Kyle Windt then hit a sac fly to make it a 4-1 lead. In the top of the third, the Comets threatened with first and second with two outs but a fielder's choice ended the threat. Kyle Kowalski led off the bottom of the third, but Steve Wegener threw out Kowalski for the first out, then a strikeout and a ground out ended the frame. James Graves and Curtis Tokach each walked to give the Comets first and second with one out, Kindler would ground out into a fielder's choice to third but Jimmy Albee drove in Tokach to cut the Hawkeyes lead to 4-2 but a ground out ended the threat. James Graves came in relief of Matt Mickowski in the bottom of the 4th and threw a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th. Kyle Kowalski came in relief of Rimmer in the 5th inning. Mike Paranich led off with a walk but was forced out at second on a RJ Kresge ground out. Matt Taleroski came in to pinch run for Kresge. Justin Darden would then draw a walk, Derek Distasio blooped a single into center and the bases were loaded for the Comets with 1 out. Colin Macko would then draw a bases loaded walk and drew the Comets within one then James Graves poked a single into right field, scoring Darden and Distasio and Macko would score when the cut off throw was misplayed and the Comets took a 6-4 lead. John Morgan led off by reaching on an error and would score on a sac fly by Kyle Windt and would cut the lead to 6-5 but a fly out would end the threat. Jimmy Albee led off the top of the 6th with a walk but two pop ups and a strikeout would end the top of the 6th. Austin Gately drew a one-out walk and would reach second on a passed ball, Mike Piscotty lined out to Darden and threw to Distasio for the double play. Things would get interesting in the bottom of the 7th. Kevin Rimmer drove the ball but wasn't enough as Kindler made the catch for the first out. Jake Peters singled, but was out on a fielder's choice and just missed on the double play on a close play. John Morgan would single to make it first and second with 2 outs but Yost would strike out to end the game and the Comets would take it 6-5.

Thoughts on the game: First game of the season for both teams and there was some rust. Matt Mickowski had a tough second inning but overall didn't have a bad outing today. Kevin Rimmer pitched great for the most part, had some trouble in the fourth but only allowed 2 runs. James Graves pitched great, giving up one run, which was unearned and had a bit of a rocky seventh but got out of it.

Crestwood     0 1 0 1 4 0 0  6 6 1

Hanover Area 0 4 0 0 1 0 0  5 7 1

W James Graves

L Kyle Kowalski

Crestwood

CF Kresge 3 0 0 0

CF Taleroski 1 1 0 0

2B Darden 2 1 1 0

SS Distasio 3 1 1 0

1B Macko 2 2 1 1

1B Chalk 1 0 0 0

EH/P Graves 3 0 1 2

3B Tokach 2 1 0 0

3B Kovalchik 0 0 0 0

LF Kindler 3 0 1 1

RF Albee 2 0 1 1

C Wegener 3 0 0 0

EH Paranich 0 0 0 0

RF Brozena 1 0 0 0

No Extra Base Hits

Hanover Area

LF Windt 1 0 0 2

SS Clarke 3 0 0 0

3B/P Kowalski 2 0 1 0

1B Gately 2 0 0 0

RF Piscotty 3 0 0 0

P/3B Rimmer 3 1 1 0

C Peters 3 1 2 1

2B Wasickanin 3 1 1 0

CF Morgan 2 2 1 0

EH Yost 3 0 1 2

2B-Rimmer, Kowalski

Pitching

Crestwood IP R H K BB ER

Mickowski 3 4 5 2 2 4

Graves (W) 4 1 2 2 1 0

Hanover Area IP R H K BB ER

Rimmer          4 2 4 3 4 2

Kowalski (L)    3 4 2 1 4 4

Neshaminy vs Hazleton Area (PIAA 4A Girls First Round)

Neshaminy and Hazleton Area came to Mountain Top Friday night hoping to advance to the next round of the state playoffs. The Lady Skins of Neshimany came in the No 7 seed out of District 1. The Lady Cougars of Hazleton Area came in as the District 2 Champions. The game would be back and forth til Hazleton Area went on a 10-3 run to end the quarter and lead 12-6 after 1. Neshaminy would go on a 7-0 run to cut the Lady Cougars lead to 1 but Hazleton Area went on a 6-0 run to take a 20-13 lead at halftime. The Lady Skins would take control of the third quarter, going on a run in the third quarter and eventually took a lead on an Emily Alexis basket at 24-23, and would lead after 3 32-23. A technical on Neshimany's head coach gave Hazleton two free throws. The lead would eventually be cut to 6 but after a foul was called on Neshimany, a technical was assessed to a Hazleton Area player. After Mrochko missed the front end of the 1-and-1, Allison Harvey made both of her technical free throws to get the lead to 8. The Lady Cougars would cut the lead to 3 but a 3 pointer by Allison Harvey and a 2-pointer by Tiara Porterfield but the game out of reach for Hazleton Area and Neshimany advanced to the second round with a 50-41 victory over Hazleton Area. Allison Harvey led the way, scoring 18 for the Lady Skins and Morgan Goldenbaum added 13. Mackenzie Yori had a game-high 20 points for the Lady Cougars and Maddie Mrochko added 9 points.

Thoughts on the game: Great second half by Neshimany, especially Allison Harvey, who scored 13 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter. Very impressive for a freshman starting her first state playoff game. Neshaminy took advantage of their size against Hazleton Area, getting several second chances to score. Morgan Goldenbaum had a great game as well. Hazleton Area played a great first half but the second half was tough on them, Mackenzie Yori had a great game as usual, scoring 20 points. The Lady Cougars tried their hardest to pull for the tie but it seemed like everytime they got close, Neshimany would counter with a key basket.

Lampeter-Strasburg vs Berwick (PIAA 3A First Round Basketball)

Lampeter-Strasburg and Berwick came to Mountain Top to play in the first round of the state playoffs. Lampeter-Strasburg got here as the No 4 team out of District 3. Berwick got here as the No 2 team out of District 2. The Pioneers started off the game with a 7-2 lead but Berwick would answer with Jude Goodard scoring 5 points to tie the game at 9. The Pioneers would take the lead on a 2 pointer by Ben Sandberg. Berwick's Tyler Evans tied it at 11 and Matt Champ gave Berwick it's first lead at 14-11. Lampeter-Strasburg tied it at 14 on a 3 by Ben Sandberg and then took the lead on a 3 by Matt Achille that beat the buzzer and take a 17-14 lead after one. In the second quarter, it would all Pioneers , after a Jude Goodard three that cut the lead to 4, the Pioneers would go on a 9-0 run and lead at halftime 30-18. The start of the third quarter would start off well for Berwick, cutting the lead to 8, but Luke Beers and Matt Achille would answer to increase their lead back to 12 and would lead 41-28 after 3. The fourth quarter would be mostly free throws with 14 free throws made during the quarter and the Pioneers would take the victory 55-37. Lampeter-Strasburg's leading scorer was Matt Achille with 20, followed by Ben Sandberg with 15. For the Bulldogs, Jude Goodard led the way with 10 and Tyler Evans added 9.

Thoughts on the game: Impressed by the Pioneers of Lampeter-Strasburg, they played a great game. Ben Sandberg had a great game on both sides of the ball and Matt Achille had a great game shooting. Berwick's season comes to an end, but it was a very impressive run to get here, knocking off Nanticoke and GAR to get to the state playoffs. Jude Goodard had a pretty good game, tried to get them back in it but just came up short.