Keystone Majors win 8-4 over East Lycoming

HUGHESVILLE, PA – The Keystone Major (12-year-old) baseball team has opened District 12 play with two road games and so far Coach Cole Hanley’s team is 2-0. Keystone opened last Monday with a 10-0 win at Montoursville and followed that up with an 8-4 victory at East Lycoming on Friday.

The win put Keystone in a winners’ bracket final at Montoursville on Wednesday, July 5 against the winner of a Friday game between Williamsport Area and Loyalsock.

The win over East Lycoming was a hard-earned one. After Keystone had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the second (using a Camden Fuller double and a bases-loaded walk to Logan Daniel), home-standing East Lyco used a couple singles and a couple walks to plate three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-1 lead.

Keystone bounced back with a 5-run top of the third and never trailed. The bottom of the 12-man batting order got the rally going with a single from Bryan Rote, a single from Zavier Wadsworth and a sacrifice from Heath Marino. Evan Edwards followed with a double, then a walk to Carter Frank and a bases-loaded walk to Logan Bower. Fuller followed with his second double of the game, driving in two more and Keystone led 6-3. Keystone added an insurance run in the fourth on an RBI single from Marino and another in the sixth on an Evan Batterson single, a walk to Hayden Hanley and an RBI groundout from Haydn Whitman.

Keystone was held to six hits, including the two doubles from Fuller, one from Edwards, plus singles from Rote, Wadsworth and Marino.

Three Keystone pitchers worked the game, Edwards, Frank and Fuller. Edwards went the first 4.1 innings, giving up all five EL hits and three earned runs, striking out five and walking three. Fuller shut things down in the fifth inning when East Lycoming loaded the bases with one out. Upon entering the game, he picked up a strikeout and induced a soft line drive back to him to end the inning with nothing across; he finished with a hitless, scoreless sixth.

Coach Hanley called the win another team victory and noted several great defensive plays by his team. He said his team was able to play “small ball” when needed to help produce runs. He said Fuller has “nerves of steel” but smiles and always has fun.

K   0 1 5 1 0 1 = 8-6-1

EL 0 3 1 0 0 0 = 4-5-3