LAWRENCE COUNTY AMERICAN LEGION CHAMPIONS
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..10 New Castle…..5
New Castle…..14 Ellwood City…..2
Ellwood City…..13 New Castle…..4
Ellwood City…..10 Farrell…..2
Farrell…..5 Ellwood City…..4 10 innings
Ellwood City…..6 Farrell…..3
Ellwood City…..9 Freeport….8
Freeport…..17 Ellwood City…..8
Freeport…..6 Ellwood City….1
1938
Ellwood City declared Lawrence County Champions
Curtisville…..7 Ellwood City…..1
Curtisville…..5 Ellwood City…..4
1939
Ellwood City declared Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..4 Saxonburg…..3
Ellwood City…..10 Saxonburg…..8
Curtisville…..3 Ellwood City…..1
Curtisville…..14 Ellwood City….9
1940
Ellwood City declared Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..12 Chicora….3
Chicora…..8 Ellwood City…..4
Chicora…..6 Ellwood City…..4
1941
Ellwood City declared Lawrence County Champions
Tarentum…..18 Ellwood City….1
Tarentum…..18 Ellwood City…..0
1942
New Castle declared Lawrence County Champions
Sharon…..4 New Castle…..3 10 innings
Sharon…..10 New Castle…..1
1943
New Castle declared Lawrence County Champions
Lewiston…..3 New Castle…..2
Lewiston…..11 New Castle…..2
1944
Sharon…..5 New Castle…..2
New Castle…..10 Sharon…..4
New Castle…..24 Sharon…..5
New Castle….6 New Kensington…..4
New Castle…..5 New Kensington…..4
New Castle player out of city boundaries….ineligible for state tournament.
1945
No Lawrence County League
1946
No Lawrence County League
1947
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..2 New Castle…..1
Ellwood City edged New Castle, 2-1, in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Ewing Park. Ellwood City scored a run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Ellwood City upped the lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning. New Castle scored a single tally in the top of the seventh inning to cut the final margin to 2-1. Winning pitcher D. Kosior threw a four-hit shutout for Ellwood City. Losing pitcher Cliff Rowland tossed a four-hitter for New Castle. Robert Sessions smacked a home run for New Castle.
New Castle…..7 Ellwood City…..4
Robert Sessions and Kerr lead the offense as New Castle downed Ellwood City, 7-4, in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at George Washington Field. The win deadlocked the best-of-three series at one game apiece. Winning pitcher Don Watters threw a five-hitter for New Castle. Sessions led New Castle with three hits and Kerr smashed a three-run homer. Angelo led Ellwood City with two singles.
New Castle…..13 Ellwood City…..1
Robert Sessions ripped four hits to lead New Castle over Ellwood City, 13-1, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Wampum. The win gave New Castle the title in the best-of-three series two games to one. Sessions homered, doubled and singled twice to lead New Castle. Szuba added a triple and double. Al Miller led Ellwood City with a triple and double.
District 25 Tournament
New Castle…..6 Butler…..0
Cliff Rowland fired a one-hitter and Kerr rapped three hits as New Castle defeated Butler, 6-0, in the American Legion District 25 Tournament at George Washington Field.. New Castle scored two runs in the third inning, three runs in the fourth inning and a solo run in the fifth inning. Kerr led New Castle with a double and two singles. Don Watters added two singles and Robert Sessions and Don Black added triples. Winning pitcher Rowland threw a seven-inning complete game.
Aliquippa…..6 New Castle…..1
Ciccone smacked a grand slam home run to lead Aliquippa to a 6-1 win over New Castle in the American Legion District 25 Tournament at George Washington. Bob Sesions hit a solo homer in the first inning for New Castle. Ciccone grand slam homer came in the fourth inning.
Aliquippa…..7 New Castle…..4
Aliquippa defeated New Castle, 7-4, in the American Legion District 25 Tournament at Aliquippa. The win eliminated New Castle from the Pennsylvania State Tournament. Don Black, Robert Sessions and Kerr led New Castle at the plate.
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..2 Ellwood City…..0
Ellwood City…..9 New Castle…..2
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..6 New Wilmington…..4
New Castle scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a 4-4 to defeat New Wilmington, 6-4, in the opening game of the Lawrence County American League Championship Series in wet conditions at Union. New Wilminton took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. New Castle roared back with three runs in their half to take a 3-1 lead. In the top of the fourth inning, New Wilmington rallied for three runs to take a 4-3 lead. New Castle scored a single tally in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the score at 4-4. In the bottom of the sixth inning, New Castle got two runners aboard. Dick Orlando followed with a single driving in both runners to give New Castle a 6-4 margin. Winning pitcher Orlando threw a three-hitter for New Castle. The wet conditions contibuted to eight errors being made by both teams combined.
New Castle……4 New Wilmington…..3
John Sansone had four hits to lead New Castle to a 4-3 win in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at New Wilmington. The win gave New Castle a sweep in the best-of-three series. Both teams scored a run in the first inning and the score remained 1-1 after three innings. New Wilmington took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. New Castle tied the score in the top of the fifth inning at 2-2. Both teams scored in the sixth inning to deadlock the score at 3-3. New Castle pushed ahead the game-winning run in the top of the seventh inning to end the final margin at 4-3. In addition to Sansone, Don Reed had two singlesand Eugene Frank hit a home run. Don Orlando was the winning pitcher in relief of Ray Latsko who worked through five innings,
District Playoffs
Ambridge…..3 New Castle…..1
Stan Orlowski fired a two-hitter as Ambridge downed New Castle, 3-1. in the opening game of the District 25 American Legion Championship Series at Ambridge. New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a single by Tom Costello, a passed ball and a double by Chuck Andrews. Ambridge tied the score in the their half of the inning, 1-1. Ambridge scored a run in the fifth inning to go ahead, 2-1. Ambridge added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the final margin 3-1. Winning pitcher Orlowski fanned 11 batters over seven innings for Ambridge. Losing pitcher Dick Orlando threw a seven-hitter for New Castle. Bernie Janicki led Ambridge with two singles and two RBI.
Ambridge…..5 New Castle…..1
Larry North ripped four hits and Steve Kisco scattered six hits to lead Ambridge to a 5-1 win over New Castle to win the District 25 American Legion Championship at Lee Avenue Field. The victory complted a two-game sweep by Ambridge in the best-of-three series. Ambridge scored two runs in the first inning and added two more in the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead. New Castle scored their only run in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 4-1. Ambridge tacked on a solo run in the sixth inning for the final margin of 5-1. North doubled and had three singles to lead Ambridge at the plate. Bernie Janicki smacked a solo homer. Bob Kosis added a double and single and Joe Farquhar added a double. John Sansone singled twice for New Castle. Winning pitcher Kisco threw a seven-inning complete game.
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..3 New Wilmington…..1
Mike Orlando twirled a six-hitter and fanned 12 batters to lead New Castle to a 3-1 win over New Wilmington in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Chmura Field. After three scoreless innings, New Wilmington took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Simpson singled. moved to second base and scored on Yarletts RBI-single. New Castle tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning when John Sansone reached on an error, stole second base, went to third base on a ground out and scored on a foul fly out. New Castle scored the winning runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sansone tripled and scored on Boak’s single to give New Castle a 2-1 lead. Boak went to second base on the throw and scored on Clarke’s single to raise the lead to 3-1. Winning pitcher Orlando threw a seven-inning complete game. Losing pitcher Altman allowed just four hits over six innings.
New Castle…..4 New Wilmington…..3
New Castle downed New Wilmington, 4-3, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at New Wilmington. The win gave New Castle a two-game sweep in the best-of-three series. New Wilmington took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning Wilkins singled, moved to second base and scored on a McGinnis single. New Castle rallied for three runs in the top of the second inning. Boak walked and scored on a Prescaro double to tie the score at 1-1. Clarke followed with an RBI-single scoring Prescaro to make it 2-1. Clarke moved to third base on an error and scored on a passed ball to up the lead to 3-1. In the bottom of the third inning, Boyd doubled and McGinnis singled for New Wilmington to cut the lead to 3-2. In the fourth inning, Clarke singled and scored on Andrews double to give New Castle a 4-2 lead. Boyd’s solo homer run for New Wilmington reduced the final margin to 4-3. Winning pitcher Ray Latsko allowed seven hits in a complete-game performance.
District Playoffs
New Castle…..6 Ambridge…..2
John Sansone smacked three hits, including two doubles, to lead New Castle to a 6-2 win over Ambridge in the American Legion District Playoffs at Ambridge. New Castle opened a 5-0 lead after three innings on the way to the win. Sansone, in addition to his three hits, scored two runs. Ford added two singles. Bernie Janicki singled twice for Ambridge. Winning pitcher Dick Orlando tossed a complete-game four hitter and fanned four batters. Orlando was aided in the field by two outstanding defensive plays by Costello.
New Castle…..5 Ambridge…..2
John Sansone rapped three hits and Ray Latsko tossed a three-hitter as New Castle downed Ambridge, 5-2, to win the American Legion District Playoff at George Washington Field. The win gave New Castle a two game sweep in the best-of-three series. New Castle took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Sansone’s single and two-run homer by Costello. New Castle stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second inning on a Ray Latsko’s double. Bernie Janicki cut the lead to 3-1 with a solo homer in the fourth inning. New Castle added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a triple by Boak and Prescaro’s single. In addition to Sansone’s offense, Costello homered, Boak tripled and Latsko doubled for New Castle. Janicki homered and singled for Ambridge. Winning pitcher Latsko threw a seven-inning complete game.
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New Castle…..13 Saxonburg…..9
Behind the bat of John Sansone and Boak, New Castle rallied from a seven-run deficit to down Saxonburg in the District 25 Championship Series at George Washington Field. New Castle trailed 8-1 in the bottom of the third inning after allowing seven runs on three walks, three errors and four hits in the top of the third inning. In the bottom of the third inning, Sansone hit a two-run triple and Tom Costello, Ford, Boak and Prescaro all singled to cut the lead to 8-6. New Castle scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 10-8 lead behind Tom Costello’s two-run double. Saxonburg narrowed the lead to 10-9 with a run in the top of the sixth inning. But New Castle put the game away with three more runs in the bottom of the sixth to make the final margin 13-9. Sansone led New Castle with a triple, double and single and three runs scored. Boak added three singles. Clarke and Costello added doubles. Atkinson doubled for Saxonburg. Ginocchi was the winning pitcher in relief for New Castle.
New Castle…..5 Saxonburg…..3
New Castle scored five runs in the sixth inning to down Saxonburg, 5-3, to win the American Legion District 25 Championship Series at Saxonburg. The win complted a two game sweep in the best-of-three series. Trailing 3-0 in the top of the sixth inning, New Castle rallied for five runs to take the lead. Ford, Ray Latsko, Bender, Joe Marinelli, Paul Fazzone and Clarke all singled in the inning to give New Castle the 5-3 lead. Saxonburg failed to score in the final two frames and the title went to New Castle. Fazzone and Ford led New Castle with two singles apiece. Tom Costello and John Sansone tripled and Prescaro doubled for New Castle. Graff tripled for Saxonburg, Marinelli got the win with Dick Orlando in relief.
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Sectional Playoffs
New Castle…..4 Brookville…..2
Dick Orlando fanned 14 batters and allowed just four hits as New Castle defeated Brookville, 4-2, the American Legion Sectional Championship Series at Brookville. After both teams were held scoreless through five innings. New Castle opened a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning. John Sansone led off with an inside-the-park home run to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. Tom Costello walked, stole second base and scored on an error to give New Castle a 2-0 lead. Brookville scored two runs in their half of the inning to knot the score at 2-2. New Castle scored the winning runs in the top of the seventh inning. Boak walked and Orlando doubled him home to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. Paul Fazzone singled in Orlando to up the score to 4-2. Orlando held Brookville the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Orlando threw a seven-inning complete-game.
New Castle…..10 Brookville…..1
John Sansone smacked four hits and Ray Latsko threw a two-hitter to lead New Castle to a 10-1 win over Brookville to win the American League Sectional Championship at George Washington Field. The win completed a two-game sweep in the best-of three series-New Castle’s fifth straight playoff sweep. New Castle scored six runs in the third inning, three in the fifth inning and one in the sixth inning. Sansone had a home run, triple and two singles for New Castle. DeLeone homered and singled twice for New Castle. Winning pitcher Latsko fanned six batters in seven inning of work.
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New Castle…..8 Erie…..3
Behind the arm of Dick Orlando and the bats of Ray Latsko and Tom Costello, New Castle downed Erie, 8-3, in the opening game of the American Legion Regional Championship Series at Erie. New Castle broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. New Castle added two more runs in the fifth inning and three in the sixth inning to pull away. Latsko doubled and singled twice and Costello doubled and singled. Chet Boak added a double for New Castle. Obman doubled and singled for Erie. Winning pitcher Orlando allowed just four hits and fanned nine batters in a nine-inning complete-game effort.
Erie…..7 New Castle…..2
Erie…..5 New Castle…..2
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle….5 Chewton-Wampum…..1
Prescaro rapped four hits and Chet Boak threw a four-hitter as New Castle downed Chewton-Wampum, 5-1, in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Leagion Championship Series at Chewton. Prescaro had a triple and three singles to lead New Castle. Fiorante added three singles. Buccelli led C-W with a double. Winning pitcher Boak threw a seven-inning complete game.
New Castle…..7 Chewton-Wampum…..2
New Castle defeated Chewton-Wampum, 7-2, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Flaherty Field. Bill Boak led New Castle with a double and two singles. John Sansone doubled and singled and Strehler added two singles. Perrino added a double. Winning pitcher Jerry Ginocchi threw a seven-inning completed game.
District Playoffs
Ambridge…..6 New Castle…..3
Ambridge downed New Castle, 6-3. in the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at New Castle. Winning pitcher Kurtzl went the distance for Ambridge. Bill Boak doubled for New Castle.
Ambridge…..3 New Castle…..2
Ambridge edged New Castle, 3-2, to win the American Legion District 26 Championship at Ambridge. The win completed a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series. Ambridge scored two unearned runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. New Castle cut the lead to 2-1 on back-to-back doubles by Bill Boak and Ray Latsko in the second inning. Ambridge added a single tally in the bottom of the second inning to open a 3-1 lead. In the sixth inning, New Castle loaded the bases. John Sansone stole home to cut the lead to 3-2 but the rally fizzled. Winning pitcher Hochevar allowed four hits over seven innings. Losing pitcher Latsko threw a three-hitter and fanned eight batters.
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..9 Chewton-Wampum…..7
Bob Bleggi belted a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to give New Castle a 9-7 win over Chewton-Wampum in the openng game of the American Legion Championship Series at George Washington. New Castle trailed 7-5 entering their last at-bat. Bleggi led New Castle with a grand slam, a double and a single. Cupido added a home run and two singles and Burnside tripled and singled twice. Paul Fazzone doubled and singled. John Novolesi doubled and singled and J. Hergenrother homered for Chewton-Wampum.
New Castle…..7 Chewton-Wampum…..0
District Playoffs
Beaver Falls…..4 New Castle…..1
Behind the two-hit pitching of Palka, Beaver Falls downed New Castle, 4-1, in the opening game of the the American Legion District Playoffs at Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls scored two runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. New Castle narrowed the lead to 2-1 in the top of the third inning. Beaver Falls added single runs in the fourth inning and sixth inning to add to the final margin. Winning pitcher Palka threw a seven-inning complete game. Losing Pitcher Chet Boak allowed five hits.
Beaver Falls….. New Castle
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..4 Ellwood City…..2
Behind the arm and bat of Bob Bleggi, New Castle downed Ellwood City, 4-2, in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at George Waashington Field. Bleggi broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run to give New Castle a 4-2 lead. Bleggi also threw a five-hitter and fanned 12 batters to get the win on the mound. George Strehler and Russell Uram had two singles for New Castle. Paul Petrak doubled and singled for Ellwood City. Follett tripled and Don Costa doubled for Ellwood City.
Ellwood City…..9 New Castle…..4
Ron Kellner tripled and doubled to lead Ellwood City to a 9-4 win over New Castle in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Ewing Park. The win knotted the best-of-three series at one game apiece. In addition to Kellner’s offense, Reno Angelone added a double and single. Chet Boak singled twice for New Castle. Winning pitcher Dale Brown tossed a four-hitter and fanned six batters.
New Castle…..2 Ellwood City…..0
Bob Bleggi fanned 13 batters and threw a four-hitter as New Castle defeated Ellwood City, 2-0, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Flaherty Field. The win gave New Castle the best-of-three series, two games to one. New Castle took a 2-0 lead in the first on a walk to Russell Uram followed by Chet Boak’s two-run homer over the left field fence, Ellwood City mounted a serious threat by loading the bases with none out in the sixth inning. But Bleggi snuffed out the rally attempt by fanning the next two batters and forcing a ground out to preserve the shutout. In addition to Boak’s homer, Norm Cook added two singles. Johnson doubled for Ellwood City. Losing pitcher Davies went the route for Ellwood City.
District 26 Championship
New Castle…..3 Ambridge…..0
Bob Bleggi fired a one-hitter to lead New Castle to 3-0 win over Ambridge in the American Legion District Playoffs at Flaherty Field. New Castle scored a single run in the bottom of the second inning. Chet Boak smacked a double and scored on Norm Cook’s RBI-single to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. New Castle added two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead. Winning pitcher Bleggi struck out five batters in a seven-inning complete game.
New Castle…..3 Ambridge…..3
New Castle and Ambridge played to a 3-3 tie in the second game of the American Legion District Playoffs at Ambridge.
New Castle…..6 Ambridge…..3
New Castle downed Ambridge, 6-3, at Ambridge to advance to the American Legion Sectional Playoffs. The win gave New Castle a sweep of the best-of-three series. New Castle scored two runs in the top of the second inning to open a 2-0 lead. New Castle added a single tally in the third inning to up the lead to 3-0. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Ambridge narrowed the lead to 3-2. New Castle added a single run in the sixth inning and two more runs in the seventh inning to raise the lead to 6-2. Ambridge scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to close the final margin to 6-3. Winning pitcher Al Quinn threw six innings of five-hit relief to pick up the win. Bob Bleggi tripled and singled and Chet Boak and George Latsko singled twice for New Castle. Kocak and Hrynewish doubled and singled for Ambridge.
Sectional Championship
New Castle…..15 Ford City…..0
Behind the pitching and hitting of Bob Bleggi, New Castle downed Ford City, 15-0, in the opening game of the Sectional Playoffs at Ford City. Winning pitcher Bleggi threw a two-hitter and famned 11 batters in a complete-game effort. At the plate, Bleggi rapped four hits, including a double. Chet Boak added a triple and two singles.
New Castle…..7 Ford City…..0
New Castle received a 7-0 forfeit win over Ford City to advance to the American Legion Sectional Finals. The win completed a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series.
Regional Championship
St. Mary’s…..3 New Castle…..0
St. Mary’s, behind Stan Horvatin’s three-hit pitching, downed New Castle, 2-0, in the opening game of the American Legion Sectional Championship Series at St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s scored an unearned run in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Losing pitcher Bob Bleggi threw a complete-game for New Castle.
New Castle…..8 St. Mary’s…..0
Al Quinn threw a two-hitter as New Castle defeated St. Mary’s, 8-0, in the American Legion Sectional Championship Series before over 500 fans at Flaherty Field. The win evened the best-of-three series at one game apiece. New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Dal Matthews reached base on an error and scored on George Strehler’s double. Chet Boak follwed with RBI-single to up the lead to 2-0. In the third inning, Bob Bleggi belted a three-run triple to give New Castle a 5-0 lead. Winning pitcher Quinn fanned four batters in a seven-inning complete game. Bleggi tripled and singled to lead New Castle. Strehler doubled and singled and Anthony Domenick and Matthews added two singles apiece. Houston tripled for St. Mary’s.
New Castle…..3 St. Mary’s…..2
Anthony Dominick’s singled in the winning run in the last inning as New Castle edged St. Mary’s, 3-2, at Fryburg to win the American Legion Sectional Championship.The win, in the third and deciding game of the best-of-three series, made New Castle the first Lawrence County team to advance to American Legion State Championship. New Castle opened a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI-single by Bob Bleggi. New Castle held the lead until the bottom of the seventh inning when Manny Gerarge singled home two runners to give St. Mary’s a 2-1 lead. New Castle tied the score in the bottom half of the inning when Dal Matthews tripled and scored on an error to knot the score a 2-2. In the top of the seventh inning, St. Mary’s loaded the bases with none out. Facing the 3-4-5 hitters in the St. Mary’s lineup, Bob Bleggi struck out all three batters to escape from the jam. In the bottom of the seventh inning, George Latsko reached on an error and Bob Casto walked. Matthews walked to load the bases setting the stage for Dominick’s game-winning hit into left field. Casto led New Castle with a double and single. Matthews added a triple. Winning pitcher Bleggi threw a seven-inning complete game.
State Tournament
West Deer…..3 New Castle…..1
Al Kurth fanned 19 batters as West Deer downed New Castle, 3-1, to win an opening round game of the Pennsylvania American Legion Championship Tournament at Reading. Eventual State Champion West Deer capitalized on New Castle errors to provide the margin of victory. Losing pitcher George Strehler did not allow an earned run.
New Castle…..7 Valley View…..2
New Castle, behind two George Strehler’s home runs, defeated Valley View, 7-2. in the second round of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Reading. Strehler first home run gave New Castle a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. After Valley View tied the score at 1-1, Bob Bleggi’s two-run single gave the lead back to New Castle 3-1 in the seventh inning. In the eighth inning, Strehler smacked a two-run homer giving New Castle a 5-1 lead. Chet Boak followed with a solo homer to up the lead to 6-1. Both teams exchanged runs in the seventh inning to provide for the final margin. Winning picther Bob Bleggi went the distance for New Castle. Strehler led New Castle with two home runs. Hopler had two hits for Valley View.
Swathmore…..3 New Castle…..2 11 innings
Swathmore slipped by New Castle, 3-2, in the bottom of the 11th inning in the third round of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament. The win eliminated New Castle from the tournament and resulted in a fourth-place finish. Joe Fizzano knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th innning to gain the win for Swathmore. New Castle was held hitless until Bob Bleggi’s triple in the seventh inning. New Castle took a 2-1 lead on Dal Matthews single in the eighth inning. Ford was the winning pitcher in relief of Chadmar. Losing pitcher Al Quinn allowed seven hits in 10 innings of work.
Lawrence County Championship
Wampum…..3 New Castle…..3
Wampum and New Castle tied 3-3 in nine innings in the opening game of the Lawrence County Championship at Flaherty Field. Gary Hackett doubled in two runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game and force extra innings. Joe Camerot went the distance for Wampum and fanned 10 batters. Bob Bleggi also went the route and struck out 14 batters. Hackett led Wampum at the plate with a double and single.
