Glossner Walk-Off Dinger Propels Keystone
LOYALSOCK TOWNSHIP—Despite his age of just 12 years, Ross Glossner has played quite a bit of baseball coming up through the Keystone Little League ranks.
But until Tuesday evening at the Loyalsock Little League field, the Keystone Little League standout had never delivered a walk-off home run.
That all changed just before 8 p.m.when the right-handed hitting Glossner jumped on an outside pitch from Loyalsock’s Reese Watkins and drove a line-drive over the right field fence for a 3-run game winning home run, the blast coming with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Glossner shot lifted the Keystone Majors to an improbable 4-3 win over Loyalsock and moved the team into a winner’s bracket semi-final Saturday at 2 p.m. at Beech Creek against an opponent to be determined.
Keystone, as the home team, found itself down 3-1 heading into the last of the sixth. And after the first two batters struck out, the outlook was bleak.
But then Rocco Stark drilled his second hit of the evening, a single, into right field. Jake Sweitzer worked a walk, putting two runners on and Glossner heading to bat.
After a lengthy timeout as a Loyalsock coach talked to Watkins, play resumed and Glossner jumped on the first pitch he saw for the game-winner.
Glossner said he “didn’t have a thought” as he took his game-deciding cut but by the time he reached first base he knew it was a walk-off homerun; seconds later he was mobbed at home plate by his teammates.
Keystone struggled after the first inning in which they had taken a 1-0 lead on a Stark double followed by a Sweitzer single; the Keystoners managed only a second inning single from Tom Pringle until the final inning two-out fireworks.
Loyalsock meanwhile had been held in check by Glossner who had a no-hitter and the 1-0 lead into the fifth inning. But ‘Sock used two bouncing singles and an infield error to help account for three runs and the 3-1 lead heading into the final inning.
Sweitzer relieved Glossner in the fifth inning and finished up with one and one-third innings of hitless ball and picked up the win. The two combined for the 2-hitter, striking out 14.
Keystone will play the winner of Wednesday’s South Williamsport – East Lycoming game on Saturday.
| DATE | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| LOYALSOCK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Keystone | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
