Keystone Responds by Besting Lehigh 6-2

AdminJuly 30, 2015

2 minutes read

FLEETVILLE – Keystone 9-10 Little League fans wondered how the Keystone kids would respond after suffering a first postseason loss Wednesday.

They responded really well in every phase of the game, staying alive at the 9-10 state championships with a 6-2 win over Lehigh of Bethlehem. The victory means Keystone is one of the final four teams remaining in title contention; next up will be a Friday 6 p.m. loser bracket semifinal against Red Land. The suburban Harrisburg team remained in the competition with an 11-5 win over Plains.

Four Keystone pitchers held Lehigh to three hits; manager Daren Stover made all the right moves working in all four hurlers; the defense made the plays when it had to, including a double-play started by leftfielder Chase Brush who also made a clutch, running game-ending catch when Lehigh had loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.

The hitting was also more timely, Keystone ending with nine while living nine runners on base, as opposed to 13 left on in the 9-7 Wednesday loss to Upper Providence.

Braylen Corter, Levi Schlesinger, Gabe Johnson and Cru Stover shared the mound duties, combining on a 3-hitter and allowing just one earned run. Schlesinger went two and 2/3 innings to pick up the win, giving up one hit and one unearned run. Gabe Johnson got the call when Lehigh threatened in the bottom of the fourth and made one pitch to get an out with a runner on third.

After a 1-2-3 inning from Johnson in the fifth inning and the score 6-2, Lehigh loaded the bases against him with two outs in the bottom of the sixth; Cru Stover was summoned to the mound and on his first pitch induced Lehigh’s Derek Wesco to hit a fly ball to deep left field, tracked down by Brush to end the game.

Meanwhile Keystone had some productive at-bats: trailing 1-0 after two, they plated two in the third, one on a Lehigh error off a Matt Conklin infield single and another on a bases loaded walk to Corter.

The Clinton County team scored four more in the top of the fourth, all coming with two outs. Luke Simcox worked a walk, Brush singled and Stover singled Simcox home. Matt Conklin followed with a 2-RBI double and Schlesinger drove in the final run with a single.

Lehigh would get a run in the fourth but that ended the scoring and Keystone made sufficient pitches and plays to earn a return trip to Christy Mathewson Field for its Friday date with Red Land. The locals would need to win four more times, a game a day through Monday, to claim the state title.

Brush had two singles and two runs scored against Lehigh while Stover had two singles and an RBI. Conklin continued his torrid playoff hitting with a single, double, two RBIs and a walk. Schlesinger had an RBL single, Corter a single and Ashton Probst a double.