Keystone Juniors finish amazing comeback with state title!
DUBOIS, PA – It has to go down as one of the most amazing comebacks in Clinton County baseball history: the Keystone Junior Little League All-Stars on Saturday completed a remarkable run to a state title. They earned the crown with a come-from-behind, last inning, winner-take-all-game over Upper Moreland by a 7-6 count. They had to beat Upper Moreland not once, but twice on Saturday, winning the earlier game, 8-4.
Those two victories capped off a six-game run that began on Wednesday after Manager Steve Shade’s team lost its opening game on Tuesday by a 7-6 score to host DuBois.
With every game an elimination game from there on out, here is what Keystone did:
Wednesday – 6-1 over Southern Lehigh;
Thursday – 4-3 over Indiana;
Friday 1 p.m. – 5-2 over DuBois;
Friday 4 p.m. – 5-3 over West Side;
Saturday 1 p.m. – 8-4 over Upper Moreland;
Saturday 4 p.m. – 7-6 over Upper Moreland.
Add it up: six wins over four days, all competitive games, more than a few by coming from behind. And they did it without one of their prominent players in Hunter Donley who went out with an injury early in the Tuesday opener with DuBois.
Manager Shade couldn’t say enough good things about his comeback squad, noting several players missed playing time with injuries over the five-day span. He said, “People stepped up in different situations; we kept battling.” He said it was all about “clutch hits and clutch plays.”
Keystone trailed 6-1 in the final game but came back with two runs each in innings four, five and seven to pull the game out. It was the two-spot in the top of the seventh that put Keystone ahead for the first time at 7-6. When pitcher Darius Shade shut down Upper Moreland in the bottom of the inning, the Pennsylvania Junior title belong to Keystone. Shade finished up with four innings of shutout work in relief of Cole Cooper and Nolan Cross.
Cooper had a great game at the plate: a double, two singles and an RBI. Watt Probst had a double and a single and Blake Walker two singles and an RBI. Shade, Cross, Josh Ludlow and Hayes Miller all chipped in with a single.
With the thrilling championship game win, Keystone is the Junior League Baseball Pennsylvania Champion advancing to the East Region Junior Baseball Tournament in Freehold Township, NJ from Wednesday, Aug. 3-11. As for the trip to New Jersey, manager Shade said, “We’ll rest up and go get it.”
K 1 0 0 2 2 0 2 = 7-11-1
UM 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 = 6-7-3
