St. Joe's 5 Bardine's 4 (Championship Gm. 3)       WATCH BROADCAST

Sam Hochard was nearly perfect in relief, as he worked five innings in guiding St. Joes to a 5-4 victory on Friday to capture the Latrobe-Derry Area Teener League Championship. After winning the first game 11-10, the Owls responded after Bardine’s claimed a 2-1 triumph on Thursday to force the decisive game in the best-of-three series. Hochard, who came in relief of Anthony Matthews, did not allow a run over five innings of work, while St. Joe’s plated the winning run in the fifth inning. In that frame, Joey Bonomo led off with a single, and he advanced on a walk and a single. Matthews then blooped a ball into center field, and although an out was recorded on a force play at third, Bonomo scored to put the Owls ahead. That proved enough for Hochard, who retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth and then worked around a one-out single and a two-out walk to induce Leland Weideburg to pop up for the final out of the contest. The Owls (25-7) took a lead early in the contest, as they scored four times in the top of the first. Brody Chismar opened the contest with a single, and Robert Visnick followed with an RBI double. Cole Short added an RBI single, and Matthews walked. Short later scored on a wild pitch, while Jayden Struble’s groundout brought home Matthews for the 4-0 edge. The Meat Links (26-6) scored twice in the bottom of the frame, as their first four hitters also reached, including an RBI double by Pickle Burket. The Meat Links pulled even with a pair of runs in the third, as Ben Hantz drew a bases-loaded walk to chase Matthews from the mound, and Miles Smith hit into a fielder’s choice that plated Mason Eicher. In the victory, Cole Short smacked three singles for the Owls, while Chismar, Visnick, Matthews, and Bonomo all reached base safely twice. Bardine’s, conversely, was paced by Burket, who posted a double and a pair of walks, while Samide drew two walks and was hit by pitch. With the victory, the Owls claimed their first title since 2011, while denying the Meat Links a repeat.

Bardine's 2 St. Joe's 1 (Championship Gm. 2)       WATCH BROADCAST

After falling in an error-filled slugfest on the previous night, Bardine’s responded by relying on pitching and defense in a 2-1 victory against St. Joe’s in Game Two of the Latrobe-Derry Area Teener League Championship series. Joey Razza went the distance in the circle to earn the win for the Meat Links, as he permitted just five hits and issued no walks, striking out four. He narrowly edged Owls’ hurler Jayden Struble, who went six innings, allowing four hits and walking two, while notching seven strikeouts. Top-seeded Bardine’s (26-5) scored a run each in the second and third innings. Tyler Samide opened the second with a walk, and after advancing on a pair of wild pitches, he scored on a two-out single by Ben Hantz to put the Meat Links on the board. In the next stanza, Luke Bulebosh reached on an infield single, and then stole second. As Pickle Burket flew out to center field, Bulebosh tagged up, inducing an errant throw to third that allowed him to score on the lone defensive blemish in the contest. The second-seeded Owls (24-7) tallied their only run in the bottom of the sixth, as Robert Visnick’s double scored Brody Chismar. Visnick was ultimately stranded in scoring position, though, as Razza retired Cole Short and Anthony Matthews to maintain the lead. Razza retired the side in order in the seventh to secure the victory, forcing a decisive third game on Friday.