New Castle…..5 Wampum…..4
New Castle scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to edge Wampum, 5-4, in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at George Washington Field. Wampum held a 4-2 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning. Joe Mehalic as the winning pitcher in relief for New Castle. Joe Frengel led New Castle with two singles.
New Castle…..5 Wampum…..3
New Castle downed Wampum , 5-3, at Wampum to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Wampum. The win gave New Castle a sweep in the best-of-three series. Winning pitcher Bob Bleggi tossed a five-hitter and fanned six batters in a route-going performance. Frank Bongivengo led New Castle with two singles. Gart Hackett and Rylott had two singles for Wampum.
District Playoffs
New Castle…..9 Saxonburg…..3
New Castle downed Saxonburg, 9-3, in the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Playoffs at George Washington Field. Bob Boak paced a 12-hit attack for New Castle with a home run and single. Bob Bleggi tripled and Dal Matthews doubled and scored four runs. Frank Bongivengo added two singles. Nowicki had two singles and Powers tripled for Saxonburg. Winning pitcher Bleggi fanned 13 batters in going the distance for New Castle.
New Castle…..5 Saxonburg…..3
Joe Mehalic threw six innings of scoreless relief and Joe Frengel ripped three hits as New Castle defeated Saxonburg, 5-3, to win the first round of the American Legion District Playoffs at Saxonburg. The win completed the two-game sweep of the best-of-three series. New Castle opened a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a single by Dale Matthews, a sacrifice and an RBI-single by Bob Bleggi. Sazonburg tied the score in the bottom of the first inning at 1-1 and took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning before Mehalic relieved for New Castle. In the third inning, New Castle sliced the lead to 3-2 on a single by Frank Bongivengo, a single by Bleggi and an RBI-double by Joe Frengel. In the fourth inning, New Castle tied the score at 3-3. Chet Boak singled, Russell Uram’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed allowing Boak to score the tying run. In the fifth inning, Anthony Domenick walked and Bongivengo followed with a single. Bleggi then singled in Domenick to give New Castle a 4-3 lead. Frengel followed with another single scoring Bongivengo to up the New Castle lead to 5-3. Mehalic shutout Saxonburg the rest of the way. Frengel led New Castle with a double and two singles. Bongivengo tripled and singled and Bleggi singled twice. Altman singled twice and Lang doubled for Saxonburg. Winning pitcher Mehalic fanned seven batters in six innings of relief.
District 26 Championship
Beaver Falls…..5 New Castle…..3
Beaver Falls downed New Castle, 5-3, in the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Beaver Falls. New Castle scored two runs in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. New Castle held the lead until the bottom of the fifth inning when Beaver Falls rallied for four runs. Tookie James walked and Campbell reached on a fielder’s choice. Larry Masotti followed with a single scoring James to cut the lead to 2-1. Jack Damaska walked to load the bases. Reno Masotti followed with a slow rolling single past the mound scoring Campbell and Masotti to give Beaver Falls a 3-2 lead. Bobby Lawrence followed with an RBI-single scoring Damaska to up the lead to 4-2. Beaver Falls added another run in the fifth inning to raise the lead to 5-2. Joe Mehalic hit a pinch-hit homer for New Castle in the top of the seventh inning to close the margin to 5-3.Winning pitcher Masotti went the distance for Beaver Falls.
New Castle…..4 Beaver Falls…..3
Bob Bleggi drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as New Castle edged Beaver Falls, 4-3, in the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at George Washington Field. The win knotted the best-of-three series at one game apiece. New Castle opened a 2-0 lead in the first inning and added another run in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. New Castle held the lead until Beaver Falls tied the score, 3-3, with a three-run rally in the fifth inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, John Lombardo singled and was removed by a force out. Dal Matthews followed with a single and after another force out, Frank Bongivengo walked to load the bases. Bleggi followed with a line drive down the left-field line scoring Matthews with the winning run. Matthews led New Castle with a double and single and Bleggi added three singles. Bobby Lawrence singled twice and Jack Damaska doubled for Beaver Falls. Winning pitcher Joe Mehalic threw a five-hit complete game for New Castle.
New Castle…..5 Beaver Falls…..0
Bob Bleggi fired a four-hitter as New Castle shutout Beaver Falls, 5-0, to win the American Legion District 26 Championship at Ewing Park. The win gave New Castle the best-of-three series, two games to one. New Castle scored two runs in the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead. Dal Matthews smacked a two-run double in the second inning to give New Castle a 4-0 lead. New Castle added an insurance run in the fifth inning to up the lead to 5-0. Winning pitcher Bleggi fanned seven batters in a complete-game performance. Matthews led New Castle with a double and single. Bob Boak added two singles.
Regional Championship
New Castle…..2 West Deer…..1
Behind the arm and bat of Bob Bleggi, New Castle edged West Deer, 2-1, in the opening game of the American Legion Regional Championship Series before over 700 fans at Flaherty Field. Bleggi threw a five-hitter and belted a triple and double. New Castle opened a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Bleggi tripled and scored on Joe Frengel’s RBI-single. In the sixth inning, New Castle scored the run that provided the winning margin. After Frank Bongivengo singled, Bleggi followed with an RBI-double to up the lead to 2-0. In the top of the seventh inning, Joe Romanco doubled for West Deer and scored on a Lou Kun single to cut the lead to 2-1. However, John Lombardo caught Kun attempting to steal second base to end the rally. Bleggi led New Castle at the plate with a triple and double. Bongivengo added two singles and Russell Uram doubled. Winning pitcher Bleggi fanned eight batters in a seven-inning complete game. Losing pitcher Al Kurth allowed six hits.
West Deer…..11 New Castle…..1
West Deer scored three runs in the first inning and never looked back on the way to an 11-1 win over New Castle in the American Legion Regional Championship Series at Curtisville. The win knotted the best-of-three series at one game apiece. West Deer opened a 3-0 lead in the first inning and added another run in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead. West Deer added two more runs in the fifth inning and four more runs in the sixth inning to open a 10-0 lead. New Castle and West Deer each scored a run in the eighth inning for the final margin. Valerio led the nine-hit West Deer attack with two singles. West Deer’s offense was aided by six New Castle errors. Dal Matthews and Bob Bleggi singled twice for New Castle. Winning pitcher Lou Kun threw a six-hitter and fanned six batters over nine innings.
West Deer…..8 New Castle…..2
Al Kurth tossed a five-hitter as West Deer downed New Castle, 8-2, to win the American Legion Regional Championship at Ambridge. The win gave West Deer the best-of-three series, two games to one, and a trip to the state tournament in Allentown. After four scoreless innings, West Deer broke through with two runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 2-0 lead. West Deer added two more runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 4-0 lead. New Castle cut the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning. Both teams exchanged runs in the eighth inning to make the score 5-2. West Deer added three runs in the top of the ninth inning to account for the final margin. Joe Romanco led West Deer with a triple and single. Valerio and Brooks added two singles and Lou Kun doubled. Bob Boak and Anthony Domenick doubled for New Castle. Winning pitcher Kurth fanned seven batters in a nine-inning complete game effort.
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..9 Ellwood City…..4
New Castle scored five runs in the top of the eighth inning to down Ellwood City, 9-4, in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Ewing Park. Ellwood City tied the score 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game to extra innings. Ellwood City took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Sonny Gardner reached second base on an error and scored on Bill Frazier’s single. Frank Bongivengo’s RBI-single tied the game in the top of the second inning at 1-1. New Castle opened a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning when Bob Boak tripled and Walt Mangham followed with a home run. Ellwood City scored a single tally in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the score to 3-2. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Ellwood City’s Dick Pertile tripled and pinch-hitter Don Schaly singled to tie the score at 3-3. In the top of the eighth inning, New Castle scored five runs to take command of the game. Boak and Mangham singled and scored on Tom Latsko’s triple. An errant throw on the play allowed Latsko to score as New Castle went ahead, 6-3. New Castle added three more runs aided by a two-run single by Joe Kulnis. Ellwood City scored a run for the 9-4 final margin. New Castle was led at the plate by Boak with a triple and single. Danny DiCarlo had three singles and Mangham singled twice. Don Costa led Ellwood City with a double and single. Frazier singled twice and Pertile tripled. Winning pitcher Boak threw an eight-inning complete-game. He fanned nine batters without a walk.
Ellwood City…..4 New Castle…..4
New Castle…..3 Ellwood City…..2
New Castle scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge Ellwood City, 3-2, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Flaherty Field. The win gave New Castle the best-of-three series, two games to none. Ellwood City took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Dick Pertile singled, moved to third base after a walk and a hit-batsman and scored on a ground out. In the bottom of the inning, Bob Boak walked, moved to second base on a balk, moved to third on Joe Lambo’s single and scored on Danny DiCarlo’s sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the seventh inning, New Castle loaded the bases with none out but failed to score. In the top of the eighth inning, Ellwood City took a 2-1 lead. Bill Frazier doubled, went to third base on an errant throw and scored on Sonny Gardner’s sacrifice fly. But New Castle rallied back in their half of the inning to win the game. Frank Bongivengo reached base on an error and Joe Kupnis sacrficed him to second base. Boak reached on an infield single and Walt Mangham was walked intentionally to load the bases. Lambo followed with a double down the rightfield line scoring Bongivengo and Boak with the tying and go-ahead run giving New Castle a 3-2 lead. Winning pitcher Ronnie Abraham threw an eight-inning complete-game allowing just three hits while fanning five batters. Losing pitcher Joe Raman threw a seven-hitter and struck out four batters. Lambo had two doubles and two singles to lead New Castle. Bongivengo added a double. Pertile led Ellwood City with a double and single and Frazier doubled.
District Playoffs
New Castle…..4 Beaver Falls…..0
Bobby Mangino threw a two-hitter as New Castle downed Beaver Falls, 4-0, in the opening game of the District 26 Championship Series at Flaherty Field. New Castle opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Bob Boak singled and Joe Lambo walked and Joe Frengel reached base on a fielder’s choice. On an ensuing wild pitch, Boak and Lambo scored to give New Castle a 2-0 lead. Frengel came around to score on a walk to Danny DiCarlo and an errant throw to up New Castle’s lead to 3-0. New Castle added another run in the sixth inning when Walt Mangham singled, moved to second base on a steal, moved to third on an error and scored on a fielder’s choice to raise the lead to 4-0. Winning pitcher Mangino threw a seven-inning complete game. Losing pitcher Pete Cabrera tossed a three-hitter for Beaver Falls.
Beaver Falls…..5 New Castle…..4
Keyed by Bobby Young’s three-run double, Beaver Falls edged New Castle, 5-4, in the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Beaver Falls High School Field. The win tied the best-of-three series at a game apiece. New Castle held a 4-2 lead entering the bottom of the fifth inning before Beaver Falls staged the eventual game-winning rally. New Castle opened a 2-0 lead in the top of the firs inning. Joe Lambo singled and Joe Frengel walked and both runners moved up on an error. Danny DiCarlo followed with a two-run RBI single. In he bottom of the second inning, Beaver Falls Tookie James singled. moved to second base on a ground out and scored on Jim Greco’s single to cut the lead to 2-1. New Castle took a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning on Tom Latsko’s two-run single to raise New Castle’s lead to 4-1. Beaver Falls scored a single run in the fourth inning to reduce the lead to 4-2. Beaver Falls took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. After loading the bases,Young followed with the a double scoring all three runners to give Beaver Falls a 5-4 lead. New Castle didn’t score the rest of the way and the series was tied. Pete Cabrera was the winning pitcher in relief for Beaver Falls. He threw four innings of three-hit shutout relief. Losing pitcher Bob Boak threw a five-hitter and fanned eight batters. Young had the game’s only extra-base hit, the three-run double which provided the winning margin. Lambo led New Castle with two singles.
Beaver Falls…..4 New Castle…..0
Pete Cabrera threw six and two-thirds innings of no-hit ball as Beaver Falls downed New Castle, 4-0, to win the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Ewing Park. The win gave Beaver Falls the best-of-three series, two games to one. After three scoreless innings, Beaver Falls scored in the bottom of the fourth inning on a triple by Bobby Lawrence and an error to take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Beaver Falls went ahead on a double by Tookie James and an RBI-single by Bobby Young to up the lead to 2-0. Beaver Falls added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning to account for the final margin of 4-0. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Bob Boak doubled to break up Cabrera’s no-hitter. Winning pitcher Cabrera ended with a one-hitter, fanning nine batters without a walk. Lawrence led Beaver Falls with a triple and James added a double.
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..3 Ellwood City…..1
Ronnie Abraham fired a three-hitter as New Castle defeated Ellwood City, 3-1, in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Flaherty Field. Ellwood City opened the scoring in the first inning on a single by Bill Frazier, a stolen base and an RBI-single by Amey Alfonso to take a 1-0 lead. Ellwood City held the lead slim until the bottom of the fifth inning. Kent Mally singled, an error and a fielder’s choice loaded the bases.Two straight base on balls forced in two runs to gve New Castle a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the sixth inning, a walk, an error and singles by Mally and Dave Alexander stretched the lead to 3-1. Winning pitcher Abraham fanned six batters in a seven-inning complete game effort. Losing Pitcher Ron Hughes allowed four hits over five innings of work.
Ellwood City…..7 New Castle…..2
New Castle…..4 Ellwood City…..1
Ronnie Abraham tossed a five-hitter as New Castle downed Ellwood City, 4-1, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Flaherty Field. The win gave New Castle the best-of-three series, two games to one. After three scoreless innings, New Castle rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Joe Lambo doubled and scored on Pete Leonard’s double to take a 1-0 lead. Fran Hartfelder was hit by a pitch and an error allowed Leonard to score to up the lead to 2-0. Frank Bongivengo was walked intentionally and Kent Mally ruined the stategy with a two-run single to give New Castle a 4-0 lead. Ellwood City scored their only run in the top of the sixth inning on a double by Bill Frazier and an RBI-single by John Perry. Winning pitcher Abraham threw a seven-inning complete-game. Lambo led New Castle with a double and a single. Hartfelder added two singles. Frazier led Ellwood City with a double.
District 26 Championship
New Castle…..4 Aliquippa…..4
New Castle…..4 Aliquippa…..1
Ronnie Abraham threw a five-hitter as New Castle defeated Aliquippa, 4-1, in the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Flaherty Field. After two scoreless innings, New Castle rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Abraham singled and was forced out by Dan DiCarlo. After a passed ball, an error permitted DiCarlo to score to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. After another error, Joe Lambo singled to up the lead to 2-0. Dave Alexander followed with a single raise the lead to 3-0. New Castle added to their lead in the fourth inning on a two-run double by Frank Bongivengo. Aliquippa got on the board in the top of the sixth inning on a solo home over the 350-mark by Mike Ditka. Winning pitcher Abraham threw a seven-inning complete-game for New Castle. Dave Alexander singled twice to lead New Castle. Bongivengo and DiCarlo added doubles. Pete Suder singled twice and Ditka homered for Aliquippa.
New Castle…..5 Aliquippa…..4
New Castle scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to slip by Aliquippa, 5-4, to win the American Legion District 26 Championship at Beaver Falls. The win gave New Castle a sweep of the best-of-three series. New Castle took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Frank Bongivengo doubled, Kent Mally walked and Dave Alexander and Joe Lambo followed with RBI-singles. Aliquippa sliced the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning on a solo home run by John Moore. New Castle upped the lead to 4-1 on Dan DiCarlo two-run single. Down to their last three outs, Aliquippa tied the score in the top of the seventh inning.The key hit in the three-run rally was a two-run single by Bobby Rockwell to tie the game at 4-4. But the tie was short-lived as New Castle scored the winning run in their half of the inning. Tom Latsko and DiCarlo singled to start the inning for New Castle. Bongivengo grounded to short but an errant throw to first base allowed Latsko to score to win the game, 5-4. DiCarlo led New Castle with two singles and Bongivengo doubled. Rockwell had three singles for Aliquippa. Bobby Mangino was the winning pitcher in relief of Ronnie Abraham.
Section 2 Playoffs
New Castle…..9 West Deer…..4
New Castle defeated West Deer, 9-4, in the opening game of the American Legion Section 2 Championship Series at Flaherty Field. Bobby Mangino threw a no-hitter through the first seven innings as New Castle built a 9-0 lead. New Castle jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning keyed by Dave Alexander’s bases-loaded triple. In the second inning, Dan Di Carlo walked and Frank Bongivengo singled him to third base. A groundout scored DiCarlo as New Castle upped the lead to 5-0. New Castle added two runs in the third inning to go ahead 7-0 and Roger Naples’ two-run single in the fourth inning gave New Castle a 9-0 cushion. West Deer got four singles in the last two innings and reduced the final margin to 9-4. Winning pitcher Mangino threw a four-hitter over nine innings. Ron Gaul led West Deer with two singles.
West Deer…..6 New Castle…..3
Ron Gaul tossed a three-hitter as West Deer downed New Castle, 6-3, in the American Legion District 2 Championsgip Series at Curtisville. The win knotted the best-of-three series at one game apiece. New Castle took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. New Castle held the lead until West Deer erupted for six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 6-0 lead. New Castle scored a solo tally in the top of the ninth inning to account for the 6-3 final margin. Winning pitcher Gaul threw a nine-inning complete-game for West Deer. Jim Kile led West Deer with two doubles. Joe Miller added a double.
New Castle…..4 West Deer…..2
New Castle downed West Deer, 4-2, to win the American Legion Section 2 Tournament Championship at Zelienople, The win gave New Castle the best-of three series, two games to one, and a trip to the state tournament. West Deer opened the scoring with two runs in the fourth inning on RBI-singles by Larry Panyon and Ron Gaul. West Deer held the lead until New Castle scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Dan DiCarlo and Frank Bongivengo walked. Both runners moved up and DiCarlo scored on a ground out to cut the West Deer lead to 2-1. Bongivengo scored on an error to tie the game at 2-2. With two runners on base, Pete Leonard smacked a two-run single to give New Castle a 4-2 lead. Neither team scored the rest of the way and New Castle advanced to the 12-team state tournament. Bongivengo was the starting and winning pitcher for New Castle. He threw five innings and allowed two runs. Bobby Mangino gained the save with four shutout innings of relief. Kent Mally led New Castle with three singles. Dave Alexander added two singles. Panyon singled twice for West Deer.
State Tournament
Harrisburg…..13 New Castle…..4
Benefitting form nine errors, Harrisburg defeated New Castle, 13-4, in the opening round of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament in Allentown. The game was tied at 1-1 after two innings before Harrisburg erupted for five runs in the third inning to take a 6-1 lead. New Castle closed the gap with two runs in the top of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 6-3. But Harrisburg scored five runs in the seventh inning and two runs in the eighth inning to up the lead to 13-3. New Castle added a single run in the ninth inning to account for the final margin. Winning pitcher Hager through a three-hitter over nine innings. DeBono led Harrisburg with four singles. Robb and Miller added two singles apiece. Kent Mally doubled for New Castle.
Philadelphia Chelten Hills…..5 New Castle…..0
Philadelphia Chelten Hills downed New Castle, 5-0, behind the four-hit pitching of O’Neill in the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament a Allentown. The loss eliminated New Castle from the double-elimination tournament. Chelten Hills scored a run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Chelten Hills added another run in the fifth inning to open a 2-0 lead. Chelten Hills added three more runs in the sixth inning to widen the lead to 5-0. Neither team scored the rest of the way. Winning pitcher O’Neill threw a nine-inning complete-game for Chelten Hills. Losing pitcher Bobby Mangino fanned nine batters in a complete-game effort, hurt by four New Castle errors. Kent Mally doubled for New Castle.
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..3 Ellwood City…..1
Tony DeLuca tossed a three-hitter to lead New Castle to a 3-1 win over Ellwood City in the Lawrence Cointy American Legion Playoffs at Ewing Park. Winning pitcher DeLuca fanned eight batters in a seven-inning complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Ron Hughes allowed four hits and struck out four batters. Bucky Phillips led New Castle with two singles. Hughes singled twice for Ellwood City. Bob Mallary added a double.
Ellwood City…..13 New Castle…..4
Ellwood City downed New Castle, 13-4, in the Lawrence County American Legion playoffs at Flaherty Field. Ron Hughes led Ellwood City with three singles. Joe Raman, Ralph Pratt and Bob Timmerman each singled twice. Larry Matteo led New Castle with three singles. Roger Naples, George Mastrangelo, Joe Bullano each added two singles. Joe Raman was the winning picher in relief.
New Castle…..3 Ellwood City…..0
Tony DeLuca fired a three-hitter to lead New Castle over Ellwood City, 3-0, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Ewing Park. The win gave New Castle the crown after both teams, tied with 3-1 records in the round-robin tournament which included Wampum, forced a one-game playoff. New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI-single by Tony Mangieri. DeLuca’s RBI-single in the second upped the lead to 2-0. In the third, Bucky Phillips singled in a run to give New Castle a 3-0 lead. Wiinning pitcher DeLuca fanned seven batters in seven-inning complete-game effort. Losing pitcher Ron Hughes allowed seven hits and struck out six hitters in six innings of work. Phillips led New Castle with two singles.
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New Castle…..3 Saxonburg…..2
Todd Alexander scattered six hits to lead New Castle over Saxonburg, 3-2, in the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Playoffs at Flaherty Field. New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Joe Bullano reached on an error and scored on Dave Alexander’s triple. Todd Alexander followed with an RBI-single to up the lead to 2-0. In the third inning, Bucky Phillips singled in a run to give New Castle a 3-0 lead. Dave Alexander led New Castle with a triple and single.Youngins led Saxonburg with two singles. Don Graff added a double. Winning pitcher Alexander fanned eight batters in a seven-inning route-going effort. Losing pitcher Lester Lang went the distance for Saxonburg.
Saxonburg…..3 New Castle…..1
Saxonburg, behind Bob Hume’s four-hitter, defeated New Castle, 3-1, in the American Legion District 26 Playoffs at Saxonburg. The win tied the best-of-three series at one-game apiece. New Castle took an early 1-0 lead on Larry Matteo’s RBI-single. The lead held until Saxonburg rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 3-1 lead. New Castle failed to score in the seventh inning. Winning pitcher Hume fanned five batters in a complete-game effort. Losing pitcher Matteo went the distance for New Castle, allowing four hits and fanning seven batters.
