SNOW SHOE – The Curwensville Little League 11-and-12 All-Stars were eliminated from the District 5 Northern Tier Tournament Sunday evening, stranding nine baserunners in a 4-2 loss to host Mountain Top.
Michael Blaylock drove in all of the winners\’ runs, three with a double in the first inning. A two-out error, a hit batsman and Aaron Varner\’s single had loaded the bases.
Singles by winning pitcher Ben Verbitskey, Varner and Blaylock made it 4-0 in the third.
Verbitskey was working on a no-hit shutout when he had to leave the game in the fifth inning because of the pitch-count rule, and Jordan Russell doubled off reliever Garrett Guenot to drive in Curwensville\’s first run.
A walk, an error and Curt Bloom\’s double produced another run in the sixth, but Curwensville left the bases loaded for the second time in the elimination game.
Verbitskey and Guenot combined on a two-hitter with nine strikeouts, seven by Verbitskey.
Loser Kyle Johns gave up only one earned run. Josh Greslick pitching three innings of shutout ball in relief, striking out four.
MOUNTAIN TOP 4, CURWENSVILLE 2
Score by Innings:
Mountain Top 301 000 – 4 9 1
Curwensville 000 011 – 2 2 1
Pitching
Mountain Top – Ben Verbitskey 4 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K; Garrett Guenot 2 IP, 2H, 1 R 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.
Curwensville – Johns 3 IP, 6H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 HB, 0 BB, 5 K; Greslick 3 IP, 3H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K.
W – Verbitskey. L – Johns.