Connellsville Junior Legion opens state tournament with two wins
Connellsville is off to a flying start at the Junior American Legion Baseball state tournament.
Connellsville rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a 3-2 walk-off win over the Yardley-Morrisville Riversharks in Sunday’s opener, then romped over Bloomsburg, 12-1 in six innings, on Monday morning at Macclesfield Park in Yardley.
Connellsville, which is now 14-4 under manager Jake Lee, was slated to play again Monday evening against South County.
Yardley-Morrisville held a 2-1 lead going into the seventh inning of Sunday’s game but Connellsville loaded the bases when Nolan Feniello singled, Joey Adams reached while attempting to sacrifice bunt and Xander Newmeyer drew a walk two outs later.
Connellsville tied it when Keegan Lott coaxed an RBI walk and Jackson Lee followed with a single to right to bring in Adams with the winning run.
Connellsville took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Adams walked, stole second, took third on a ground out by Johnny Kochis and scored when Dominic Quince’s grounder was misplayed for an error.
Yarkley-Morrisville went up 2-1 in the fifth when Domenic Monaco hit an RBI fielder’s choice and an error on the play allowed a second run to score.
Wade Bryner turned in a strong performance on the mound for Connellsville, pitching into the seventh inning. He allowed one earned run on just one hit and five walks with seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Winning pitcher Mason Meyers relieved Bryner with one on and one out in the top of the seventh. After catcher Feniello threw out Logan Shaffer trying to steal, Jacob Schneller drew a walk and stole second and third but Meyers got an inning-ending ground out to third baseman Lee to end the threat and keep the lead at just one run.
Lee had two of Connellsville’s five hits.
Connellsville needed no such dramatics in Monday morning’s 12-1 victory over Bloomsburg.
Owen Show’s two-run single capped a five-run first inning for Connellsville as it took control from the start.
That was plenty for Newmeyer who fired a three-hitter in tossing all six innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Connellsville combined three walks, a balk and four wild pitches into two runs in the fifth to go up 7-1.
Connellsville parlayed a single by Adams, two errors and three walks into five runs in the sixth inning to bump its lead up to 11 and set up the mercy rule.
Bryner and Adams each had two RBIs in addition to Show and Lott had two hits, including a double.