New Castle…..4 Saxonburg…..2
Behind the pitching of Tony DeLuca and the hiting of Bucky Phillips and Larry Matteo, New Castle defeated Saxonburg, 4-2, at Zelienople to advance to the American Legion District 26 Championship Series. The win gave New Castle the best-of-three series, two games to one. New Castle scored three runs in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. Saxonburg sliced the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second inning with a solo tally. New Castle scored a run in the top of the seventh inning and Saxonburg scored a run in the bottom of the inning to account for the final margin. Winning pitcher DeLuca tossed a five-hitter and fanned five batters in a complete-game effort. Phillips and Matteo both rapped three singles for New Castle. Don Graff triped and singled for Saxonburg. Krapel doubled and singled for Saxonburg.
Beaver Falls…..4 New Castle…..3
Beaver Falls held on to defeat New Castle, 4-3, to win the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Flaherty Field. Beaver Falls took a 4-0 lead after three innings and managed to escape after New Castle scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. After two scoreless innings, Beaver Falls scored a single tally in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. In the third innning, Beaver Falls put together two walks, two hits and an obstruction call to score three runs to open up a 4-0 lead. The score remained unchanged until New Castle’s furious rally in the bottom of the seventh inning. Pete Leonard singled, Bobby Mangino walked and Tony DeLuca reached on an infield single to load the bases. Jimmy Mancino singled in Leonard to cut the lead to 4-1. Larry Matteo walked forcing in Mangino to narrow the lead to 4-2. But two ground outs ended the rally and the game. Winning pitcher Ray Kokoski threw a six-hit complete-game for Beaver Falls. Losing pitcher Mangino allowed just three hits and fanned 12 batters for New Castle.
New Castle…..6 Beaver Falls…..1
Tony DeLuca tossed a three-hitter to lead New Castle to a 6-1 win over Beaver Falls in the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Beaver Falls. The win evened the best-of -three series at one game apiece. Beaver Falls scored a run in the bottom of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Beaver Falls held the lead till the top of the fifth inning when New Castle rallied for two runs. After an error, George Mastrangelo singled and RBI-singles by Larry Matteo and Bucky Phillips gave New Castle a 2-1 lead. New Castle broke the game over in the top of the seventh inning. Tony Mangieri, Mastranagelo and DeLuca all singled to load the bases. Two wild throws and a two-run single by Pete Leonard gave New Castle a 6-1 margin. Wining pitcher DeLuca fanned five batters in a route-goung effort. Mastrangelo led the New Castle attack with two singles.
Beaver Falls…..2 New Castle…..0
Ray Kokoski tossed a two-hitter as Beaver Falls won the District 26 Championship with a 2-0 shutout of New Castle at Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls, which won a coin flip to host the deciding game, won the best-of-three series, two games to one. After two scoreless innings, Beaver Falls took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Kokoski walked and was sacrificed to second base. Pepper Martin doubled scoring Kokoski with the first run. Beaver Falls added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Harry Blackwood walked, stole second base and scored on Dick Blackwood’s double to up the Beaver Falls lead to 2-0. Winning pitcher Kokoski fanned two batters in a seven-inning complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Todd Alexander allowed just three hits for New Castle.
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..2 New Castle…..0
Ron Hughes fired a four-hit shutout to lead Ellwood City to a 2-0 win over New Castle in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Flaherty Field. After a scoreless first inning, Ellwood City scored in the top of the second inning. Hughes led off with a single, another single and a walk loaded the bases. Mike Ruscille’s bunt single scored Hughes to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, Dave Florie singled and moved to second base on a sacrifice. After a fielder’s choice, a wild pitch allowed Florie to score to up the Ellwood City lead to 2-0. New Castle threatened in the fifth inning. Bucky Phillips singled and moved to second base on a sacrifice. Bob Casalandra ripped a shot that Ruscille knocked down at second and fired at to home nailing Philips at the plate. Hughes completed the shutout with two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh innings.Hughes fanned eight batters in the complete-game victory. Losing pitcher Tony DeLuca scattered seven hits for New Castle. New Castle’s Todd Alexander had the game’s only extra-base hit-a double.
Ellwood City…..4 New Castle…..3
Ron Mazzano doubled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as Ellwood City edged New Castle, 4-3, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Ewing Park. The win gave Ellwood City a sweep of the best-of-three series. New Castle took an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of the first inning. New Castle added to their lead with another run in the third inning to up the lead to 3-0. Ellwood City trailed 3-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Dick Rosen led off with a walk, was sacrificed to second base, moved up a ground out and scored on Dave Florie’s infield single to tie the score at 3-3 to send the game into extra innings. In the top of the eighth inning, New Castle threatened to take the lead. With a Joe Bullano at second base, Bob Casalandra singled to centerfield but Danny Bartolomeo’s throw nailed Bullano at the plate. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Ron Hughes walked setting the stage for Mazzano’s long double to left field to win the game. Hughes was the winning picther in relief for Ellwood City. Losing pitcher Todd Alexander allowed just three hits and fanned 10 batters in a complete-game effort. Joe Cangey and Bucky Phillips singled twice for New Castle.
District 26 Championship Series
New Brighton…..2 Ellwood City…..0
Dave Young tossed a three-hitter as New Brighton shutout Ellwood City, 2-0, in the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at New Brighton. Losing pitcher Ron Hughes threw a four-hitter for Ellwood City.
New Brighton…..2 Ellwood City…..1
Bill Beighley scattered six hits as New Brighton downed Ellwood City, 2-1, to win the American Legion District 26 Championship at Ewing Park. The win gave New Brighton a sweep of the best-of-three series.Losing pitcher for Ellwood City was Denny Pavick. Dick Rosen singled twice and Ralph Pratt doubled for Ellwood City.
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…….7 New Wilmington…..0
Dave Smith fired a two-hitter as Ellwood City shutout New Wilmington, 7-0, in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Westminster College. Ellwood City scored a run in the opening inning. Mike Ruscille singled and Smith walked to put two runners on base. Dave Weingartner singled but Ruscille was thrown out at home. Smith moved to third and scored on a wild pitch to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. In the fourth inning, Ellwood City rallied for four runs. Sonny Agostinelli singled and Dave Martin reached on an error. Bobby Blythe singled to score Agostinelli to raise the lead to 2-0. Joe Sheeler reached on an error to score Martin to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. Smith followed with a double to score Blythe and Sheeler to up the lead to 5-0. In the fifth inning, Blythe singled in Larry McCaslin to raise the lead to 6-0. Ellwood City scored its’ final run in the of the sixth inning. Ruscille and Bob Bathgate singled and pulled a double steal allowing Ruscille to score the seventh run. Winning pitcher Smith fanned nine batters in a route-going effort. Ruscille, Blythe and Weingartner led Ellwood City at the plate with two singles apiece. Smith added a double.
Ellwood City…..8 New Wilmington…..0
Denny Pavick tossed a four-hitter as Ellwood City downed New Wilmington, 8-0, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Ewing Park. The win completed a sweep of the best-of-three series. Ellwood City jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Bob Blythe led off with a single and and Sonny Agostinelli reached on an error. Larry Price followed with a two-run double to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. Pavick singled Price to third base and Joe Sheeler followed with an RBI-single scoring Price to up the Ellwood City lead to 3-0. Ellwood City pulled a double steal as Pavick scored raise the lead to 4-0. Mike Ruscille singled scoring Sheeler to give Ellwood City a 5-0 lead. Dave Smith and Dave Weingartner followed with singles scoring Ruscille to up the lead to 6-0. Ellwood City added two more runs in the fourth inning to lift the lead to 8-0. Winning pitcher Pavick struck out seven batters in a complete-game effort. Sheeler led the 12-hit Ellwood City attack with three singles. Pavick added two singles. Warren Sallade singled twice for New Wilmington.
District 26 Playoffs
Ellwood City…..13 West Sunbury…..5
Dave Weingartner rapped three doubles and a single as Ellwood City defeated West Sunbury, 13-5, in the opening game of the District 26 American Legion playoffs at Ewing Park. Bob Blythe had three singles for Ellwood City. Winning pitcher Denny Pavick went the distance for Ellwood City.
Ellwood City…..6 West Sunbury…..1
Dave Smith hurled a four-hitter as Ellwood City downed West Sunbury, 6-1, in the Lawrence County District 26 playoffs at West Sunbury. The win gave Ellwood City a sweep of the best-of-three series. Bob Blythe lead Ellwood City at the plate with a two-run home run. Dave Weingartner added two singles. Winning pitcher Smith fanned 11 batters in a complete-game effort.
District 26 Championship
Beaver Falls…..2 Ellwood City…..1
Barry Casey threw a five-hitter to lead Beaver Falls to a 2-1 win over Ellwood City in the opening game of the Lawrence County District 26 Championship Series at Ewing Park. Winning pitcher Casey threw a seven-inning complete-game. Losing pitcher Denny Pavick scattered eight hits for Ellwood City. Dick Blackwood led Beaver Falls with three singles. Mike Ruscille led Ellwood City with a double.
Ellwood City…..7 Beaver Falls…..0
Dave Smith hurled a five-hitter to lead Ellwood City to a 7-0 win over Beaver Falls in the Lawrence County District 26 Championship Series at Beaver Falls. The win tied the best-of-three series at one game apiece. Winning pitcher Smith threw a seven-inning complete-game. Bob Blythe belted a two-run homer to lead Ellwood City. Dave Weingartner added two singles.
Beaver Falls…..7 Ellwood City…..4
Beaver Falls capatilized on five errors to down Ellwood City, 7-4, to win the American Legion District 26 championship at Ewing Park.The win gave Beaver Falls the best-of-three series, two games to one. Dave Weingartner led Ellwood City with a two-run triple.
Lawrence County Champions
New Castle…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
Beaver Falls…..10 New Castle…..4
Beaver Falls…..4 New Castle…..2
Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..Regular Season
District 26 Playoffs
Ambridge…..5 Ellwood City…..4
Ambridge scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning and defeated Ellwood City, 5-4, in the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Playoffs at Ewing Park. Ellwood City held a 4-2 lead after seven innings before the Ambridge rally. Winning pitcher Jim Zerilla threw a three-hitter in a nine-inning complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Blythe went the distance for Ellwood City. Knollinger doubled for Ambridge. Dick Freidhoff smacked a home run and Jim Fusetti added a double.
Ambridge…..11 Ellwood City…..1
Ambridge scored eight runs in the fourth inning in the way to a 11-1 win over Ellwood City in the District 26 Playoffs at Ambridge. The win completed a sweep by Ambridge of the best-of-three series. Ambridge went on to win the District 26 Title, the Section Title and eventually won the Pennsylavania American Legion State Championship. Ambridge scored single runs in the first, second and third inning to take a 3-0 lead. Ambridge took command of the game with an eight-run fourth inning. Winning pitcher Kmit threw a two-hitter with a six-inning complete-game effort. Dickerson rapped two doubles and Oswald a double to lead Ambridge.
Lawrence County Champions
New Castle…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
Zelienople…..11 New Castle…..6
Zelienople erupted for seven-runs in seventh inning and went on to defeat New Castle, 11-6, in the opening round of the District 26 playoffs at Flaherty Field. New Castle held a 6-3 lead after six innings before the Zelienople rally. New Castle opened the scoring in the first inning on a Bob Tarnoci RBI-single to take a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Bobby Keyes and Poegy Ross reached base on infield singles. Jim Germita followed with an RBI-single to up the New Castle lead to 2-0. Zelienople, with a three-run rally, took the lead in the third inning, 3-2. In the fourth inning, New Castle regained the lead with a four-run rally. Denny Dunham walked, Ed James singled and Germita singled to load the bases. Dunham scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 3-3. Dan Spanish followed with a double scoring James and Germita to give New Castle a 5-3 lead. Tarnoci followed with a single scoring Spanish to up the lead to 6-3. But in the fateful seventh inning, four New Castle errors help erase their three-run lead as Zelienople went ahead 10-6. Zelienople added another run in the eighth inning to complete the 11-6 final margin. Jack Shanks and Mike Cullen led Zelienople with two singles apiece. Mike Metz added a triple. Spanish led New Castle with a triple, double and single. Germita added three singles. Rape was the winning pitcher in relief for Zelienople.
Zelienople…..4 New Castle…..2
Tim Glover tossed a five-hitter as Zelienople downed New Castle, 4-2, at Zelienople, The win completed a two-game sweep of the District 26 playoff series. Zelienople scored two runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. The score remained the same until Zelienople added single runs in the seventh and eighth inning to complete the final 4-0 margin. Winning pitcher Tim Glover fanned 13 batters in a nine-inning complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Bill Cook surrendered five hits and struck out 10 batters. Terry Teplica led New Castle with two singles.
Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
New Brighton…..4 Ellwood City…..1
Jim Oldenburg threw a three-hitter to lead New Brighton to 4-1 win over Ellwood City in the opening game of the Ameeican Legion District 26 Championship Series at New Brighton, Losing pitcher Ron Sabatino allowed six hits over eight innings of work.
Ellwood City…..2 New Brighton…..0
Jim Birtalin fanned 18 batters as Ellwood City shutout New Brighton, 2-0, in the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Ewing Park. The win tied the best-of-three series at one game apiece. Ellwood City scored three runs to take a 3-0 lead. Larry Boyer and Lou Zona led off with singles and were sacrificed into scoring position. An error allowed Boyer to score to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. Alex Herman followed with an RBI-single scoring Zona to up the lead to 2-0. Winning pitcher Birtalin threw a nine-inning complete-game.
Ellwood City…..2 New Brighton…..0
Bob Poholsky fired a four-hitter as Ellwood City downed New Brighton, 2-0, to win the American Legion District 26 Championship at New Brighton. The win gave Ellwood City the best-of-three series, two games to one. Bob Latiano led Ellwood City at the plate with two singles. Winning pitcher Poholsky threw a nine-inning complete-game for Ellwood City. Losing pitcher Jim Oldenburg allowed five hits.
*****
Section 12 Championship Series
Ellwood City…..9 Freeport…..0
Jim Filippone threw a six-hitter as Ellwood City shutout Freeport, 9-0, in the American Legion Section 12 Championship Series at Freeport. Larry Boyer and Alex Herman led Ellwood City at the plate with a double and single. Pat White added two singles. Winning pitcher Filippone threw a nine-inning complete-game for Ellwood City.
Ellwood City…..7 Freeport…..3
Ellwood City defeated Freeport, 7-3, to win the American Legion Section 12 Championship at Ewing Park. The win gave Ellwood City a sweep of the best-of-three series. Bob Latiano and Lou Zona led Ellwood City with two singles. Winning pitcher Bill Smeltz fanned five batters in a nine-inning complete-game performance.
*****
Sharpsville…..1 Ellwood City…..0
John Krats threw a shutout as Sharpsville edged Ellwood City, 1-0, in the American Legion Regional Championship Series at Ewing Park. After six scoreless innings, Sharpsville broke the 0-0 deadlock when Krats singled in a run in the top of the seventh inning. Winning pitcher Krats threw a nine-inning complete-game for Sharpsville. Losing pitcher Ron Sabatino allowed one run over seven innings. Jim Birtalin threw two scoreless innings in relief.
Ellwood City…..14 Sharpsville…..2
Ellwood City, behind home runs by Alex Herman and Jim Birtalin, downed Sharpsville, 14-2, in the American Legion Regional Championship Series at Ewing Park. The win tied the best-of-three series at one game apiece. Winning pitcher Bob Poholsky threw a nine-inning complete-game.
Sharpsville…..7 Ellwood City…..6
Sharpsville jumped out a 7-0 lead and held on to defeat Ellwood City, 7-6, to win the American Legion Region Championship and a trip to the state tournament. The win gave Sharpsville the best-of-three series, two games to one. Sharpsville scored seven runs in the first inning to take a 7-0 lead. Ellwood City scored a run in the sixth inning and three runs in the seventh inning to cut the lead to 7-4. Ellwood City scored two runs in the ninth inning to narrow the lead to 7-6 but the rally ended.
Lawrence County Champions
New Castle…..Regular Season
District 26 Championship
Highland…..3 New Castle…..2
Highland scored the tie-breaking run in the bottom of the eighth inning to slip by New Castle, 3-2, to win the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Chippewa Community Park. Highland’s game-winning run in the eighth inning broke a 2-2 tie. New Caste took a early 2-0 lead in the third inning when Jack Kosior walked and Carmen Picarro singled. An error scored Kosior to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. Tom Santillo layed down a suicide squezze bunt scoring Picarro to up the lead to 2-0. In the sixth inning, Highland rallied for two runs to tie the score. Highland used a walk, two errors and a two-run single by Ron Cline knot the score at 2-2. The score remained tied until the bottom of the eighth inning when Highland scored the game-winning run. Ron Cline was the winning pitcher in relief of Jim Suskiewich. Cline threw three scoreless innings of relief and fanned seven batters. Suskiewich fanned eight batters over the first six innings. Losing pitcher Kosior allowed four hits and struck out seven batters. Frank Henn led Highland with a double. Santillo doubled for New Castle.
New Castle…..6 Highland…..3
New Castle jumped out a 5-0 lead after three innings and went on to defeat Highland, 6-3, at Flaherty Field in the the American Legion District 26 Championship Series. The win knotted the best-of-three series at one game apiece. New Castle took an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Tom Santillo singled and Carmen Picarro walked before Tom Miron doubled in both runners to give New Castle a 2-0 lead. In the second inning, John Qualihero walked, stole second base, moved to third base on a passed ball and scored on Rich Cwynar’s single to open a 3-0 lead. In the third inning, three errors by Highland and a single by Picarro scored two runs to put New Castle up 5-0. In the sixth inning, Qualihero singled, Darryl Neve walked and an error alowed Qualihero to score to raise the lead to 6-0. Highland rallied three runs in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 6-3. Highland failed to score in the ninth inning. Starting pitcher Neve threw into the eighth inning for New Castle to get the win. Jack Kosior came on to quell the Highland rally and finished the game. Miron led New Castle with a double. Van Golmont and Pat Daugherty singled twice for Highland.
Highland…..2 New Castle…..1
Jim Suskiewich threw a two-hitter and struck out 16 batters as Highland edged New Castle, 2-1, to win the American Legion District 26 Championship at Ewing Park. The victory gave Highland the best-of-three series, two games to one. After five scoreless innings, Highland took the lead in the sixth inning. Van Golmont walked and stole second base. Jim Henn followed with a single scoring Golmont to give Highland a 1-0 lead. Ron Cline followed with a single scoring Henn to up the lead to 2-0. In the seventh inning, New Castle scored a run to slice the lead. Carmen Picarro smacked a double and scored on Denny Dunham’s single to make it 2-1. Winning pitcher Suskiewich threw a nine-inning complete-game for Highland. Losing pitcher Jack Kosior allowed five hits and fanned three batters over seven innings.
Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..Regular Season
District Champions
Ellwood City…..4 Highland…..1
Ron Sabatino threw a five-hitter with 15 strikeouts and Mike Laitenen smacked three hits as Ellwood City downed Highland, 4-1, to win the opening game of the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Ewing Park. In the bottom of the first inning, Ellwood City opened a 2-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Mike Laitenen singled in one run and an error allowed the second run to score. In the third inning, Ellwood City added two more runs. Leroy Turner singled and stole second base. Chuck Belonzi walked and Laitenen singled scoring Turner to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. With Belonzi at third base and Laitenen at first base, the runners pulled a double steal scoring Belonzi to give Ellwood City a 4-0 lead. Highland scored a run in the sixth inning to reduce the lead to 4-1, but failed to score the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Sabatino threw a seven-inning complete game. Laitenen led Ellwood City with three singles and two RBI. Mike Shingleton added two singles. Jim Suskiewich doubled and singled for Highland.
Highand…..5 Ellwood City……0
Highland, backed by home runs from Larry Croston and Les Troyanoski, downed Ellwood City, 5-0, in the American Legion District 26 Championship Series at Chippewa Community Park. The win tied the best-of-three series at one game apiece. Winning pitcher Jim Suskiewich threw six innings and fanned 11 batters for Highland. Leroy Turner singled twice and John Matrangol tripled for Ellwood City.
Highland…..3 Ellwood City…..0
Jim Suskiewich fired a no-hitter to lead Highland to a 3-0 win over Ellwood City to win the American Legion District 26 Championship at Beaver Falls. The win gave Highland the best-of-three series, two games to one. Highland scored twice in the second inning to open a 2-0 lead. Les Troyanoski reached base on catcher’s interference. John Marnicio reached on an infield single. An error scored Troyanoski to give Highland a 1-0 lead. Suskiewich followed with a single scoring Marnicio to give Highland a 2-0 lead. Winning pitcher Suskiewich fanned 13 batters and allowed just one walk in a nine-inning complete-game. Tracy led Highland with two singles.
Lawrence County Champions
New Castle….Regular Season
District 26 Playoffs
New Castle…..5 Midland…..2
Behind the offense of John Christopher and Tom Humphrey and the relief work of Darryl Neve, New Castle downed Midland, 5-2, in the opening game of the American Legion Section 6 Playoffs at Flaherty Field. Christopher smacked a home run and single, Humphrey drove in three runs and Neve threw four hitless innings of relief for New Castle. Midland opened an early 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI-single by Jan Samuels. New Castle tied the score in the bottom of the third inning at 1-1. Mike Humphrey singled, was sacrificed to second base, moved to third base on a ground out and scored on a single by Tom Humphrey. Christopher’s home run over the centerfield fence gave New Castle a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Midland tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning on a walk to Bill DeHass, two ground outs and an infield single by Bernie Mroavic. In the bottom of the fifth inning, New Castle reclaimed the lead. Bob Williams singled and pinch-runner John Iafrat stole second base. Iafrat took third base on the errant throw to second base and scored on Tom Humprey’s sacrifice fly to give New Castle a 3-2 lead. New Castle added two more runs in the sixth inning. Allen Joseph walked, Christopher singled and Anthony Aven was intentionally walked to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Joseph to give New Castle a 5-2 lead. Walks to Rich DiMuccio and Tom Humphrey scored Christopher to up the lead to 5-2. Neve entered in the sixth inning and held Midland without a hit the rest of the way. Christopher led New Castle at the plate with a home run and single. Humphrey drove in three runs with a single, sacrifice fly and a walk. Williams was the starting pitchher for New Castle and went five innings allowing just two hits. Neve got the win in relief with four scoreless innings.
