Beech Creek Ousted at Regionals
Junior Crickets Fall 13-6 to Northampton
by Zoe Keeler
SCRANTON – To win at the regional tournament level, a baseball team needs pitching, scoring, and defense. In game one at the Scranton Regional Junior Legion Tournament against Bloomsburg, the Beech Creek Junior Crickets had pitching but couldn’t score and they lost 1-0. They bounced back with three wins in three days and headed into the final day of the tournament with a 3-1 record. They stepped onto the field hoping their pitching, scoring, and defense would come through for them yet again in an 11 a.m. match up with Northampton.
The Junior Crickets were able to score against Northampton, however their pitching and defense struggled on their fifth consecutive day of baseball, and the team lost 13-6 ending their run at a regional championship.
Their offense came out of the gate swinging again and scored five runs in the first two innings. In the first inning, Brandon Miller and Alex Garbrick walked to start the game and Wyatt Koch drove them in with a long single to center field. Ethan Watkins added a single to score Koch. In the second inning, Connor Bauman and Miller walked and Talon Falls drove them in with a single to right field. The Junior Crickets scored their final run in the fourth inning when Miller was hit by a pitch and came around to score with the help of a single from Falls.
Ethan Watkins started for Beech Creek and pitched three innings. Northampton scored nine runs in those innings with some long fly ball doubles and a couple Cricket errors. Landon Breon came into the game in relief of Watkins in the bottom of the fourth. Northampton tacked on four more runs and moved into the final game of the tournament with the 13-6 win over the Crickets. The Crickets’ season came to an end with a 20-3 record, two of those losses coming in the regional tournament.