New Castle…..9 Midland…..6
New Castle, behind four hits by John Christopher, defeated Midland, 9-6, to advance in the American Legion Section 6 playoffs at Midland. The win gave New Castle a sweep of the best-of-three series. Midland opened an early 2-0 lead with two runs in the first inning. New Castle got a run back in the top of the second inning on singles by Anthony Testa and Christopher followed by an RBI-single by Mike Humphrey to cut the lead to 2-1. New Castle tied it at 2-2 in the third inning on a single by Lou Santangelo and a 400-foot triple by Testa. In the fourth innning, Christopher singled, advanced on Anthony Aven’s single and scored on an error to give New Castle a 3-2 lead. In the top of the fifth inning, Tom Humphrey and Lou Santangelo singled. An error scored Humphrey and a wild pitch scored Santangelo to up the lead to 5-2. New Castle added another run in the inning to raise the lead to 6-2. But Midland roared back to tie the score at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning. The key hit of the inning was a bases-loaded double by Tom Doak to drive in three runs. New Castle grabbed the lead back in the top of the seventh inning. Testa reached an error and Christopher doubled him home to give NC a 7-6 lead. In the eighth inning, New Castle added two more runs. Rich DiMuccio reached second base on an error and scored on Santangelo’s single to make it 8-6. Santangelo moved to second base and scored on Christopher’s single to lift the lead to 9-6. Midland failed to score in the final three inings and the series went to New Castle. Christopher led the 15-hit New Castle attack with a double and three singles. Santangelo added three singles. Testa tripled and singled and DiMuccio and Tom Humphrey added two singles. Doak led Midland with a triple and two singles. Dean Hendershot added three singles and Clarence Andrews singled twice. Darryl Neve picked up the win in relief with four innings of relief work.
*****
Section 6 Championship Series
New Castle…..10 Lyndora…..4
Anthony Testa homered and doubled to lead New Castle over Lyndora, 10-4, in the opening game of the American Legion Section 6 Championship Series at Flaherty Field. New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on walks to Testa and Allen Joseph. After a ground out, New Castle attempted a squeeze play at home that retired Testa. But with the Lyndora catcher injured on the play, Joseph hustled home from second base to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. Lyndora’s Dave Lynn tripled and scored on an error to tie the game at 1-1. New Castle took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a home run by Testa off of the center field light tower. Lyndora grabbed the lead back with a three-run rally, sparked by a two-run double by Lynn, to take a 4-2 lead. New Castle reclaimed the lead with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 6-4 lead. The key hits in the inning were singles by Rich DiMuccio, Lou Santangelo and Joseph and a double by Testa off of the leftfield fence. New Castle added another run in the seventh inning to go ahead 7-4. New Castle closed the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on singles by DiMuccio, Humphrey and Santangelo and two errors. Testa led New Castle with a home run, double and three RBI. DiMuccio and Santangelo singled twice. Lynn tripled and doubled for Lyndora. Al Grant was the starting and winning pitcher with Darryl Neve with three innings of relief.
New Castle…..12 Lyndora…..3
Anthony Testa smacked a grand slam and double as New Castle downed Lyndora, 12-3, to win the American Legion ection 6 Championship at Lyndora. The win gave New Castle a sweep of the best-of-three series and extended their unbeaten streak to 18 games. New Castle jumped out of the gate in the first inning when Testa, after three walks, belted a grand slam to give NC a 4-0 lead. New Castle kept the heat on in the second inning when Rich DiMuccio walked, stole second base and scored on a triple by Lou Santangelo to give New Castle a 5-0 lead. An errant throw allowed Santangelo to score upping the New Castle lead to 6-0. New Castle scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to take a 8-0 lead. Lyndora narrowed the lead to 8-3 with a three-run rally in the fifth inning. But New Castle pulled away by scoring four runs in the eighth inning to go ahead 12-3. Testa led New Castle with a grand slam, double an four RBI. DiMuccio, Joseph and Bob Williams added two singles apiece. Williams was the starting and winning pitcher for NC with six innings of work. Darryl Neve fanned seven batters in three innings of relief for NC.
*****
Regional Playoffs
New Castle…..5 Whitehall…..3
New Castle scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and downed Whitehall, 5-3, in the opening round of the Regional playoffs at Freeport. Whitehall scored a run to take 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. New Castle scored twice in the bottom half of the second inning to take a 2-1 lead. After two scoreless innings, Whitehall scored twice in the top of the fifth inning to reclaim the lead, 3-2. Whitehall held onto the lead until the bottom of the seventh inning when New Castle scored three runs to take the lead. Lou Santangelo singled and Anthony Testa followed with an RBI-double to tie the game at 3-3. Allen Joseph followed with an RBI-single scoring Testa to give New Castle a 4-3 lead. Joseph advanced to second base and scored on John Christopher’s single to give New Castle a 5-3 lead. Whitehall failed to score in the final two innings. Winning pitcher Bob Williams scattered seven hits and fanned nine batters for New Castle in a route-going effort. Christopher led New Castle with a double and single. Rich DiMuccio singled twice and Testa added a double. Germita led Whitehall with a double and single and Eisner singled twice.
Elizabeth…..6 New Castle…..5
Elizabeth erupted for four runs in the top of the ninth inning to stun New Castle, 6-5, in the second round of the American Legion Regional playoffs at Freeport. Elizabeth took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning but New Castle tied the score, 1-1 in their half of the inning on a single by Lou Santangelo and a triple by Anthony Testa. Elizabeth scored a run in the top of the third inning to go ahead, 2-1. New Castle countered with four runs in their half of the third inning. Tom Humphrey and Testa singled to start the inning. Allen Joseph followed with a double scoring both runners to give New Castle a 3-2 lead. John Christopher singled in Joseph to up the NC lead to 4-2. Christopher advanced to second base and scored on Anthony Aven’s single to give New Castle a 5-2 lead. New Castle hung on to the 5-2 lead for the next five innings. But in the ninth inning, Elizabeth scored four runs to take the lead. After cutting the lead to 5-4 with two runs, Elizabeth loaded the bases with two outs. With two strikes, Brown doubled in two runs to give Elizabeth a 6-5 lead. New Castle failed to score in the bottom of the ininth inning and Elizabeth escaped with the win. Street led Elizabeth with a triple and two singles. Smith and Pagnozzi singled twice and Ross and Brown doubled. Christopher singled twice to lead New Castle. Testa tripled and Joseph doubled.
Fox Township…..2 New Castle…..1
Fox Township edged New Castle, 2-1, in the third round of the American Legion Regional Playoffs at Freeport. The win eliminated New Castle from the double-elimination playoff. After three scoreless innings, Fox Township scored a run in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Fos Township added a second run in the sixth inning to give Fox Township a 2-0 lead. New Castle cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning. Lou Santangelo singled and moved to second base on a balk. An error and an RBI-single by Allen Joseph scored Santangelo. But the next three batters were retired to hold the score at 2-1. New Castle failed to score the rest of the way. New Castle had two runners thrown out on the bases and hit into two double plays. Lou Mattive was the winning pitcher with six innings of work. Don Yonkofiki got the save. Losing pitcher Anthony Priscaro allowed just four hits and fanned 12 batters. Santangelo led New Castle with two singles. Testa added a double.
Lawrence County Champions
New Castle…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
Midland…..9 New Castle…..4
New Castle…..4 Midland…..1
New Castle…..17 Midland…..5
New Castle smacked five home runs on the way to a 17-5 win over Midland to win the American Legion District Playoff Series at Zelienople. The win gave New Castle the best-of-three series, two games to one. Both teams took advantage of the 290-foot left-field fence with seven home runs in total. In the top of the first inning, New Castle took a 1-0 lead on Lou Santangelo’s solo home run. Ken Hudson homered in the second inning to give New Castle a 2-0 lead. Midland took a 3-2 lead in their half of the second inning when Clyde Hendershot belted a three-run homer. New Castle reclaimed the lead at 5-3 in the fourth inning with a two-run rally aided by two Midland errors. New Castle took a 7-3 lead in the top of the fouth inning on RBI-singles by Mike Humphrey and Ken Aven. Midland scored a single run in the bottom of the inning to narrow the lead to 7-4. New Castle broke the game open in the top of the fifth inning with six runs. Home runs by Hudson, Rich DiMuccio and Al Grant accounted for all six runs to give New Castle a 13-4 lead. New Castle added three more runs in the sixth inning to go up 16-4 and another run in the ninth inning to up the lead to 17-4. Midland scored a single run in the bottom of the ninth inning to account for the final margin. Grant led New Castle with a home run, two singles and four RBI. Hudson homered twice and Mike Humphrey doubled and singled twice. Santangelo homered and singled, Ken Aven singled twice and DiMuccio homered. Mike Eazor homered and doubled and Clyde Herdershot homered. Winning pitcher Grant scattered four hits and fanned seven batters in a nine-inning complete-game.
*****
New Castle…..2 Hickory…..1
Jim Massave scattered eight hits as New Castle edged Hickory, 2-1, in the opening game of the American Legion Regional Series at Westinghouse Field in Hickory. After a scoreless first inning. Hickory opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning. Blaze Iorio led off the inning with a triple. Bob Wauzzinski blooped a single scoring Iorio to give Hickory a 1-0 lead. Mickey Montak reached on an error and both runners noved up on a double steal.With none out and two runners in scoring position, Massive fanned the next batter. New Castle got the second out of the inning when centerfielder Allan Joseph snuck in behind Montak at second base and catcher Mike Humphrey fied to Joseph to retire Montak. Massive ended the threat with a strikeout. In the top of the third inning, Ken Aven led off with a single and was sacrificed to second base by Jack Zduriencik. Lou Santangelo reached on an error to put runners at second and third base. Rich DiMuccio followed with a long double to the leftfield gap to score both runners and give New Castle a 2-1 lead. Neither team scored the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Massive fanned seven batters and walked one over in a nine-inning complete game. Losing pitcher Ray Donatelli tossed a six-hitter in a complete-game effort. Anthony Aven singled twice to lead New Castle. DiMuccio added the key double. Blaze Iorio tripled and doubled to lead Hickory. Nick Mahone singled twice.
New Castle…..8 Hickory…..7
Ken Hudson homered, tripled twice, singled and scored the winning run as New Castle slipped by Hickory, 8-7, in ten innings to win the American Legion Regional Playoff at Flaherty Field. The win completed the sweep of the best-of-three series. New Castle scored four runs in the first inning, keyed by Hudson’s three-run homer, to take a 4-0 lead. Hickory rallied for four runs in the top of the third inning to tie the score at 4-4. Neither team for the next four inning as the game remained deadlock entering the top of the eighth inning. With two outs, Gary Hinkson drew a walk for Hickory. Mickey Mondok followed with a bloop double to rightfield scoring Hinkson to give Hickory a 5-4 lead. New Castle came back in the bottom of the inning on a triple off the top of the fence by Allan Joseph followed by a Hudson single to tie the game at 5-5. After a scoreless ninth inning, the game entered extra innings. In the tenth inning, Blaze Iorio smacked a two-run homer to give Hickory a 7-5 lead. But New Castle rallied in their half of the tenth inning to win the game. Lou Santangelo led off with a single and Richard DiMuccio was hit by a pitch. Joseph loaded the bases on an error. Hudson grounded to third base forcing DiMuccio as Santangelo scored to cut the lead to 7-6. Joseph stole third base and Hudson moved to second base. Anthony Aven followed with a squeeze bunt scoring Joseph to tie the score at 7-7 and reached safely on the errant throw to first. Mike Humphrey followed with another squezze bunt scoring Hudson with the game-winner. Hudson led New Castle with a home run, two triples, a single and five RBI. Joseph tripled and singled twice and Ken Aven added two singles. Iorio led Hickory with a home run, single and four RBI. Mickey Mondak doubled and singled and Nick Mamone singled twice. Winning pitcher Al Grant allowed nine hits in a ten-inning complete-game performance. New Castle centerfielder Joseph threw out runners at third base and home plate to snuff out Hickory rallies.
Regional Playoffs
New Castle…..3 Hazelton…..1
Jim Massive fired a two-hitter and Allan Joseph ripped three hits as New Castle defeated Hazelton, 3-1, in the American Legion Western Regional Tournament at Freeport. After three scoreless innings, New Castle opened the scoring with a run in the top of the fourth inning. Bob Skaneski led off with a walk. After a groundout, Joseph doubled down the leftfield line to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. Hazelton tied it in the sixth inning when Mickey Lucas reached on an error and scored by a double by Bob Regets. The game remained deadlocked until the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Al Grant led off with a single. With one out, Rich DiMuccio reached base on a force for the second out of the inning. Joseph followed with a single sending DiMuccio to third base with Joseph going to second base on the throw. Ken Hudson follwed with a two-run single scoring both runners giving New Castle a 3-1 lead. Massive retiredHazelton in order in the bottom of the ninth inning to seal the victory. Winning pitcher Massive fanned 10 batters in a nine-inning complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Al Mastascusa scattered eight hits and struck out 12 batters for Hazelton. Joseph led New Castle with a double and two singles.
Connellsville…..4 New Castle…..3
Connellsville opened a 4-0 lead in the second inning and held on to defeat New Castle, 4-3, in the American Legion Western Regional Tournament at Freeport. Connellsville put together four hits in the top of the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. New Castle scored a run in the bottom of the inning to narrow the lead to 4-1. Neither team scored for the next six innings with Connellsvile taking the 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. New Castle loaded the base with none out. Anthony Aven reached on a two-base error to cut the lead to 4-3. But after an out at third base on the error, Connellsville retired the next two batters. Winning pitcher Rob Brown allowed just two hits over 8-1/3 innings for Connellsville. Charlie Orndorf got the last two outs and the save. Losing pitcher Al Grant hurled a seven-hitter in a nine-inning complete-game effort. Jack Sherman led Connellsville with two singles. Fred Horton added a double.
New Castle…..9 Fox Township…..2
Jim Massive hurled a six-hitter and Lou Santangelo and Jack Zduriencik rapped three hits as New Castle downed Fox Township, 9-2, in the American Legion Western Region Tournament at Freeport. With the victory, New Castle advanced to the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Allentown. After four scoreless innings, Fox Township took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. New Castle bounced back in the top of the sixth inning to take the lead, 2-0. Allan Joseph walked, Ken Hudson followed with an RBI-triple and Santangelo hit an RBI-double. In the eighth inning, Zduriencik singled and Joseph followed with a triple to give New Castle a 3-1 lead. Joseph scored on a dropped third strike to up the lead to 4-1. New Castle pulled away in the ninth inning with a five-run rally. With the bases loaded, Zduriencik smacked a double clearing the bases to give New Castle a 7-1 lead. Hudson added a two-run double to up the lead to 9-1. Fox Township’s Bill Rio’s solo homer in the bottom of the ninth accounted for the final 9-2 margin. Winning pitcher Massive threw a nine-inning complete-game victory. Santangelo doubled twice and singled to lead New Castle. Zduriencik doubled, singled twice and drove in three runs. Hudson tripled and doubled with three RBI and Joseph tripled and singled. Rio homered and singled for Fox Township.
State Tournament
New Castle…..12 Claysburg…..9
New Castle rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning to down Claysburg, 12-9, to win the opening game of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Allentown. After a see-saw affair throughout, New Castle broke a 9-9 tie in the ninth inning. Both teams scored a run in the first inning before New Castle scored twice in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. Claysburg got one run in the second inning and another run in the third inning to tie the score at 3-3. Claysburg scored once in the fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead. New Castle rallied for four runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-4 lead. Claysburg added n in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 7-5. New Castle scored twice in the top of the seventh inning to take a 9-5 lead. But Claysburg scored three runs in the seventh inning and one run in the eighth to tie the score at 9-9. New Castle took the lead for good in the ninth inning on RBI-singles by Ken Aven and Al Grant and an error score three runs to provide the margin of victory. Lou Santangelo led New Castle with three singles. Ken Aven added two singles and Anthony Aven tripled. Bill Richey led Claysburg with three singles. Terry Lingenfelter and John Leamer added two singles apiece. Grant was the winning pitcher in relief with two innings of work.
Philadelphia Wolpert…..4 New Castle…..2
Philadelphia Wolpert downed New Castle, 4-2, in the winner’s bracket of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tourament at Allentown. Bob Buckley and Bud Harris combined on a six-hitter and fanned 15 batters for Wolpert. Wolpert took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a walk, two singles and an error. In the fourth inning, three New Cstle error and a single allowed Wolpert to score twice more to take a 4-0 lead. New Castle cut the lead to 4-1 in the sixth inning on a triple by Allan Joseph and an error. New Castle mounted a rally attempt in the ninth inning. Bob Skaneski and Jim Massive drew walks to lead of the inning. Skaneski advanced to third base and scored on an error to narrow the lead to 4-2. Harris relieved and fanned the next two batters to end the game. Winning pitcher Buckley fanned 13 batters in 8-1/3 innings of work. Harris nailed down the save. Losing pitcher Massive allowed eight hits and just one earned run. As part of the doubleheader, Massive threw 15 innings on the day. Jim White and Jim Turner singled twice for Walpert. Joseph tripled and singled to lead New Castle.
Allison Hill…..8 New Castle…..7 10 innings
Allison Hill scored an unearned run in the bottom of the 10th inning to edge New Castle, 8-7, at the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Allentown. The loss eliminated New Castle from the tournament with a fourth-place finish. After three scoreless innings, New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning on Rich DiMuccio’s solo home run. Allison Hill scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 1-1. New Castle erupted for five runs in the top of the sixth inning. With one out, DiMuccio singled, Allan Joseph walked and Ken Hudson doubled scoring DiMuccio to give New Castle a 2-1 lead. Anthony Aven walked to load the bases. Lou Santangelo followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Joseph to up the lead to 3-1. After a walk to Mike Humphrey loaded the bases again, a passed ball allowed Hudson and Aven to score to raise the lead to 5-1. Al Grant and Ken Aven walked to reload the bases, Humphrey scored on a passed ball to give New Castle a 6-1 lead. Allison Hill bounced back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to tighten the score to 6-3. DiMuccio’s second solo blast up the New Castle lead to 7-3. But Allison Hill scored three runs in the seventh inning and one run in the eighth inning to tie the score at 7-7. In the bottom of the tenth inning, with one out, Steve Webster drew a base on balls. Jay Kohr followed with a single that bounced through the outfielder’s legs allowing Webster to score the game-winning run. Kohr, John Williams and Dave Kegris led Allison Hill with two hits apiece. DiMuccio led New Castle with two home runs, two singles and three RBI. Joseph singled twice and walked twice. Kohr was the winning pitcher in relief.
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
New Castle…..5 Beaver Falls…..1
Jim Massive threw a seven-hitter to lead New Castle to a 5-1 victory over Beaver Falls in the American Legion District Playoffs at Flaherty Field. After three scoreless innings, Beaver Falls took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Ron Sciarro reached second base on an error. With two outs, Tom Huntington sliced a triple down the rightfield line to give Beaver Falls the lead. In the sixth inning, New Castle rallied for five runs to take command of the game. Ken Aven lead off the inning with a walk. On a bunt sacrifice attempt, Rich Humphrey was safe on an error. Allan Joseph followed with a bunt single to load the bases. After a force out at home, Ken Hudson smacked a double of the leftfield fence to give New Castle a 2-1 lead. After a strikeout, Anthony Aven was walked intentionally. Jack Zduriencik followed with a bloop into shallow right field that scored all three runners giving New Castle a 5-1 lead.Neither team scored the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Massive fanned eight batters in a nine-inning complete-game effort. Losing pitcher Bob Garvin allowed seven hits and fanned six batters. Joseph and Dave Kerestley led New Castle with two singles. Hudson added a double. Huntington led Beaver Falls with a triple and single. Garvin added two singles.
New Castle…..4 Beaver Falls…..2
New Castle defeated Beaver Falls, 4-2, to win the American Legion District Playoff Series at Beaver Falls. The win gave New Castle a sweep of the best-of-three series. Beaver Falls took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a solo home run by Tom Huntington. New Castle got their first hit in the fifth inning on a leadoff single by Ken Hudson. Hudson stole second base and scored on Anthony Aven’s single to tie the score at 1-1. Aven went second and scored on an error to give New Castle a 2-1 lead. In the top of the seventh inning, Hudson led off with an infield single. Hudson stole second base and moved to third base on a wild pitch. After a walk, Jack Zduriencik hit a long fly to center scoring Hudson to up the lead to 3-1. In the eighth inning, Ken Aven walked, moved to second base on a sacrifice by Rich Humphrey and scored on Bob Skaneski’s single to open a 4-1 lead. In the bottom of the ninth inning Beaver Falls would mount a serious threat. Bob Garvin smashed a single up the middle. Jim Kralic followed with a triple to right-center to the deepest part of the park to score Garvin and cut the lead to 4-2. Jim Massive relieved starter Anthony Aven and walked Tom Huntington. With the tying runs on base, Massave fanned the next two batters and got a pop-up to end the game. Winning piitcher Aven allowed six hits over eight innings. Massave picked up the save. Losing pitcher Sciarro allowed just four hits and fanned six batters in a complete-game effort. Hudson led New Castle with two singles. Huntington led Beaver Falls with a home run. Kralic added a triple and Merv Belke added a double.
*****
Section 14 Championship Series
New Castle…..5 Lyndora…..4
Jim Jolley threw seven innings of shutout relief as New Castle erased a first inning 4-0 deficit to defeat Lyndora, 5-4, in the American Legion Section 14 Championship Series at Flaherty Field. Lyndora tok the early four-run lead on two hits, two walks and a error and a sacrifice fly. New Castle scored a run in the bottom of the second inning on a single by Dave Kerestley and an error to cut the lead to 4-1. In the third inning, Allan Joseph walked, stole second base and went to third on an error. Joseph scored on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Aven to narrow the lead to 4-2. New Castle added another run in the seventh inning when Ken Aven walked and Bob Skaneski doubled him home to reduce the lead to 4-3. New Castle rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jack Zduriencik walked with one out. Richard Humphrey singled send Zduriencik to third base. Pinch-hitter Walt Palkovich was walked intentionally to load the bases. Ken Aven drew a walk to score Zduriencik to tie the game at 4-4. After a pop-up, Joseph singled sharply to left field to score Humphrey to give New Castle a 5-4 lead. Anthony Aven threw th final inning for New Castle to sew up the victory. Winning pitcher Jolley allowed five hits in seven innings of relief. Aven threw a hitless ninth inning for the save.Losing pitcher Larry Twyford allowed five hits ove seven innings. Skaneski led New Castle with a double. Dave Brandt singled twice and Dan Nowakowski doubled to lead Lyndora.
New Castle…..7 Lyndora…..3
New Castle defeated Lyndora, 7-3, to win the American Legion Section 14 Championship at Lyndora. The win completed a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series. After a scoreless first inning, Lyndora took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI-single by Mike Kosar. New Castle sent nine batters to the plate in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead. Ken Aven led off with a single and Richard Humphrey was hit by a pitch. Hudson reached on an error to score Aven to tie the score at 1-1. Dave Kerestly hit a sacrifice fly scoring Humphrey to give New Castle a 2-1 lead. Anthony Aven, Jack Zduriecik and Bob Skaneski followed with singles to up the New Castle lead to 4-1. Lyndora rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the New Castle lead to 4-3. New Castle widened the lead in the top of the ninth inning with a three-run rally. Bob Skaneski and Jim Massave led the inning off with singles. Ken Aven reached base on an attempted sacrifice on a late throw to third base. Humphrey hit a sacrifice fly scoring Skaneski to raise the lead to 5-3. Ken Hudson followed with a triple scoring Massave and Aven to give New Castle a 7-3 lead. Centerfielder Allan Joseph made an outstanding game-ending catch for New Castle in the bottom of the ninth inning. Anthony Aven, Ken Aven and Bob Skaneski led New Castle with two singles apiece. Hudson added a triple. Dan Nowakowski singled twice for Lyndora. Winning pitcher Massave scattered seven hits and fanned seven batters in a route-going effort. In addition to his spectacular catch to end the game, Joseph threw out three runners on the bases.
Regional Playoffs
Hazelwood…..5 New Castle…..4 10 innings
Hazelwood scored twice in the the top of the tenth inning and held on to defeat New Castle, 5-4, in the American Legion Western Regional Tournament at Freeport. Hazelwood took a 5-3 lead in the top of the tenth inning, before New Castle cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the inning and had the bases loaded whne the rally ended. New Castle opened the scoring in the first inning with a run when Allan Joseph singled, stole second base and scored on Ken Hudson’s single to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. New Castle added two more runs in the fourth inning. Rich Humphrey walked and was sacrificed to second base by Bob Massave. Ken Aven walked and when Bob Skaneski’s single got by the outfielder both runners scored to give New Castle a 3-0 lead. But Hazelwood tied it in the top of the fifth inning on a disputed three-run homer by Wayne CeCare to tie the game at 3-3. The score remained deadlocked until the 10th inning. Jack Roberts homered to give Hazelwood a 4-3 lead. An error and two singles upped the lead to 5-3. In the bottom of the 10th inning with one out, Jack Zduriencik doubled and Massave singled to cut the lead to 5-4. Ken Aven singled and Skaneski walked to load the bases. But the rally ended on a infield pop-up to end the game. Jack Roberts led Hazelwood with a homer and single. Art Griffiths singled twice and Gary Lester doubled. Massave rapped three singles and Zduriencik doubled for New Castle. New Castle left 14 batters on base in the contest. Mike Fedoris was the winning pitcher in relief for Hazelwood. Losing pitcher Massave scattered nine hits and fanned 10 batters.
New Castle…..8 Freeport…..3
New Castle scored three runs in the first and second innings on the way to a 8-3 win over Freeport in the American Legion Western Region Tournament at Freeport.New Castle took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on RBI-singles by Ken Aven, Bob Skaneski and Allan Joseph. New Castle upped the lead to 6-0 in the second inning on singles by Anthony Aven, Allan Joseph. and a sacrifice fly by Skaneski. New Castle went up 7-0 when Humphrey was safe on an error, stole second and third base and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ken Aven. Feeeport cut the lead o 7-2 on a two-run triple by Henry Dolmayer. Freeport reduced the lead to 7-3 with a run in the eighth inning. New Castle scored in the ninth inning on a single by Humphrey and a double by Skaneski for the final 8-3 margin. Skaneski led New Castle with a double and single. Joseph and Anthony Aven added two singles. Dolmayer led Freeport with a triple and single. Bill Hagins added a double. Winning pitcher Ken Hudson threw a five-hitter and fanned eight batters in a complete-game effort,
New Castle…..5 Connellsville…..1 11 innings
New Castle scored four runs in the 11th inning to defeat Connellsville, 5-1, in the American Legion Western Regional Tournament. The win earned New Castle a repeat trip to the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament in Allentown. New Castle opened the scoring with a run in the first inning. Ken Aven singled and Bob Skaneski followed with a single to rightfield. Allan Joseph followed with a 350-foot single just beyond the grasp of the Connellsville center fielder. With both runners holding for a possible catch, only Aven scored to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. Connellsville tied the score, 1-1, in the fourth inning on a walk to Mark Foreman and a double by Fred Norton. Connellsville threatened in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs. Third baseman Jack Zduriencik barehanded pickup on a bunt and throw to first saved the possible go-ahead run from scoring. Connellsville hurler Bob Brown managed to pitch out of several jams to hold New Castle to one run through the nine innings. New Castle pitcher Jim Jolley allowed seven hits and one run through 8-2/3 innings. Bob Massave relieved to get Bob Bailor for the final out in the ninth inning to send the game to extra innings. After a scoreles tenth inning, New Castle broke the game open in the 11th inning. Massave led the inning off with a walk. Ken Aven reached first on a bunt when the throw to second base was late.Skaneski bounced to Brown but his attempt to get Massave at third base was wild scoring both Massave and Aven to give New Castle a 3-1 lead. Joseph ripped a single scoring Skaneski to make it 4-1. Joseph made it to second base on the play and Anthony Aven’s single scored Joseph to up the lead to 5-1. Massave got two outs in the 11th inning, but had to be removed due to the 12-inning pitching rule. Ken Hudson got the final out and New Castle earned another trip to the state tournament. Joseph led New Castle with a double and two singles. Ken Aven, Anthony Aven and Skaneski each added two singles. Hudson tripled and Dave Kerestley doubled. Foreman tripled and singled for Connellsville. Rich Wolinsky added a double. Starting pitcher Jolley fanned seven batters and allowed eight hits in 8-2/3 innings. Massave din not allow a hit in two innings of relief to get the win. Hudson got the save. Losing pitcher Brown went the distance for Connellsville and fanned five batters.
State Tournament
Coplay…..5 New Castle…..4
Coplay scored a run in the ninth inning on a hit batsman with the bases loaded to edge New Castle, 5-4, in the opening round of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Allentown. Coplay opened up a 3-0 lead in the first inning keyed by a two-run triple by Norm Handwerk. New Castle tied the score in the top of the third inning with a three-run rally. After two walks, Bob Skaneski blooped a double to cut the lead to 3-1. Allan Joseph followed with a two-run single tying the score at 3-3. New Castle took the lead in the seventh inning on a triple by Wally Palkovich and a single by Rich Humphrey to give New Castle a 4-3 lead. Coplay scored a run in the eighth inning to deadlock the score at 4-4. Coplay scored the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning. After a single, a walk and an error loaded the bases, Dave Reese was hit by a pitch scoring the go-ahead for Coplay. New Castle failed to score in the bottom of the ninth inning. Winning pitcher Henry Gerhard scattered eight hits for Coplay in a complete-game effort. Handwerk led Coplay at the plate with a triple and single. Ray O’Connell added a double. Skaneski led New Castle with a double and single. Ken Aven singled twice and Palkovich added a triple.
Altoona…..7 New Castle…..4
Altoona rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat New Castle, 7-4, in the second round of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Allentown. New Castle, playing in their second game of the day, was eliminated in the double-elimination tournament. New Castle scored four runs in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead. Altoona scored a single tally in the bottom of the inning to cut thelead to 4-1. Altoona added a run in the fourth inning to reduce the lead to 4-2. Altoona tied the score at 4-4 with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Altoona added a run in the sixth inning to take a 5-4 lead. Altoona added two insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 7-4 lead. New Castle failed to score in the final two innings, and with the loss, exited the tournament. Ralph Williams led Coplay with a triple and two singles. John MacDonald add a double and single. Jim Ackerfet singled twice. John Muscatelli added a triple and John McIntyre doubled, Dave Kerestly homered and singled for New Castle. Allan Joseph added two singles. Coplay starting hurler Dan Ingram was the winning pitcher for Coplay.
Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
Beaver Falls…..7 Ellwood City…..1
Hal McClain fired a four-hitter and fanned 13 batters as Beaver Falls downed Ellwood City, 7-1, in the opening game of the American Legion District Playoff at Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. Ellwood City scored a single tally to cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth inning. BeaverFalls added a run in the sixth inning to up the lead to 4-1. Beaver Falls pulled away in the bottom of the eighth with three runs to for the 7-1 final margin. Winning pitcher McClain threw a nine-inning complete-game. Bob Garvin led Beaver Falls with a double and two singles. McClain added two singles. Gary Harvey doubled for Ellwood City.
Ellwood City…..5 Beaver Falls…..3
Pete Sheeler rapped three hits and Gary Harvey extinquished a bases-loaded, none-out jam as Ellwood City defeated Beaver Falls, 5-3, in the American Legion District Playoffs at Ewing Park. The win tied the best-of-three series at one game apiece. Ellwood City took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Dale Zeh walked, stole second base and scored on an RBI-single by Sheeler. Ellwood City added two more runs in the third inning. Dale Zeh reached on a fielder’s choice and went to third base on Rick Smith’s single. Smith stole second base and both runners scored when Sheeler smacked a double into the leftfield gap to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. Ellwood City pitcher Tony Joseph had a one-hitter entering the seventh inning. After hitting the lead-off hitter on an 0-2 pitch, Joseph walked the next four hitters to cut the lead to 3-2. Joseph was relieved and another walkforced in another run to tie the score at 3-3. After the next batter went ahead 2-0 in the count, Harvey relieved and got a pop-up and induced a double play to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning, Sheeler knocked in his fourth run of the contest with a single to give Ellwood City a 4-3 lead. Ellwood City added another run in the eighth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Harvey allowed one hit and no runs to finish the game with as Ellwood City evened the series. Sheeler led Ellwood City with a double, two singles and four RBI. Smith singled twice for Ellwood City. Harvey was the winning pitcher with three innings of one-hit, shutout relief. Starting pitcher Joseph allowed just one hit over six innings.
Beaver Falls…..18 Ellwood City…..4
Beaver Falls smacked three home runs on the way to an 18-4 defeat of Ellwood City in the American Legion District Playoff Series at Beaver Falls. The win gave Beaver Falls ths best-of-three series, two games to one. Beaver Falls took a 5-0 lead in the first inning behind a grand slam by Bob Garvin. Tom Huntington hit a three-run homer in the second inning to up the lead to 8-0. In the third inning, Mark Weatherly singled in two runs to give Beaver Falls a 10-0 lead. In the fourth inning, Jerry Lombardo smacked a two-run triple as Beaver Falls raised the lead to 13-0. Ellwood City scored four runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 13-4 on an RBI-single by Rick Smith, an RBI-double by Pete Sheeler and two errors. Ron Sciarro rapped a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning as the lead went to 16-4. Beaver Falls added two more runs in the eighth inning to close the scoring. Garvin led Beaver Falls with a grand slam, single and four RBI. Huntington and Sciarro both homered and a singled. Mark Weatherly added two singles. Jerry Lombardo added a triple. Sheeler led Ellwood City with a double.Winning pitcher Sciarro threw a three-hitter for Beaver Falls.
Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
Warrendale…..4 Ellwood City…..2
Warrendale defeated Ellwood City, 4-2, in the opening game of the American Legion District 14 playoffs at Ewing Park. After three scoreless innings, Warrendale took a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Warrendale loadd thw bases on singles by Pete Martorelli, Jeff Hawthorne and Dan Bickar. Ken Sewald hit a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Marorelli to give Warrendale a 1-0 lead.With runners at first and third base, an attempt to catch Bickar sailed into center field by the catcher scoring Hawthorne to up the lead to 2-0. Bill Napoli followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Bickar to make it 3-0. Ellwood City scored a single tally in the fifth inning. Jeff Swanik led off with a single and with one out Chip Campbell blooped a single ending Swanik to third base. Rick Brandenburger hit a slow roller along first base for a single scoring Swanik. But the next two batters were retired. In the seventh inning, Hawthorne drove in a run with a single to up the lead to 4-1. In the ninth inning, Ellwood City loaded the bases with none out. Gary Harvey led off with a double to left field. Swanik followed with a single past third base and George Boy walked to load the bases. But Warrendale got a double play allowing Harvey to score to cut it to 4-2. A strikeout ended the game. Winning pitcher Ken Sewald went the distance for Warrendale. He scattered eight hits and fanned six batters. Losing pitcher Brandenburger went the route for Ellwood City. He allowed just five hits and his defense comitted seven errors. Hawthorne led Warrendale with two singles. Harvey led Ellwood City with a double and single. Swanik added two singles.
Koppel…..8 Ellwood City…..5
Koppel opened up an 8-0 lead after six innings and held on to defeat Ellwood City, 8-5, in the American Legion District 14 playoffs at Koppel. The loss was Ellwood City’s secon in the triple-elimination playoff. Koppel scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on a singles by Larry Ross and Rich Lawson. After Nardone gounded into a force out, Vic Sharek hit a sacrifice fly scoring Ross to give Koppel a 1-0 lead. Nardone stole second base and scored on Merv Marshall’s ingle to give Koppel a 2-0 lead. Koppel went ahead 3-0 on a single by Jerry Carpenter, an error and a passed ball. Koppel added another run in the fifth inning to go ahead 4-0. Koppel took command in the bottom of the sixth inning with a four-run rally. Two errors, and singles by Carpenter, Terry Walters and singles by Bob Botte keyed the rally which opened up an 8-0 lead. In the top of the seventh inning, Ellwood City loaded the bases on three walks. Pete Sheeler drew a walk to cut the lead to 8-1. Gary Harvey hit a sacrifice fly to narrow the lead to 8-2, Two errors brought in two more runs to cut the lead to 8-4. Tom Mills followed with a single to score another run to draw Ellwood City to 8-5. But a strikeout and a ground out ended the threat. Neither team scored the rest of the way. Carpenter and Walters lead Koppel with two singles. Tom Mills led Ellwood City with three singles. Winning pitcher Chuck Nardone threw into the seventh inning allowing five hits and fanning six batters. Vic Sharek relieved in the seventh inning and allowed just one hit the rest of the way. He fanned five of the last six batters.
Warrendale…..3 Ellwood City…..2 11 innings
Dan Bickar singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning as Warrendale edged Ellwood City, 3-2, in the American Legion District 14 playoffs at Warrendale. Ellwood City, playing the playoffs without regulars Rich Potter and Brian Conti, were eliminated in three games. Warrendale scored in the first inning without a hit. Jack Buffy reached second base on an error and Mark German walked. After a double play, Buffy went to third base on the play. Jeff Hawthorne walked and Warrandale pulled a delayed steal and Buffy scored to give Warrendale a 1-0 lead. In the fourth inning, Pete Martorelli walked and stole second base. After two strikeouts, an error attempting to get Martorelli at third base went into left field to give Warrendale a 2-0 lead. Along the way, Ellwood City starting pitcher Pete Sheeler had not allowed a hit through seven innings. In the top ofthe eighth inning, Ellwood City tied the score. Sheeler led off with a single and moved to third when Gary Harvey reached on an error. Tom Mills reached base on a fielder’s choice as Sheeler scored to cut the lead to 2-1. After a pickoff and a ground out, George Boy singled scoring Harvey to tie the score at 2-2. Sheeler kept his no-hitter through eight innings, but Warrendale’s Dan Bickar broke up the no-hitter with one out in the ninth inning. But after a fielder’s choice removed Bickar, a single and an error put runners on second and third base. But Sheeler got the third out to send the games to extra innings. After a scoreless tenth inning, Ellwood City was retired in the top of the eleventh inning. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Martorelli reached on a bad-hop single and Hawthorne followed with a single. Bickar then singled to right field scoring Martorelli from second base with the game-winning run. Winning pitcher Ken Sewald tossed a six-hitter over eleven innings for Warrendale. Losing pitcher Sheeler threw a five-hitter in a route-going effort. Bickar led Warrendale with two singles.
Lawrence County Champions
Ellwood City…..Regular Season
District Playoffs
Lyndora…..3 Ellwood City…..0
Ron Ordy tossed a two-hit shutout and rapped two hits to lead Lyndora to a 2-0 win over Ellwood City in the opening game of the American Legion District 14 playoffs at Lyndora. Lyndora scored a run in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Lyndora added single runs in the fourth inning and fifth innings to take a 3-0 lead. Ellwood City got singles in the fifth and seventh innings. Winning pitcher Ordy did not allow a runner past second base in a nine-inning performance. Ordy led Lyndora at the plate with a double, single and RBI. Jeff Franchuck added two singles. Losing pitcher John Kish allowed eight hits and only one earned run..
Ellwood City…..5 Beaver Falls…..4
Ellwood City, led by four hits by Robin Pontius, rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the seventh inning to down Beaver Falls, 5-4, in the American Legion District 14 playoffs at Ewing {ark. After two scoreless innings, Ellwood City opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Bob Messina reached on a third strike wild pitch, moved to second base on a single by John Kish and scored on a Robin Pontius single. Beaver Falls responded with a three-run rally in the top of the fourth inning. Mike Slevin walked and Ron Sciarro was hit by a pitch. Koko irlia followed with a single scoring Slevin to give Beaver Falls a 1-0 lead. On an overthrow from the outfield, Sciarro and Tirlia moved up a base. Ken Crutcher singled scoring both runners to up the lead to 3-1. In the bottom of the inning, Ellwood City cut the lead to 3-2. in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, Kish walked and Pontius singled. Jeff Potter followed with a double to score Kish to narrow the lead to 3-2. In the seventh inning, Beaver Falls scored when Rick Mancini doubled and went to third on a single by Jim Reed. Mancini scored on a squezze bunt by Gene Palka to give Beaver Falls a 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Ellwood City would rally to tie the score. Kish walked and went to second base on Robin Pontius’ single. On a passed ball, Kish went to third when the catcher’s throw bounced into the stands to cut the lead to 4-3. With Pontius to third base, Potter walked and on a double steal, Pontius beat the throw home to stie the score at 4-4. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Bob Maine smacked a pinch-hit double to center field. Don Marshall followed with a sacrifice bunt sending Maine to third base. Kish followed with a single scoring Maine with the go-ahead run. Beaver Falls failed to score in the ninth inning. Pontius led Ellwood City with four singles. Kish and Jim Ferruchie singled twice and Potter and Maine doubled. Reed singled twice and Mancini doubled. Winning pitcher Potter allowed six hits and fanned 11 batters in a nine -inning complete game.
Lyndora…..4 Ellwood City…..3
Lyndora scored four runs in the first inning and held on to defeat Ellwood City, 4-3, in the American Legion District 14 playoffs at Ewing Park. The loss gave Ellwood City its’ second loss in the triple-elimination playoff. In the Lyndora first inning, Rich Benko walkede with one out. After a strikeout, Lyndora scored four runs with two outs. John Grystar singled, Ron Ordy walked and Dave Daugherty was hit by a pitch to force in Benko to give Lyndora a 1-0 lead. Gary Franchuck followed with a double scoring Grystar and Ordy to give Lyndora a 3-0 lead. Rick Hoover followed with a single score Daugherty to make it 4-0. Lyndora kept their 4-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning. Robin Pontius and Jeff Potter led off the Ellwood City inning with walks. After a double steal, Jim Ferruchie hit a sacrifice fly scoring Pontius to cut the lead to 4-1. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Ellwood City added two more runs. Potter and Mike Tillia walked. Denny Rugh singled to load the bases. With two outs, an errant pickoff throw at third base allowed Potter and Tillia to score to cut the lead to 4-3. Ellwood City failed to score in the bottom of the ninth inning. Winning pitcher Grystar threw a six-hitter in a nine-inning complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Bob Maine allowed just five hits and fanned nine batters. Franchuck led Lyndora at the plate with a double and single. Rugh singled twice for Ellwood City.
Beaver Falls…..4 Ellwood City…..0
Ron Sciarro fired a three-hitter as Beaver Falls shutout Ellwood City, 4-0, in the American Legion District 14 playoffs at Beaver Falls. The loss eliminated Ellwood City from the triple-elimination playoff. Beaver Falls opened their scoring in the bottom of the first inning on a single by Joe Donnadio, a passed ball and a single by KoKo Tirlia to give Beaver Falls a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Beaver Falls added three more runs. Ralph Cannanzi singled and moved to second base on Gene Palka’s bunt. Mike Slevin reached on a bunt single and Donnadio followed with a single scoring Cannanzi to give Beaver Falls a 2-0 lead. Sciarro followed with a long double down the left field line scoring Slevin and Donnadio to give Beaver Falls a 4-0 margin. After the second inning, neither team scored the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Sciarro fanned 10 batters and walked just one for Beaver Falls. John Kish threw 6-2/3 innings of relief for Ellwood City with four strikeouts. Donnadio led Beaver Falls with two singles. Sciarro added a double.
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..1 New Wilmington…..0 10 innings
Ellwood City edged New Wilmington, 1-0, in ten innings in the opening game of the Lawrence County Championship Series at Ewing Park. Nineteen zeros went on the scoreboard before Ellwood City pushed across the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning on Curt Johns’ game-winning double. Ellwood City Don Mancini and New Wilmington’s Tom Peters hooked up in a pitcher’s duel with both pitchers benefitting by the errorless play by their defenses. In the bottom of the tenth inning, Ellwood City broke through with the game-winner. Don Marshall singled with one out and Johns followed with a sinking line drive double to the left field gap scoring Marshall with the game-winning run. Winning pitcher Mancini scattered five hits and fanned eight batters and Peters allowed six hits with 11 strikeouts. Marshall led Ellwood City with two singles. Johns, Gary Ward and Mark Crofton added doubles. Jim Cox doubled and singled to lead New Wilmington and Craig Marett added a double.
Ellwood City…..8 New Wilmington…..2
Ellwood City scored seven runs in the sixth inning to down New Wilmington, 8-2, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at New Wilmington. The win gave Ellwood City a sweep of the best-of-three series and their fourth consecutive Lawrence County championship. New Wilmington jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Ellwood City cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the third inning when Joe Mancini singled, stole second base and scored on a double by Gary DeLoia. New Wilmington maintained their 2-1 lead until the sixth inning when Ellwood City sent eleven batters to the plate. Curt Johns led off with a single, Mark Crofton was safe on an error and John Kish walked to load the bases. Jeff Potter drew a walk to force in Johns to tie the game at 2-2. Pinch-hitter Wilbur Altman walked to score Crofton to give Ellwood City a 3-2 lead. After an out, Ellwood City took a 4-2 lead when DeLoia followed with a single scoring Kish before Potter was thrown out at the plate. Belonzi followed with a single scoring Altman to up the score to 5-2. Don Marshall smacked a double scoring Altman and Belonzi to make it 7-2. Johns then ripped a triple scoring Marshall to account for the final margin of 8-2. Winning pitcher Belonzi tossed a four-hitter. DeLoia led Ellwood City with a double and two singles. Johns tripled and singled and Marshall doubled twice. Potter added a double.
District Playoffs
Baden…..6 Ellwood City…..4
Baden defeated Ellwood City, 6-4, in the first round of the American Legion District triple-elimination playoffs at Baden. Ellwood City took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a single by Gary Ward. a wild pitch and an RBI-single by Gary DeLoia. Baden rallied for two runs in the bottom of the third inning on a walk, a single, an error and a sacrifice fly to take a 2-1 lead. In the third inning, Mark Jula smacked a solo home run to give Baden a 3-1 lead. Ellwood City narrowed the lead in the fifth inning to 3-2 on a walk to DeLoia and singles by Jeff Meehan and Don Marshall. Baden scored a run in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-2 lead. Ellwood City cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the sixth inning. Jeff Potter and Ward walked and DeLoia followed with a double. But in the bottom of the sixth inning, Tom Miller belted a two-run homer to up the Baden lead to 6-3. In the top of the eighth inning, Wilbur Altman doubled and Ward followed with an RBI-double to reduce the lead to 6-4. DeLoia followed with a single but Ward was cut down at the plate to end the rally. Miller led Baden with a two-run homer and single. Rob Santry had three singles and Jula homered. DeLoia and Ward led Ellwood City with a double and single.
Ellwood City…..7 Saxonburg…..4
Ellwood City opened a 6-0 lead after six innings and went on to defeat Saxonburg, 7-4, in the American Legion District Playoffs at Ewing Park. The win evened Ellwood City’s record a 1-1 in the triple-elimination playoff. Ellwood City opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning when Don Marshall walked, stole second base and scored on a single by Gary Ward to take a 1-0 lead. Ellwood City added two more runs in the third inning. Curt Johns singled, stole second base and was sacrificed to third base by John Kish. Jeff Potter walked and stole second base and Marshall walked to load the bases. Ward lifted a sacrifice fly to score Johns to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. On a double steal, Potter stole third base and Marshall stole second base. On the throw to second, Potter scored to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Potter led off with a booming triple past the 325-pole in right field. Marshall singled scoring Potter to up the lead to 4-0. Ward followed with a single sending Marshall to third base. Randy DeLoia singled in Marshall as Ellwood City took a 5-0 lead. In the sixth inning. Rich Herman led off with a double, Kish walked and Potter reached on an infield single to load the bases. Marshall followed with a walk to score Herman and lift the lead to 6-0. Ellwood City got the run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI-single by Herman to make the lead 7-1. But Saxonburg failed to score the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Don Mancini allowed three hits and one earned run over 7-2/3 innings. Jeff Belonzi threw 1-1/3 of scoreless relief. Potter led Ellwood City with a triple. single, walk and two runs scored. Herman doubled and singled and Ward and Marshall singled twice. Paul Gutshall doubled and singled to lead Saxonburg.
Ellwood City…..8 Baden…..5
Ellwood City scored seven runs in the fourth inning on their way to an 8-5 win over Baden in the American Legion District playoffs at Ewing Park. The win raised Ellwood City’s record to 2-1 in the triple-elimination playoff. Baden scored twice in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead on a Mike Yerega RBI-single and an error. Ellwood City sliced the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Jeff Potter reached on a fielder’s choice was balked to second base and scord on a Don Marshall double. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Ellwood City exploded for seven runs. Wilbur Altman led off with a walk and moved to second base on Gary DeLoia’s single. Both runners moved up on an errant throw and both runners scored on Rich Herman’s single to give Ellwood City a 3-2 lead. Curt Johns singled Herman to third base and both runners scored on John Kish’s triple past the 325-pole in right to give Ellwood City a 5-2 lead. Marshall singled in Kish and the lead went to 6-2. Ward followed with a triple past the 330-foot pole in left to score Marshall and raise the lead to 7-2. Altman walked and on a double steal, Ward scored to give Ellwood City an 8-2 lead. Baden added three runs in the top of the ninth inning. After a fielder’s choice and singles by Gary Cap, Rick Santry and Chip Miles to cut the lead to 8-5. But the rally stopped there. Winning pitcher Potter allowed six hits and one earned run with three strikeouts over six innings. Jeff Belonzi allowed three hits and fanned six batters to get the save. Kish led Ellwood City with a triple and single. Marshall doubled and singled and Herman singled twice. Ward added a triple. Cap tripled and singled twice to lead Baden. Yerega and Rick Stanley singled twice.
Ellwood City…..8 Baden…..7
Before an overflow crowd, Ellwood City erased a 7-1 deficit to down Baden, 8-7, in the American Legion District playoffs at Baden. The win gave Ellwood City a 3-1 record in the triple-elimination playoff. Ellwood City opened the scoring in the second inning with a single tally. John Kish led off with a single and moved to third base on a two-base error. Don Marshall singled in Kish to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead.The lead was short-lived as Badedn scored three runs in the third inning. Mickey Whipple walked and scored on Mike Prokopovich’s double to knot the score at 1-1. Bob Miller followed with a double scoring Prokopovich to up the Baden lead to 2-1. Gary Cap singled to score Miller to raise the lead to 3-1. In the fifth inning, Baden added two more runs. Prokopovich walked and Miller followed with a two-run homer to give Baden a 5-1 lead. Baden upped the lead to 7-1 in the sixth inning on a double by Miller. and RBI-triple by Rick Santry and a sacrifice fly by Chip Miles. In the seventh inning, the Ellwood City comeback would begin. Gary Ward led off with a triple to right and scored on Mark Crofton’s pinch-hit single to make it 7-2. After a walk to Gary DeLoia, Don Mancini singled in Crofton to slice the lead to 7-3. DeLoia moved to third base and scored on Curt Johns sacrifice fly to narrow the lead to 7-4. Kish then unloaded a 340-foot opposite field homer scoring Mancini before him to cut the lead to 7-6. After a scoreless eighth inning, Ellwood City completed the improbable comeback in the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Jeff Meehan singled with one out. Jeff Belonzi pinch ran and moved to second base on Curt Johns single. Kish followed with a single scoring Belonzi to tie the score at 7-7. Jeff Potter followed with a single scoring Johns to give Ellwood City an 8-7 lead. Baden went down in order in the ninth inning. Kish led Ellwood City with a homer and two singles. Ward tripled and singled and Marshall singled twice. Miller led Baden with a home run, two doubles and three RBI. Santry added a triple and single. Winning pitcher Mancini allowed two hits in 4-1/3 innings of relief. Belonzi retired all three batters in the ninth to nail down the save.
Baden…..15 Ellwood City…..4
Baden, behind five hits by Gary Cap. bounced back from a heartbreaking loss the night before to down Ellwood City, 15-4, before a large Saturday afternoon crowd at Ewing Park in the American Legion District playoffs. The win gave both teams a 3-2 record in the triple-elimination playoff. Baden scored runs in the first three innings-one in the first inning, two in the second inning and three runs in the third inning to jump out to a 6-0 lead.outburst in the seventh inning. Bob Marcinck, Gary Cap and Chip Miles ripped triples in the inning as the Baden lead rose to 11-3. Ellwood City scored its final Cap led Baden’s 15-hit attack with a triple and four singles. Bob Marcinck tripled and singled and Chip Miles and Butch Barnes added triples. Belonzi singled twice for Ellwood City. Marcinck was the starting and winning pitcher with Mark Jula in relief.
Baden…..2 Ellwood City…..0
Jeff Whipple fired a three-hit shutout as Baden defeated Ellwood City, 2-0, to win the American Legion District Playoffs at New Brighton. With the win Baden advanced to the regional playoffs at Freeport. After three days of rain, both teams sent both of their aces to the mound. Whipple and Ellwood City’s Jeff Potter were up to the task with neither pitcher allowing an earned run. Baden took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Gary Cap reached base on a fielder’s choice and moved to second base on a ground out. Cap took third on a passed ball and scored on Chip Meyer’s single. Clinging to a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning, Baden added an insurance run. Mike Prokopovich singled, an errant throw and an RBI-single by Cap raised the lead to 2-0. Winning pitcher Whipple allowed three hits and fanned five batters. Losing pitcher Potter surrendered six hits and struck out 12 batters. Miles led Baden with two singles. Baden advanced to the state tournament and finished in fourth place.
Lawrence County Championship
Due to may postponements due to rain the regular season was never completed. Ellwood City finished the regular season with an 11-5 record and Union and Bessemer finished 10-5. League officials declared a a three-way playoff to decide the championship.
Ellwood City…..5 Union…..2 8 innngs
Ellwood City broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the eighth inning to defeat Union, 6-2, in the Lawrence County American Legion semi-final at Union. Union threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning but a potential game-winning line drive turned into a double play forcing extra innings. Ellwood City scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning. Rich Herman walked and Curt Johns singled. Jeff Belonzi singled to score Herman to give Ellwood City a 3-2 lead. Mancini was walked intentionally to load the bases. Meehan drew a walk scoring Johns to give Ellwood City a 4-2 lead. Belonzi scored on a passed ball to up the lead to 5-2. On another passed ball, Mancini scored to raise the lead to 6-2. Winning pitcher Belonzi allowed five hits in an eight-inning complete-game effort. Losing pitcher Rick Quinn was the losing pitcher with Cooper in relief in the eighth inning. Herman, Belonzi and Mancini singled twice for Ellwood City. Cooper singled twice for Union.
Bessemer…..5 Ellwood City…..0
Dave Cracraft tossed a two-hitter to lead Bessemer to a 5-0 shutout over Ellwood City to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Ewing Park. Bessemer received the bye to the championship game after Ellwood City advanced the previous night. Cracraft and Ellwood City starting pitcher Mark Hutchison threw four scoreless innings until Bessemer broke through in the top of fifth inning. Fred Eppinger led off with a single and scored on Gene Rucinski’s triple to deep center field. An errant throw on the play allowed Rucinski to score to give Bessemer a 2-0 lead. With two outs, Todd Simpson walked and Jerry Carr followed with a double to score Simpson to up the score to 3-0. In the sixth inning, Tim Glass led off with a single, moved to second base on a ground out and scored on Rucinski’s single to lift the lead to 4-0. In the seventh inning, Simpson tripled and scored on an error to give Bessemer a 5-0 lead. Winning pitcher Cracraft surrendered just two singles. Rucinski led Bessemer with a triple and two singles. Simpson tripled and and singled and Carr added a double.
District Playoffs
Bessemer…..14 Mars…..7
Dave Margraf rapped five hits and drove in four runs to lead Bessemer to a 14-7 win over Mars in the American Legion District Championship Series at Mars. Bessemer trailed 1-0 after the first inning but exploded for six runs in the second inning to take a 6-1 lead. Bessemer added three more runs in the fourth inning to take a 9-1 lead. Mars scored a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead to 9-2. Bessemer scored five more runs in the fifth inning to take a 14-2 lead. Mars added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to narrow the lead to 14-3. Bessemer scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to account for the final 14-7 margin. Margraf rapped a triple, double and three singles to lead Bessemer. Glass added three singles and Kerr singled twice with four RBI. Ron Hennon and Gene Rucinski singled twice. Bill Semler homered, doubled and singled for Mars. Matt Gogoltz and Paul Lubbert singled twice. Winning pitcher Bob Hardesty surrendered eight hits in a nine-inning complete-game effort.
Bessemer….7 Mars….5
Jeff Kerr tripled, doubled and singled to lead Bessemer to a 7-5 win over Mars to win the American Legion District Playoffs at Mohawk High School. The win gave Bessemer a sweep of the best-of-three series and a trip to the American Legion Regional Tournament in Dubois. Mars took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Bessemer responded with two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-1 lead. After two scoreless innings, Mars added a run in the top of the fourth inning to tie the score at 2-2. Bessemer scored twice in the bottom of the of the fourth inning to retake the lead at 4-2. Mars sliced the lead to 4-3 with a run in the top of the fifth inning. Bessemer rallied for three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to up their lead to 7-3. Mars scored twice in the top of the sixth inning to narrow the lead to 7-5. But Mars failed to score the last three innings. Kerr led Bessemer with a triple, double and single and two RBI. Ron Hennon and Tim Glass singled twice. Roy Schleiden and Bill Semler led Mars with three singles. Paul Lubbert added two singles. Jerry Carr was the starting and winning pitcher with Tim Hervatine in relief.
Regional Playoffs
Beaver Falls…..9 Bessemer…..8
Beaver Falls jumped out to a 9-0 lead and held on to defeat Bessemer, 9-8, in the opening game of the American Legion Regional Tournament at Dubois. Beaver Falls scored single runs in the first, second and third innings to take a 3-0 lead, In the fourth inning, Beaver Falls added three more runs to go ahead 6-0. Beaver Falls scored twice in the fifth inning and once in the sixth inning to up their lead to 9-0. Besemer started their comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning with three runs. to cut the lead to 9-3. Bessemer scored twice more in the bottom of the seventh inning to reduce the lead to 9-5. With the bases loaded and one out, Tim Glass reached on an error to slice he lead to 9-6. Fred Eppinger and Gene Rucinski drew walks to force in two more runs to narrow the lead to 9-8. But two hard hit grounders turned into outs to end the inning. But neither team scored the rest of the way and Beaver Falls escaped with the win. Doug Jennings led Beaver Falls with two doubles and a single. Joe Donnadio doubled and singled twice and Kevin Hogue and Denny Kane singled twice. Mike DeChellis homered and Rich Beegle doubled. Carr doubled for Bessemer. Tom Barry was the starting and winning pitcher. Joe Williams picked up the save with 2-2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Carr allowed just one run in 4-1/3 innings of relief for Bessemer.
Bellefonte…..9 Bessemer…..5
Bellfonte defeated Bessemer, 9-5, in the American Legion Regional Tournament at Dubois. The loss was the second for Bessemer and eliminated the squad from the tournament. Bessemer rapped 12 hits in the contest.
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..7 Bessemer…..2
John Malutich threw a two-hitter and Ted and Tim Zikeli rapped two hits apiece to lead Ellwood City to a 7-2 over Bessemer in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Bessemer. After a scoreless first inning, Ellwood City put together a four-run rally with two outs in the top of the second inning. Paul Zentz singled and Frank Martz and Larry Fazioli walked to load the bases. Tim Zikeli followed with a two-run single to score Zentz and Martz to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. Ted Zikeli followed with a two-run double scoring Fazioli and Tim Zikeli to up the lead to 4-0. Martz added an RBI-single in the fifth inning to give Ellwood City a 5-0 lead. Ellwood City added two insurance runs in the seventh inning to up the lead to 7-0. Winning pitcher Malutich allowed just two hits and fanned three over a seven-inning complete-game. Ted Zikeli led Ellwood City with a double single and two RBI. Tim Zikeli singled twice with two RBI.
Ellwood City…..13 Bessemer…..7
Larrt Fazioli ripped three hits and drove in three runs and Keith Foley threw six innings of three-hit relief as Ellwood City defeated Bessemer, 13-7, to win the American Legion Lawrence County Championship at Ewing Park. The victory gave Ellwood City a sweep of the best-of-three series. Bessemer jumped out to the six-run lead in the top of the first inning on seven walks, two errors and a single by Dave Anderson to take a 6-0 lead. Ellwood City sliced the lead in half in the bottom of the inning. Fazioli led off with a single and Tim Zikeli followed with a two-run homer to make it 6-2. Later in the inning, Barry Jesseman singled to lower the lead to 6-3. In the third inning, bases-loaded walks to Frank Martz and Foley narrowed the lead to 6-5. In the fourth ining, Steve Marshall singled in a run to tie the game at 6-6. Ellwood City took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning. Foley walked and Fazioli belred an RBI-triple to give Ellwood City a 7-6 lead. Tim Zikeli walked ans stole second base and Ted Zikeli followed with a single scoring both runners to up the Ellwood City lead to 9-6. In the sixth inning, Ellwood City added four more runs. Foley drew a bases-loaded walk, Fazioli singled in two rus and Ted Zikeli added an RBI-single yo raise the lead to 13-6. Bessemer added a run in the seventh inning to account for te final score. Fazioli lead Ellwood City with a triple, two singles and thre RBI. Ted Zikeli dingled twice with three RBI and Ted Zikeli hmoered and scored three runs. Jesseman and Marshall singled twice and Greg Manzo doubled. Winning pitcher Foley allowed just three singles and one earned run in six innings of relief.
Regional Playoffs
Charleroi…..11 Ellwood City…..6
Charleroi jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and went on to defeat Ellwood City, 11-6, in the opening game of the American Legion Regional playoffs at Hopewell. Rick Whitfield smacked a grand slam homer in the first inning to give Charleroi a 4-0 lead. Ellwood City cut the lead to 4-1 in the second inning on Steve Marshall’s single. In the yhid inning, Ellwood City narrowed the lead to 4-3 on an RBI-single by John Malutich and a bases-loaded walk to Paul Zentz. In the fourth inning, Bob Mamie rapped a two-run homer to up the Charleroi lead to 6-3. Charleroi added three more runs in the fifth inning to raise their lead to 9-3. Marshall’s RBI-single for Ellwood City cut the lead to 9-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Charleroi added two more runs in the sixth inning as the lead went to 11-4. Zentz hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to account for the final margin. Jeff James doubled and singled to lead Charleroi. Whitfield frove in four runs with a grand slam and Mamie added a two-run homer. Malutich and Marshall led Ellwood City with two singles. Zentz added a double. Mark Deutsch was the starting and winning ptcher for Charleroi.
Ellwood City…..5 Connellsville…..0
Center Township…..11 Ellwood City…..8
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..9 Ellwood City…..4
Jim Donston ripped three hits to lead New Castle to a 9-4 win over Ellwood City in the opening game of the Lawrence County American legion Championship Series at Flaherty Field. Ellwood City tiik a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. New Castle tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom half of the inning. New Castle scored twice in the bottom of the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. Ellwood City narrowed the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fourth inning with a single tally. New Castle erupted for five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take command of the game. The key hits in the inning were a Donston triple and a two-run single by Jim Janaconeas New Castle took an 8-3 lead. Each team scored a run in the sixth inning to account for the 9-4 margin. Donston tripled and singled twice to lead New Castle. Chuck Farris, Mark DeMonaco and Greg Schooley singled twice for New Castle. Steve Marshall singled twice for Ellwood City. Starting pitcher Don Runyon scattered five hits for New Castle in a seven-inning complete-game effort.
New Castle…..8 Ellwood City…..7
New Castle scored twice in the top of the seventh inning and held on to defeat Ellwood City, 8-7, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Ewing Park. The win gave New Castle a sweep of the best-of three series, two games to none. llwood City took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. New Castle roard back in the top of the second inning with six runs to take a 6-1 lead. Ellwood City added a run in the bottom of the third inning to cut the lead to 6-2. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Ellwood City Ted Zikeli’s two-run single cut the lead to 6-4. Ellwood City tied the score at 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI-single by Ken Spielvogel and an error. After a scoreless sixth inning, Lou Perretti’s two-run double gave New Castle an 8-6 lead. Ellwood City scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to cut the lead to 8-7. Ellwood City had the tying run at second but the rally ended and New Castle claimed the title. Perretti led New Castle with two doubles and two RBI. Jim Janacone and Chuck Farris singled twice for New Castle. Spielvogel led Ellwood City with two singles. Jim Donston pitched 3-2/3 innings of relief to get the win. Don Runyon nailed down the save.
Regional Playoffs
New Castle…..5 Jeannette…..3
Don Runyon threw a five-hitter and Dave Carangie homered and singled to lead New Castle over Jeanette, 5-3, in the opening game of the American Legion Western Regional Tournament at Connellsville. New Castle opened with a run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Jeannette countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. In the top of the second inning, Carangie’s belted his three-run homer to giveNew Castle a 4-2 lead. After two scoreless inning, Jeanette scored a run in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 4-3. Neither team scored until New Castle added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning to go ahead 5-3. Jeannette failed to score in the bottom of the ninth inning. Winning pitcher Runyon scattered five hits and fanned seven batters in a nine-inning complete-game performance. Carangie led New Castle with a homer, single and three RBI. Jim Tuscano singled twice and Mark DeMonaco doubled for New Castle. John Casario homered and doubled for Jeanette.
Connellsville…..8 New Castle…..7
Connellsville wiped out a 7-3 deficit after six innings to edge New Castle, 8-7, in the American Legion Western Regional at Connellsville. Connellsville scored a run in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. New Castle rallied for two runs in the top of the second inning to take a 2-1 lead. New Castle added two more runs in the top of the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Connellsville scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning to slice the lead to 4-3. After a scoreless fourth inning, New Castle added a single run to go ahead 5-3 in the top of the fifth inning. New Castle added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning to up the lead to 7-3.Connellsvile got a run back in the bottom of the seventh inning to narrow the lead to 7-4. Connellsville crept closer with two runs in the eighth inning to reduce the lead to 7-6. In the bottom of the ninth inning, George Gabrial singled for Connellsville. After a passed ball, Greg Pastors reached on a bunt single. After a passed ball, Pastors moved to second base. Rick Broadwater followed with a single scoring Garbriel to tie the score at 7-7 but left fielder Lou Perretti’s strong throw cut down Pastors at the plate. Broadwater went to second base and an intentional walk put runners at first and second base. Mike Tremba followed with a long fly over Perretti scoring Broadwater to give Connellsville an 8-7 win. Dave McLuckey led Connellsville with a triple, double and single. Pastors tripled and singled and Tremba doubled and singled. Broadwater singled twice and Bill Hardy tripled. Mark DeMonaco doubled and singled to lead New Castle. Chuck Farris and Jim Janacone singled twice and Greg Schooley and Jim Tuscano tripled. Winning pitcher Broadwater picked up the victory in relief.
Fayette City…..10 New Castle…..6
Fayette City rallied from a 6-2 deficit to down New Castle, 10-6, in the American Legion Western Regional playoffs at Connellsville. The loss eliminated New Castle from the double-elimination playoff. New Castle tooka 1-0 lead in the first inning. Fayette City scored twice in their half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. New Castle tied the score at 2-2 with a single run in the second inning. In the third inning tallied another run to take a 3-2 lead. After a scoreless fourth inning, New Castle added three more runs in the top of the fifth inning to open up a 6-3 lead. Fayette City scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning to slice the lead to 6-5. Fayette City scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take n 8-6 lead. Fayette City added to the lead with single runs in the seventh and eighth inning to raise their lead to 10-6. New Castle failed to score in the ninth inning. Jeff Whitcko led Fayette City with a double and two singles. George Lyons and Ron Quitato aded triples. Jim Janacone tripled and singled to lead New Castle. Jim Donston added a double. Ron Davis picked up the victory for Fayette City.
Lawrence County Championship
New Wilmington…..6 Ellwood City…..5
New Wilmington scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to down Ellwood City, 6-5, in the opening game of the Lawrence County American Legion ChampionshipSeries at Westminster College. Ellwood City took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Ken Spielvogel drew a walk, went to third base on a single by John Valentino and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tony Court to take a 1-0 lead. New Wilmington took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Willie Bretz led off with a triple and Bryan McGinnis reached on an error. After McGinnis moved to second base on a ground out, Greg Bleggi followed with a two-run single to give Wilmington a 2-1 lead. After a scoreless fourth inning, Wilmington added two more runs in the fifth inning. McGinnis and Bleggi led off with a singles. On a pickoff attempt at first base, McGinnis moved to third base. Bleggi stole second base and both runners scored on Dave Conway’s two-run single to give Wilmington a 4-1 lead. Ellwood City took the lead with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Tim Jesseman led off with a double. Mike LaPenta walked and Dan Murphy reached on a bunt to load the bases. After an out, Court walked tro score Jesseman to cut the lead to 4-2. Will Stoyanoff followed with a single scoring LaPenta and Murphy to tie the score at 4-4. Randy Conte followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Court to give Ellwood City a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the seventh inning, McGinnis lead off with a single and John Geidner reached on an error. Ellwood City shortstop ranged into center field to catch a pop up to record the first out. Steve George walked to load the base. Conway walked scoring McGinnis to tie the score at 5-5. Monty Scholler slapped a ground ball to second base but Geidner scored ahead of the throw to give New Wilmington a 6-5 win. McGinnis led New Wilmington with two singles and three runs scored. Bleggi added two singles and Bretz tripled. Jesseman doubled to lead Ellwood City. Bleggi picked up the win in relief of Jerry Bishop. Bishop threw six innings and fanned four batters. Bleggi threw a scoreless seventh inning.
Ellwood City…..8 New Wilmington…..3
Will Stoyanoff and Tony Court smacked two hits to lead Ellwood City to an 8-3 win over New Wilmington in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Series at Ewing Park. The win knotted the best-of-three series at one game apiece. Ellwood City scored unearned five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Jeff Foley reached on an error and scored on Ken Spielvogel’s triple to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. Spielvogel scored on an error to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. With two outs, John Valentino walked and Court singled him to third base. Stoyanoff followed with a single scoring Valentino to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. After a double-steal, Randy Conte tripled in Court and Stoyanoff a 5-0 lead. New Wilmington scored a run in the top of the second inning when Bruce Gorley singled, moved to second base on an error and scored on a single by Willie Bretz to cut the lead to 5-1. Ellwood City bounced back with two runs in their half of the inning. Foley walked and stole second base before Spielvogel and Valentino walked to load the bases. Court singled in Foley and Stoyanoff singled in Spielvogel to up the Ellwood City lead to 7-1. In the bottom of the third inning, Ellwood City scored another run. Foley walked, stole second base and scored on a single by Tim Jesseman to raise the lead to 8-1. After two scoreless innings, New Wilmington scored on a single by Dave Conway and walks to Monty Scholler, Jerry Bishop and Bretz to force in a run to cut the lead to 8-2. New Wilmington scored in the top of the seventh inning on a single by Greg Bleggi, two passed balls and a sacrifice fly by Conway to account for the final margin of 8-3. Stoyanoff singled twice with two RBI and Court singled twice with one RBI. Conte and Spielvogel tripled and Wade Reese doubled. Bretz tripled and singled and drove in two runs to lead New Wilmington. Winning pitcher Reese threw 5-1/3 innings and allowed four hits. Doug LeViere relieved in the sixth inning and pitched out of a bases jam allowing one hit over 1-2/3 innings.
Ellwood City…..4 New Wilmington…..3
Ellwood City took a 4-0 lead after four innings and held on to defeat New Wilmington, 4-3, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Westminster College. The win gave Ellwood City the best-of-three series, two games to one. Ellwood City scored two runs in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Jeff Foley lead off with a single and moved to third base on a double by Tim Jesseman. Mike LaPenta lifted a sacrifice fly scoring Foley to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. On the throw to the plate, Jesseman went to third base and scored on Ken Spielvogel’s sacrifice fly to up the lead to 2-0. After two scoreleass innings, Ellwood City scored two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. John Valentino led off with a walk and stole second base. After a groundout, Will Stoyanoff singled in Valentino to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. Stoyanoff stole second base and scored on Dan Murphy’s single up the middle to make it 4-0. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Wilmington rallied back for three runs. Jerry Litzenburg and Steve George walked. Willie Bretz followed with a single scoring Litzenburg to cut the lead to 4-1. Dave Conway walked to load the bases. George scored on a ground out to cut the lead to 4-2. Jerry Bishop followed with a single scoring Bretz to slice the lead to 4-3. New Wilmington got a runner to second base in the seventh inning. But first baseman Spielvogel handed a one-hop shot and retired the runner unassisted to end the game. Murphy was the starting and winning pitcher for Ellwood City. He threw 4-1/3 innings and allowed three earned runs. Doug LeViere picked up the save with 2-2/3 innings of relief allowing one hit. Losing pitcher Bishop allowed five its and fanned four batters in a complete-game effort. Jesseman doubled for Ellwood City and Bruce Gorley singled twice for New Wilmington.
Regional Tournament
New Castle…..8 Franklin…..1
New Castle ripped 15 hits on the way to an 8-1 win over Franklin in the pening game of the American Legion Western Regional at Flaherty Field. After a scoreless first inning, New Castle took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. In the bottom of the fourth inning, New Castle added another run to up the lead to 3-0. New Castle took command of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a five-run rally to take an 8-0 lead. Franklin scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to account for the final margin of 8-1. Dave Carangie and Terry Cuba led New Castle with a double and single. Don Runyon singled twice with three RBI. Rick Flora, Jim Janacone Jim Donston and Gerry Parou all added two singles apiece. Jim Shankel singled twice for Franklin. Ray Shover and Paul Wyant added doubles. Don Runyon was the starting and winning pitcher. He allowed six hits and fanned seven batters ober six innings.
California…..6 Ellwood City…..5
California scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge Ellwood City, 6-5, in the American Legion Western Regional at Union High School. Ellwood City opened up a 3-0 lead in the first inning.Tim Jesseman and Mike LaPenta walked before Ken Spielvogel blasted a triple to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. Spielvogel scored on a ground ball to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. In the second inning with two outs, Wade Reese tripled and scored on Jesseman’s single to take a 4-0 lead. In the bottom of the second inning, California rallied to take a 5-4 lead. Rod Rhodes singled with the bases loaded to cut the lead to 5-1. A walk forced in another run to cut the lead to 5-2. Bruce Mall followed with a double scoring two runs to tie the score at 4-4. Jay Papini hit a sacrifice fly to give California a 5-4 lead. Ellwood City tied the score in the top of the sixth inning. Jeff Foley singled and stole second base. LaPenta followed with a single scoring Foley to tie the score at 5-5. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Smoky Ovial reached on an error. Jim Satifka followed with a single to right field. The relay throw home beat Ovial to the plate but the ball was dropped and California pulled out a 6-5 win. Mull and Satifka led California with a double and single. Rhoded added two singles. John Valentino led Ellwood City with two singles. Spielvogel and Reese tripled for Ellwood City. Rhodes was the winning pitcher with 5-1/3 innings of relief. He allowed four hits and one run.
New Castle…..3 Chicora…..1
Terry Cuba rapped two hits, Tracy McGary threw six strong innings and Don Runyon picked up the save to lead New Castle to a 3-1 win over Chicora in the American Legion Western Regional at Flaherty Field. New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Rick Flora walked, stole second base and scored on an error. After two scoreless inning, New Castle added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. With two men on, Cuba laced a double down the left field line to up the New Castle lead to 3-0. Chicora rallied in the seventh inning. With first base and second base occupied, McGary gave up a walk and an infield single to Dave Emerick to score a run to cut the lead to 3-1. Runton entered the game and got a strikeout and groundout to end the threat and the game. McGary was the winning pitcher allowing seven hits over 6-1/3 inning. Runyon nailed down the save. Losing pitcher Greg McElravy tossed a five-hitter for Chicora. Cuba led New Castle with two singles and two RBI. Ron Flick singled twice to lead Chicora.
Ellwood City…..5 Connellsville…..1
Dan Murphy fired a two-hitter and Jeff Foley rapped a triple and two singles to lead Ellwood City to a 5-1 win over Connellsville in the American Legion Western Regional at Neshannock High School. Ellwood City scord twice in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Tim Jesseman reached on a bunt single and moved to third base on Mike LaPenta’s single. Ken Spielvogel singled in Jesseman and LaPenta went to third base. LaPenta scored on a groundout to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. Ellwood City up the lead to 3-0 on singles by Murphy and Foley, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly by Jesseman. After a scoreless third inning and fourth innings, Ellwood City added another run in the fifth inning. Spielvogel sliced a triple to right field and scored on John Valentino’s single to make it 4-0. In the sixth inning, Ellwood City scored a single run. Murhy was hit by a pitch and moved to secon base on Foley’s single. Murphy scored on an error to give Ellwood City a 5-0 lead. Connellsville scored their only one run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Dave McLuckey and Rick Broadwater walked and Jim Spragur singled to cut the lead to 5-1. Neither team scored the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Murphy allowed just two hits and struck out two batters. Foley led Ellwood City with a triple and two singles and Spielvogel tripled and singled.
Ellwood City…..19 Chicora…..6
Ellwood City scored nine runs in the top of the first on their way to a 19-6 win over Chicora in the American Legion Western Regional at Laurel High School. Ellwood City Ellwood City put togetger five hits, three walks, three stolen bases and and four wild pitches to take a 9-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. After a scoreless second inning, Ellwood City scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning to go ahead 12-0. Ellwood City scored three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to raise the lead to 15-0. Chicora rallied for six runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 19-6. The game was called in the bottom of the sixth inning due to rain. Tim Jesseman doubled and singled and drove in three runs for Ellwood City. Jeff Foley doubled and singled and scored five runs and Gordon Baumgartner doubled and singled with four runs scored and two RBI. Tony Court and Mike LaPenta added two singles apiece for Ellwood City. Bruce Marsh was the starting and winning pitcher for Ellwood City. He allowed two hits and four earned runs over 4-2/3 inning. Chuck Gibbons threw 1-1/3 innings of hitless relief.
New Castle…..18 California…..6
New Castle, behind 12 hits and 11 walks,defeated California, 18-6, in the American Legion Western Regional at Flaherty Field. The win gave New Castle a 3-0 record and remained the only undefeated team in the eight-team tourament. California scored two unearned runs in the top of the first inning before New Castle took a 3-2 lead in their on half keyed by back-to-back doubles by Jim Janacone and Gerry Parou. In the bottom of the second inning, New Castle sent 13 batters to the plate in a seven-run explosion. Dave Carangie’s bases-loaded double was the highlight of the inning as New Castle went ahead 10-2. California scored a run in the top of the third inning and two runs in the top of the fourth inning to shave the leadto 10-5. New Castle answered with six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to up the lead to 16-5. California picked up a run in the top of the sixth inning. New Castle scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to raise the lead to 18-6 before the game was called due to rain. Parou led New Castle with a double and two singles and two RBI. Carangie doubled and singled with four RBI. Rick Flora singled twice and Terry Cuba and Mark Borelli added doubles. Jay Papini singled twice for California. Don Runyon was the winning pitcher in relief with four innings of one-run relief.
New Brighton…..12 Ellwood City…..9
New Brighton, behind Len Pasquale’s three hits and five RBI, downed Ellwood City, 12-9, in the Americasn Legion Western Regional at Flaherty Field. The win eliminated Ellwood City with a 2-2 record and a fourth-place finish in the regional. Ellwood City opened a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a RBI-single by Ken Spielvogel and a two-run single by John Valentino. New Brighton knotted the score at 3-3 in their half on a two walks, a single by Terry Francona, aground out and a two-run single by Len Pasquale. In the second inning, Ellwood City scored two runs to take a 5-3 lead. Gordon Baumgartner and Will Stoyanoff singled . Tim Jesseman and Mike LaPenta walked for one run and a ground out scored another. New Brighton sliced the lead to 5-4 on a single by Dan Peters and a double by Terry Francona. After a scoreless fourth inning, New Brighton scored five runs in the fifth inning to open up a 9-5 lead. The key hits in the inning were two-run double by Pasquale and RBI-singles by Mike Circle and Ron Lee. Ellwood City score a run in the top of the sixth inning to narrow the lead to 9-6. New Brighton countered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Willie Taylor homered and RBI-singles by Dan Francona and Pasquale upped the lead to 12-6. Ellwood City scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning. LaPenta singled in two runs and Tony Court drew a bases-loaded walk to acount for the final margin of 12-9. Pasquale led New Brighton with a double, two singes and five RBI. Terry Francona singled twice and scored three runs. Willie Taylor homered and scored three runs. Spielvogel and Baumgardner led Ellwood City with two singles and LPenta drove in three runs with a single and two walks. Darrell Covalt was the winning pitcher in relief for New Brighton.
California…..5 New Castle…..2
California, behind a three-hit pitching by Rod Rhodes and Bob Ferguson, downed New Castle, 5-2, in the American Legion Western Regional at Flaherty Field. The win forced a deciding game between both teams with the winner advancing to the state tournament. New Castle took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when Rick Flora singled, stole second base and scored on an error. California rallied for four runs in the bottom of the second inning. California loaded the bases on a single and two serrors. Rhodes singled to drive in two runs to give New Castle a 2-1 lead. Chris McKnight followed with a two-run double up the California lead to 4-1. New Castle got a run in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded walk to Jim Donston to cut the lead to 4-2. California added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning to raise the lead to 5-2. Ferguson, who relieved in the sixth inning, retired New castle in order in the seventh inning. Rhodes was the starting and winning pitcher for California. He allowed one earned run and three hits in 5-2/3 innings. Ferguson threw 1-1/3 innings of hitles relief to gat the save. Bruce Mull led California with two singles. Chris McKnight added a double. Flora added two singles for New Castle.
New Castle…..6 California…..0
Don Runyon hurled a six-hit shutout to lead New Catle to the American Legion Western regional Championship at Flaherty Field. The win allowed New Castle to advance to the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Freeport. New Castle opened the game with two runs in the first inning. Rick Flora walked, stole second base, moved to third base on a fluout and scored on a ground out to give New Castle a 1-0 lead. Jim Janacone followed with a double and scored on Gerry Parou’s double to up the lead to 2-0. In the top of the second inning, Gary Miller doubled to deep left field to lead off the inning and scored on Flora’s two-out single to up the lead to 3-0. In the fourth inning, Miller smacked another double, was sacrificed to third base and scored on Runyon’s single to right field to give New Castle a 4-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Janacone walked, stole seond base, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error to up the lead to 5-0. New Castle closed oot the scoring in the sixth inning. Terry Cuba singled and Runyon reached on an infield single. A ground out and an error scored Cuba to account for the 6-0 final margin. Winning pitcher Runyon allowed six hits and fanned four batters in a seven-inning route-going performance. Miller led New Castle at the plate with two doubles and two runs scored. Janacone doubled and singled and scored twice and Parou doubled and singled. Runyon added two singles. Frank Datillo managed New Castle to the title.
State Tournament
New Castle…..9 Rhawnhurst…..5
New Castle, behind the bats of Phil Conti, Jim Donston and Dave Carangie, downed Rhawnhurst, 9-5, in the opening game of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Freeport. New Castle scored a run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Rhawnhurst tied the score, 1-1, with a run in their half of the inning. New Castle rallied for four runs in the top of the second inning to take a 5-1 lead. Rhawnhurst cut the lead to 5-2 with a run in the third inning. New Castle added to their lead with four runs in the fiifth inning to take a 9-2 lead. Rhawnhurst scored three runs in the sixth inning to cut the score to 9-5. Neither team scored in the final three innings. Conti led New Castle with three singles. Donston added two singles and drove in four runs and Carangie added two singles.Peter DeAngelis doubled for Rhawnhurst. Tracy McGary was the starting and winning pitcher with 5-1/3 innings of work for New Castle. Mark Francazio picked up the save with 3-2/3 inning in relief.
State College…..10 New Castle…..6
State College banged out 18 hits on the way to a 10-6 win over New Castle in the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Freeport. State College took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning before New Castle rallied to cut the lead to 3-2 in their half of the inning. State College added a run in the fourth inning and a run in the fifth inning to open a 5-2 lead. New Castle rallied for two runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 5-4. State College added two runs in the sixth inning to up their lead to 7-4. State College added another run in the seventh inning to go ahead 8-4. New Castle rallied for two run in the seventh inning to cut the lead to 8-6. State College responded with two more runs in the eighth inning to raise their lead to 10-6. New Castle did not score in their final two at-bats. Paul Kresge, Mike Warner and Bil Benner all rapped a double and two singles for State College. Jim Janacone led New Castle with a double and single and Bob Perrotta singled twice. Winning pitcher Kresge alowed nine hits in a nine-inning complete-game effort.
Chambersburg…..13 New Castle…..5
Chambersburg took an 8-0 lead and rapped 19 hits to defeat New Castle, 13-5, in the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Freeport. The loss eliminated New Castle from the double-elimination tournament with a sixth-place finish and a 22-9 record. Chambersburg scored a run in the first inning, three runs in the second inning and four runs in the third inning to open up an 8-0 lead. New Castle scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 8-1. Chambersburg added four more runs in the top of the seventh inning and a run in the eighth inning to expand their lead to 13-1. New Castle added two run inning in the eighth and ninth inning to account for the 13-5 final margin. Gary Mickley led Chambersburg at the plate with four singles. Jim Forbes had a triple with three RBI. Rick Flora led New Castle with three singles. Gerry Parou added two singles and Jim Donston, Bob Perrotta and Jim Carr doubled for New Castle. Ben Bard ws the winning pitcher with seven stikeouts in four innings of work for Chambersburg.
Lawrence County Championship
Championship Round-Double-Elimination Tournament
Bessemer…..3 New Castle…..1
Randy Tanner threw a four-hitter to lead Bessemer to a 3-1 win over New Castle in the winner’s bracket final of the Lawrence Couny American Legon Tournament at Flaherty Field. The win left Bessemer the only undefetaed in the double-elimination tournament. after a scoreless first inning, Bessemer scored twice in the second inning on Rich Hopper single to take a 2-0 lead. In the third inning, Dom Mioni singled in a run to up the Bessemer lead to 3-0. In the bottom of the third inning, Rick Flora tripled and scored on Mark Borelli’s single to slice the lead to 3-1. But neither team scored the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Tanner allowed four hits in a seven-inning complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Tracy McGary tossed a six-hitter i a comlete-game effort. Ron Scala led Bessemer with two singles. Flora tripled for New Castle.
Ellwood City…..4 Bessemer…..2
Ellwood City scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth ining td down Bessemer, 4-2, in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Round at Flaherty Field. The win gave Bessemer and Ellwood City one loss apiece in the tournament and forceda final game. After Bessemer took a 1-0 lead in te top of the first inning, Ellwood City scored in the bottom half to tie the score at 1-1. Bessemer took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Steve Hervatine singled, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on Randy Tanner’s single. Bessemer held the 2-1 lead until the bottom of the sixth inning. Gordon Baumgardner, Todd Higgins and Mike Hemphill walked to load the bases. Dave Fahringer reached on an error scoring Baumgardner to tie the game at 2-2. Ron Leisie followed with a two-run double scoring Higgins and Hemphill to give Ellwood City a 4-2 lead. Bessemer failed to score in the seventh inning. Hemphill was the winning pitcher with three strikeots in three scoreless innings of relief. Starting pitcher Doug LeViere allowed one earned run through four innings. Losing pitcher Tanner allowed two earned runs in a six-inning complete-game effort.
Ellwood City…..10 Bessemer…..8
Ellwood City pounded out 13 hits and defeated Bessemer, 10-8, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Flaherty Field. Ellwood City. The win, in the second game of a doubleheader, was Ellwood City’s sixth straight after losing the opener in the double-elimination tournament. Bessemer scored a run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, a triple by Dom Mioni and a single by Dave Pelto upped the Bessemer lead to 2-0. In the bottom of the second inning, Ellwood City erupted for six runs to take the lead. Gordon Baumgardner drew a one-out walk and Todd Higgins singled. John Hemphill followed with an RBI-single to cut the lead to 2-1. An error allowed Higgins to score to tie the game at 2-2. Dave Fahringer walked and Will Stoyanoff reached on an error scoring Hemphill and Fahringer to give Ellwood City a 4-2 lead. Ron Leisie reached on an error to put runners at second base and third base. Tim Jesseman follwed with a single scoring both runners to raise the lead to 6-2. Bessemer rallied for five runs in the top of the third inning to retake the lead. Bessemer scored twice to slice the lead to 6-4. With the bases loaded, Rich Hopper delivered a double clearing the base to give Bessemer a 7-6 lead. In the fourth inning, Ellwood City retook the lead. Gordon Baumgardner reached base on a fileder’s choice. Higgins doubled putting runners at second base and third base. Doug LeViere followed with a single scoring Baumgardner to knot the score at 7-7. Fahringer followed with a single scoring Higgins to give Ellwood City an 8-7 lead. Stoyanoff singled scoring LeViere to raise the Ellwood City lead to 9-7. Fahringer scored form third base on a ground out to lift Ellwood City’s lead to 10-7. In the top of the fifth inning, Hopper singled in a run for Bessemer to narrow the lead to 10-8. Neither team scored the rest of the game and Ellwood City claimed the title. Jesseman led Ellwood City with three singles. Valentino tripled and singled and Stoyanoff and Higgins doubled and singled. Pelto led Bessemer with a double and single and Dom Mioni added a double. Jesseman was the winning pitcher in relief for Ellwood City. Chuck Gibbons allowed one-hit in two innings of relief to gain the save.
Regional Tournament
Ellwood City…..4 Hermitage…..0
Todd Higgins threw a seven-hit shutout to lead Ellwood City to a 4-0 shutout of Hermitage in the American Legion Regional Tournament at St. Mary’s. Ellwood City scored two runs in the second inning. Joe Sirmarco reached base on an error and moved to second base on a single by John Valentino. Both runners moved up on a double steal and scored on Higgins’ single to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. Neither team scored for the next four innings. Ellwood City added two runs in the top of the seventh inning. Dave Fahringer walked and stole second base. Will Stoyanoff reached on an error and Fahringer scored to make it 3-0. Stoyanoff stole second base, noved to third on a ground out and scored on Sirimarco’single to account for the final margin of 4-0. Winning pitcher Higgins threw only 70 pitches and fanned four batters in the complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Lou Caracci threw a seven-inning complete game for Hermitage. Valentino had an outstanding game at shortstop by handling nine chances without an error. Valentino. Gordon Baumgardner and Doug LeViere led Ellwood City with two singles aoiece. Caracci led Hermitage with three singles.
Ellwood City…..4 Warren…..0
Todd Higgins fired a three-hit shutout as Elwood City downed Warren in the American Legion Regional Tournament at St. Mary’s. After three scoreless innings, Ellwood City took the lead in the fourth inning. Tim Jesseman led off with a single. Joe Sirimarco bunted down the third base lime and Jesseman advanced to an uncovered third base on the sacrifice. Dan Duffy followed with an RBI-single to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. Ellwood City expanded their lead with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jesseman and Sirimarco drew walks to lead off the inning. Jesseman stole third base and scored on Duffy’s single to up the lead to 2-0. When the ensuing throw eluded the Warren infielders, Sirinarco hustled all the way home to raise the lead to 3-0. Doug LeViere followed with a single scoring Duffy to increase the lead to 4-0. Higgins finished off the shutout in the seventh inning in a game completed in under 90 minutes. On the way to the victory, winning pitcher Higgins fanned three batters, handled nine chances without an error and threw just 80 pitches. Losing pitcher Jim Wood threw a complete-game for Warren. Duffy led Ellwood City with two singles and two RBI. Kelly Fredericks tripled and singled for Warren.
Ellwood City…..9 St. Mary’s…..6
Tim Jesseman smacked a grand slam to break a 3-3 tie to lead Ellwood City to a 9-6 win over St. Mary’s in the American Legion Regional at St. Mary’s. The win was Ellwood City’s ninth straight playoff win and only one game from the state tournament. St. Mary’s tooka 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Bob Gabor’s two-run homer. St. Mary’s upped the lead in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI-single by Gabor to make ii 3-0. Ellwood City scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Gordon Baumgardner led off with a single and went to third base on a double by Todd Higgins. Doug LeViere followed with an single scoring both runners to slice the lead to 3-2. Ellwood City tied the score in the top of the fifth inning. Jesseman and Joe Sirimarco drew one-out walks. After a force out, the throw to first base on an attempted double play was wild scoring Jesseman to tie the score at 3-3. With two outs in the top of the sixth inning for Ellwood City, the next three battres-Dave Fahringer, Will Stoyanoff and Ron Leisie-walked to load the baaes. Tim Jeseman followed with a grand slam home run to give Ellwood City a 7-3 lead. In the bottom of the sixth inning, St. Mary’s allied for three runs to slice the score to 7-6. Ellwood City added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning. Baungardner singled and was forced out by Higgins. LeViere drew a walk to place runners at second base and first bas. John Hemphill followed with a single scoring Higgins and LeViere scored on an error to raise the lead to 9-6. St. Mary’s failed to score in the seventh inning allowing Ellwood City to advance to the sgampionship. Jesseman led Ellwood City with a grand slam homer, single, two walks and four RBI. Stoyanoff singled twic and walked twice. LeViere had two singles and two RBI. Gabor homered and singled and Al Meholic doubled and singled for St. Mary’s.
Hermitage…..4 Ellwood City…..3
Hermitage scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge Ellwood City, 4-3, at the American Legion Regional Tournament at Johnsonburg. The game started on Saturday at Berwind Park in St. Mary’s but was halted by rain in the top of the third inning with Hermitage leading 3-1. The game was resumed on Sunday at Berwind Park and Ellwood City tied the score at 3-3. The rain once again halted play and forced the game to be moved to the lighted Johnsonburg Memorial Park. When play resumed at 9:00 PM, the game remained tied until the seventh inning. With the score still tied at 3-3, Hermitage scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 4-3. John Hemphill wasthe losing pitcher in relief of Tim Jesseman.
Hermitage…..3 Ellwood City…..1
Hermitage defeated Ellwood City, 3-1, to win the American Legion Regional Tournament at Johnsonburg Memorial Park. The win in the deciding game of the double-elimination tournament advanced Hermitage to the state tournament in Allentown. After both teams rejected a coin flip to decide the title, the game was played in a quagmire after two days of rain beginning at 11:00 PM and ending at 1:30 AM. Hermitage scored three runs on a bases-loaded balk and two bunt singles. Losing pitcher Todd Higgins threw a complete-game for Ellwood City.
Lawrence County Chanpionship
Championship Round Double-Elimination
New Castle…..6 Neshannock…..3
New Castle downed Neshannock, 6-3, in the Lawrence County American Legion Toournament at Flaherty Field. The victory advanced New Castle to the championship round of the double-elimination tournament. New Castle scored two runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. New Castle added a single tally in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Neshannock rallied for two runs in the top of the third inning to cut the lead to 3-2. New Castle added a run in the bottom of the fifith inning to open up a 4-2 lead. Neshannock narrowed the lead to 4-3 with a run in the top of the sixth inning. New Castle countered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to raise the lead to 6-3. Neshannock failed to score in the seventh inning. Winning pitcher John Presnar threw a four-hitter and fanned 10 batters in a complete-game effort for New Castle. Bob Perrotta led New Castle with two singles. Duffy Weyrick doubled for Neshannock.
Bessemer…..2 New Castle…..1
Randy King smacked a two-run homer and Tom Shaffer tossed a seven-hitter to lead Bessemer to a 2-1 win over New Castle in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Round at Flaherty Field. The win left both teams with one loss in the double-elimination tournament to force a deciding game. New Castle took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI-double by George Vukovich. Neither team scored over the next four innings as New Castle held on to their 2-1 lead. In the top of the sixth inning with a runner on base, King belted a two-run homer giving Bessemer a 2-1 lead. Shaffer held New Castle scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings to give Bessemer the victory. Winning pitcher Shaffer fanned six batters in a complete-game performance. Losing pitcher Dick Costello surrendered five hits and struck out five batters in a complete-game effort. King led Bessemer with a home run and single. Jeff Pagley tripled for New Castle. Jeff Donston and Vuckovich added doubles.
Bessemer…..5 New Castle…..3
Bessemer downed New Castle, 5-3, to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Flaherty Field. The victory, in the deciding game of the double-elimination tournament, advanced Bessemer to the American Legion Region 8 Tournament in Erie. Bessemer scored twice in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. After a scoreless second inning, Bessemer added a single tally in the top of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead. New Castle responded in the bottom of the third inning with two runs to narrow the lead to 3-2. After a scoreless fourth inning, New Castle tied the score with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the score at 3-3. Bessemer broke the tie with a run in the top of the sixth inning to go ahead 4-3. Bessemer added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning to open up a 5-3 lead. New Castle failed to score in the bottom of the seventh inning and the title went to Bessemer. Rich Hennon led Bessemer with a triple and single and Eric Needleer added two singles. Bob Perrotta led New Castle with two singles. Winning pitcher Randy Tanner tossed a six-hit complete-game effort for Bessemer.
Region 8 Tournament
Bessemer…..7 Corry…..6
Bessemer pounded out 16 hits in a comeback 7-6 win over Corry in the American Legion Region 8 Tournament at Ainsworth Field in Erie. After a scoreless first inning, Bessemer scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 3-0 lead.After a scoreless third inning, Corry erupted for five runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Neither team scored in the fifth and sixth inning as Corry retained their 5-3 margin. In the top of the seventh inning,Corry added a run to widen their lead to 6-3. Bessemer tallied once in the bottom of the seventh inning to reduce the lead to 6-4. After Corry failed to score in the top of the eighth inning, New Castle rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 7-6 lead. Bessemer held the lead in the top of the seventh inning to maintain a 7-6 final. Bessemer was led by Don Clingensmith, John Galizia, Rich Hennon and Eric Needler each had three singles for Bessemer. Tom Shaffer added a double and single. Winning pitcher Shaffer fanned five batters in a nine-inning complete game. Bessemer catcher Hennon threw out two would-be runners attempting to steal.
Bessemer…..4 Mill Creek….3
Bessemer edged Mill Creek, 4-3, in the American Legion Region 8 Tournament at Ainsworth Field in Erie. The win was the eighth straight playoff win for Bessemer. Mill Creek scored a run in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Mill Creek added another run in the third inning to open up a 2-0 lead. Mill Creek up their lead to 3-o in the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo tally. Bessemer sliced the lead to 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning on a two-run single by John Galizia. In the top of the seventh inning, Keith Myers singled in two runs to give Bessemer a 4-3 lead. Mill Creek failed to score in the final three innings. Winning pitcher Randy Tanner threw a nine-inning complete-game win. Mike Capalbo led Bessemer with a double and single and Eric Needler singled twice. Jeff Smerker led Mill Creek with a home run and triple. George Johnston added three singles and Calvin Miller singled twice.
Bessemer…..3 Erie…..2
Jim Newall scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning as Bessemer edged Erie, 3-2, in the American Legion Region 8 Tournament at Ainsworth Field in Erie. The victory was their ninth straight playoff win and earned Bessemer a berth in the region championship round. Erie scored a single run in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Erie added another run in the top of the ninth inning to open a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Bessemer rallied for two runs to send the game to extra innings. Randy King reached on an error to open the inning. Eric Needler followed with a double to place two runners in scoring position. Sam Barnes grounded out scoring King to slice the lead to 2-1. Jeff Barber executed a suicide squeeze bunt scoring Needler with the game-tying run to tie the score at 2-2. After Erie failed to score in the top of the 10th inning, Bessemer scored the game-winning run in their half of the inning. Newell walked and went to second base on a fielder’s choice and went to third on a wild pitch. Rich Hennon hit an infield grounder and Newell beat the throw to the plate to give Bessemer a 3-2 win. Winning pitcher Barnes fired a four-hit complete-game with 10 strikeouts for Bessemer.
Erie…..2 Bessemer…..0
Erie downed Bessemer, 2-0, in the American Legion Region 8 Tournament at Ainsworth Field in Erie. The win left both teams with one loss in the double-elimination tournament to force a deciding game. Losing pitcher Bessemer’s Tom Shaffer tossed a four-hitter for Bessemer. More details to follow.
Bessemer…..5 Erie…..2
Randy Tanner threw a four-hitter to lead Bessemer to a 5-2 win over Erie to win the American Legion Region 8 Championship at Ainsworth Field in Erie. The win advanced Bessemer to the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament in Springdale. Erie opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. Bessemer countered with two runs in the top of the second inning to tie the score at 2-2. After a scoreless third inning, Bessemer rallied for two runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead. Neither team scored in the next five innings before Bessemer tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning to account for the final 5-2 margin. Winning pitcher Tanner fanned five batters and threw eight innings of shutout ball after the first inning. John Galizia led Bessemer with two singles and two RBI. Eric Needler added two singles. Marsden led Erie with a triple and double. Klochek added two singles.
State Tournament
Springdale…..4 Bessemer…..1
Dave Goysich hurled a two-hitter as Springdale downed Bessemer, 4-1, in the opening game of the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Springdale. After two scoreless innings, Springdale scored two runs in the top of the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Bessemer countered with a solo run in their half of the inning to cut the lead to 2-1. Springdale rallied for two more runs in the top of the fourth inning to up their lead to 4-1. Neither team scored the rest of the way. Winning pitcher Goysich threw a nine-inning complete-game with five strikeouts. Losing pitcher Barnes allowed five hits and fanned nine batters in a nine-innig complete-game effort. Bob Marsh led Springdale with a double and single. Steve Miasutha singled twice and Joe Leskovic added a double.
Punxsautawney…..9 Bessemer…..4
Punxsautawney erased a 4-2 deficit with four runs in the seventh inning to defeat Bessemer, 9-4, in the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament in Springdale. The loss eliminated Bessemer from the double-elimination tournament. Bessemer opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when John Galizia singled and Rich Hennon smacked a two-run homer to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Punxsautawney scored a solo run to cut the lead to 2-1. After a scoreless fifth inning, Punxsautawney scored a run to knot the score at 2-2. In the seventh inning, Bessemer scored twice to take a 4-2 lead. John Galizia walked and Hennon reached on a fielder’s choice. Randy King followed with a single to load the bases. Guy Klingensmith singled to score Galizia to give Bessemer a 3-2 lead. An error allowed Hennon to score to up the Bessemer lead to 4-2. Punxsautawney rallied in their half of the seventh inning to score four runs to take a 6-4 lead. In the bottom of the eighth inning, John Mizerock belted a 400-foot two run homer to highlight a three-run inning to up the Punxsautawney lead to 9-4. Bessemer failed to score in the ninth inning. Mizerock led Punxsautawney with a homer and single. Cliff Thompson doubled and singled and Jim Lamey singled twice. Tom Corry doubled and drove in three runs. Hennon led Bessemer with a homer and a single. Eric Needler added two singles. Winning pitcher Tom Thompson threw a nine-inning complete game.
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination Championship Round
Ellwood City…..5 Union…..2
Mike Roth fanned eight batters in three innings of relief as Ellwood City downed Union, 5-2, in the Lawrence County American Legion Tournament at Ewing Park. With the win, Ellwood City advanced to the championship round as the only undefeated team in the double-elimination tournament. After two scoreless innings, Union scored twice in the top of the third inning. Scott Burkes and Dave Salmen walked and Bob Burkes followed with a double driving in both runners to give Union a 2-0 lead. Ellwood City responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Sam Sirimarco singled and moved to second base on a walk to Jeff Conte. Both runners moved up on a catcher’s error. Ron Russo singled scoring Sirimarco to cut the lead to 2-1. Chuck Damato singled scoring Conte to tie the score at 2-2. John Perry drew a walk to load the bases. Rick Roth walked to score Russo to give Ellwood City a 3-2 lead. Mike Roth drew a walk scoring Damato to up the Ellwood City lead to 4-2. Ellwood City added another run in the fifth inning. Rick Roth was hit by a pitch, stole second base, took third base on an error and scored on a balk to account for the 5-2 margin. Winning pitcher Rick Roth threw four innings and allowed two runs on two hits. Mike Roth picked up the save with eight strikeouts in three shutout innings.The pair combined on a two-hitter. Damato led Ellwood City with two singles. Bob Burkes led Union with a double.
Union…..5 Ellwood City…..2
Scott Burkes scattered four hits and fanned 10 batters as Union defeated Ellwood City, 5-2, in the Lawrence County American Legion Championship Round at Ewing Park. The win left both teams with one loss and forced a final game in the double-elimination tournament. Ellwood City took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of thefirst inning. Jeff Conte led off with walk, went to second base on a walk to Ron Russo, stole third base, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rick Roth. Union took the lead in the top of the second inning. Dave Salmen singled, went to second base on a bunt and went to third base when Jim Diamond reached on an error. With two runners in scoring position, Gary Sessions singled both runners in to give Union a 2-1 lead. In the third inning, Union added to their lead. Bryan Piccari blasted a home run to raise the lead to 3-1. Union added two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. Burkes doubled and Piccari drew a walk. Salmen followed with a double scoring Burkes. Piccari also scored on the play on an overthrow to up the lead to 5-1. Ellwood City scored a single tally in the bottom of the fifth inning when Conte singled, went to second base on a fielder’s choice, and scored on Rick Roth’s single to slice the lead to 5-2. Burkes threw two shutout innings to end the game including striking out the side in the seventh inning. Winning pitcher Burkes threw a seven-inning complete-game allowing one earned run. Losing pitcher Mike Roth allowed six hits and fanned seven batters. Salmen led Union with a double and single. Piccari homered and Burkes doubled. Rick Roth singled twice with two RBI.
Ellwood City…..2 Union…..0
Rick Roth hurled a four-hit shutout to lead Ellwood City to a 2-0 win over Union to win the Lawrence County American Legion Championship at Ewing Park. With the win, Ellwood City advanced to the Region 8 Tournament in Mercer County. After a scoreless first inning, Ellwood City scored twice in the bottom of the second inning. Chuck Damato led the inning off with a walk. Mike Roth followed with a long triple to left field scoring Damato to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. With two outs, Joe DeSanzo smacked the second triple of the inning to Roth to up the lead to 2-0. Roth allowed just two singles through six innings. Union threatened in the top of the seventh inning. With one out, Dave Salmen singled and Bob Burkes walked. After a line out, Gary Sessions singled past shortstop Mike Roth’s glove. Roth recovered the ball and fired home. Salmen wqs caught in a rundown and tagged out to end the game. Winning pitcher Roth fanned seven batters in a complete-game effort. Losing pitcher Salmen tossed a four-hitter and fanned five batters. DeSanzo led Ellwood City with a triple and single and Mike Roth tripled.
Region 8 Tournament
Ellwood City…..3 Warren…..1
Mike Roth fired a five-hitter and Chuck Damato homered and singled to lead Ellwood City to a 3-1 win over Warren in the opening game of the Amerigan Legion Region 8 Tournament at Farrell. After five scoreless innings, Ellwood City scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning. Chuck Damato singled and stole second base. Rick Roth followed with a single scoring Damato to give Ellwood City a 1-0 lead. Mike Roth followed with a single but Rick Roth was thrown out at home. On the attempt to throw out Roth at second base, the catcher overthrew the ball in centerfield and Roth scored the second run to give Ellwood City a 2-0 lead. In the seventh inning, Damato smacked a home run over the 330-foot right field fence to give Ellwood City a 3-0 lead. In the top of the ninth inning, Warren mounted a strong threat. Bob DeRosia singled, and Mike Mohney reached on an error. Dave Wodell followed with a single scoring DeRosia to cut the lead to 3-1. With runners at second and third, Roth induced a pop-up to end the game. Winning pitcher Roth struck out 12 batters and allowed just one walk in a complete-game effort. Losing pitcher Mohmey allowed nine hits and two earned runs. Damato led Ellwood City with a homer, single and scored two runs. Jeff Conte doubled and singled and Rick Roth singled twice. Jim Zumstein singled twice to lead Warren,
Ellwood City…..7 Erie…..2
Rick Roth hurled a five-hitter and John Perry belted a three-run homer to lead Ellwood City to a 7-2 win over Erie in the American Legion Region 8 Tournament at Mercer. After three scoreless innings, Ellwood City scored twice in the top of the fourth inning. Jeff Conte was hit by a pitch and Chuck Damato reached on an error. Rick Roth singled scoring Conte to give Ellwood city a 1-0 lead. Mike Roth followed with a single scoring Damato to up the lead to 2-0. Erie tied the score in the bottom of the seventh inning. David Antoske reached on a fielders choice and Kevin Leuschen singled. Mike Rich followed with a double scoring both runners to tie the score at 2-2. Ellwood City responded with four runs in the top of the eighth inning. Damato and Rick Roth singled and Mike Roth walked to load the bases. Joe DeSanzo hit a sacrifice fly to score Damato to give Ellwood City a 3-2 lead. Perry followed with a three-run homer over the left filed fence to give Ellwood City a 6-3 lead. Ellwood City added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning to up the lead to 7-3. Roth retired Warren in the bottom of the ninth inning. Winning pitcher Roth fanned five batters and walked two in a complete-game effort, Damato and Rick Roth singled twice and Perry hit a three-run homer for Ellwood City. Leuschen singled twice and Rich doubled for Erie.
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination
New Castle…..3 Ellwood City…..0
New Castle…..6 Ellwood City…..2
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination
Ellwood City…..7 New Castle…..5
New Castle…..7 Ellwood City…..5
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination
New Castle…..19 New Wilmington…..6
West Pittsburg…..5 New Castle…..3
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination
Union…..7 New Castle…..5
New Castle…..7 Union…..6
Regional Tournament
West View…..11 New Castle…..4
New Castle…..12 West Allegheny…..4
Bethel Park….. New Castle…..
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination Tournament
New Castle
Lawrence County League disbanded
No Lawrence County teams organized
Lawrence County Champions
New Castle…..Regular Season
Lawrence County Champions
New Castle…..Regular Season
Lawrence County League disbanded
Ellwood City joins Beaver County League
New Castle joins Mercer County League
Mercer County League Championship
Double-Elimination
New Castle…..6 West Middlesex…..4
New Castle…..5 West Middlesex…..3
Regional Tournament
New Castle…..10 Emporium…..7
Blackhawk….. New Castle…..
Franklin…..7 New Castle…..6
Mercer County League Championship
Double-Elimination Format
New Castle…..2 Mercer…..0
New Castle…..7 Mercer…..6
Mercer County League Championship
Double-Elimination
New Castle…..7 West Middlesex….5
Regional Tournament
Franklin…..6 New Castle…..0
Corry…..11 New Castle…..6
Mercer County Championship
Double-Elimination Format
Mercer….8 New Castle…..4
Mercer County Championship
Double-Elimination
Lawrence County Suburban…..11 New Castle…..3
New Castle…..8 Lawrence County Suburban…2
Regional Tournament
McKean…..9 New Castle…..3
New Castle…..17 Youngsville…..14
Erie…..13 New Castle…..6
Mercer County Championship
Double-Elimination
New Castle…..2 Lawrence County Suburban…..1 8 innings
Regional Tournament
Linesville…..15 New Castle…..7
New Castle…..12 Corry…..11
New Castle…..16 Warren…..11
McKean…..10 New Castle…..1
Mercer County Championship
Double-Elimination Format
New Castle…..13 Lawrence County Suburban….4
New Castle…..11 Lawrence County Surburban…..5
Mercer County Championship
Double-Elimination Format
New Castle…..5 Bessemer…..2
Lawrence County League disbanded
Mercer County League disbanded
Ellwood City and New Castle join Beaver County League
Lawrence County Championship
Double-Elimination Format
New Castle…..3 Bessemer…..1
New Castle…..9 Bessemer…..8
2001
2002
Lawrence County League disbanded
Mercer County League disbanded
Ellwood City joins Beaver County League
Lawrence County League disbanded
Ellwood City, New Castle join Beaver County League
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..3 Shenango…..2
Ellwood City…..7 Shenango……6
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..7 New Castle…..0
New Castle…..11 Ellwood City…..10
New Castle…..7 Ellwood City…..5
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..4 Ellwood City…..1
New Castle…..14 Ellwood City…..3
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..10 Ellwood City…..4
Ellwood City…..12 New Castle…..6
New Castle…..19 Ellwood City…..6
Lawrence County Championship
Ellwood City…..6 New Castle…..2
New Castle…..8 Ellwood City…..6
New Castle…..9 Ellwood City…..3
Lawrence County Championship
New Castle…..10 Shenango…..2
Regional Tournament
St. Mary’s…..New Castle…..4
New Castle…..8 Corry…..7
New Castle…..10 Clarion…..8
St. Mary’s…..14 New Castle…..10
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