St. Joe's 11 Bardine's 10 (Championship Gm. 1)       WATCH BROADCAST

St. Joe’s edged Bardine’s 11-10 in the opening game of the Latrobe-Derry Area Teener League Championship series on Wednesday. A four-run fourth inning proved the difference for the second-seeded Owls, who fended off a comeback bid by the top seed Meat Links in the bottom of the seventh. St. Joe’s opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the first, as Josh Short plated Robert Visnick, and Carter Urban followed with a fielder’s choice that scored Cole Short. The Owls (24-6) tacked on another run in the second, as Sam Hochard reached on an error and later scored on a Visnick single. Bardine’s responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, as Ben Hantz’s fielder’s choice brought in Mason Eicher, who reached on an error, and another defensive miscue allowed Tyler Samide to score. Although St. Joe’s added another run in the third on a homer by Jayden Struble, Bardine’s (25-5) gained the upper hand by scoring three times in the third, highlighted by a two-run single by Samide. The Owls quickly restored their advantage, however, as Brody Chismar and Cole Short provided RBI singles and Anthony Matthews contributed a two-run hit. Although the Meat Links scored twice in the fifth to pull within a run, Bardine’s never got back even, as the teams matched offensive outputs over the final two frames. Bardine’s, which scored twice with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, had the tying run on base when Owen Smith flied out to end the contest. In the triumph, the Owls received two hits and two RBIs apiece from Cole Short and Struble, while Visnick also had a pair of hits. Samide went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for Bardine’s, while Joey Razza had a pair of hits and three runs. Each team compiled 11 hits and five errors. Game Two of the series will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

St. Joe's Owls 19 Derry Ukes 3 (Semifinal Gm. 2)       LISTEN BROADCAST

No. 5 Derry Ukes took an early 2-0 lead against St. Joes but it was short lived as the Owls answered with four runs in the second inning and went on to a 19-3 victory in game two of the Latrobe-Derry Teener League semifinals Sunday. The Ukes actually outhit St. Joes in the game but committed five errors, issued 15 walks and hit two batters. The score was 5-3 after three innings but the Owls plated five runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and tacked on six more runs in the seventh inning. Jayden Struble hit two home runs and collected five RBIs for second-seeded St. Joe's. Sam Hochard added two hits and drove in three runs while Brody Chismar finished with two hits and scored three runs. Parker Zinkham paced the Ukes with three hits and two runs scored. Sam Hochard was the winning pitcher. The Owls advance to the championship series beginning Wednesday.

Bardine's Meat Links 13 VFW 0 (Semfiinal Gm. 2)       LISTEN BROADCAST

Bardine's broke open a scoreless game late and went on to mercy rule VFW 13-0 in game two of the Derry-Area Teener League Semifinals Sunday. Neither team cracked the scoreboard through the first three innings until Leland Wiedeburg's two-out, two-run single in the fourth put the Meat Links ahead. Bardine's added to the lead with a four-spot in the fifth inning then closed the game scoring seven runs in the sixth. Along with Wiedeburg, Luke Bulebosh, Pickle Burket and Vinny Razza all finished with two hits and two RBIs. Bulebosh and Burket each scored twice. Braden Nelson, Nick Jacobsky and Colin Hennessy had two hits a piece for No. 6 VFW. Joey Razza struck out seven batters to earn the victory as top-seeded Bardine's moves on to the championship series starting Wednesday.

Bardines Meat Links 11 VFW 2 (Semifinal Gm. 1)       LISTEN BROADCAST

The top-seeded Meat Links exploded for six runs in the fifth inning, as they bested VFW 11-2 in the opening game of the Latrobe Derry-Area Teener League semifinals series. Bardines (23-4) scored in every inning, but failed to register a hit until the fifth. In that frame, Pickle Burket started the rally with an infield single, Joey Razza was hit by pitch, and Mason Eicher drew a walk. With the bases loaded, Tyler Samide smashed a grand slam, putting the Meat Links ahead 8-1. Bardines tacked on two more runs, courtesy of a single by Miles Smith that plated Leland Weideburg and Ben Hantz. In addition to Samide’s blast, he also compiled a sacrifice fly and a walk. Meanwhile, Joey Razza tripled, walked, was hit by pitch, and provided a sacrifice fly, scoring twice. Mason Eicher reached base four times, including a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. That was plenty of run support for Eicher and Miles Smith on the mound, as the pitching duo limited No. 6 VFW (14-15) to just two runs. Colin Hennessy staked VFW to the lead with an RBI single in the top of the first, and Hudson Howard collected an RBI single in the seventh. Hennessy and Noah Smith each had two-hit efforts for VFW, while James Rafferty took the loss.

St. Joe’s Owls 14 Derry Ukes 7 (Semfiinal Gm. 1)       LISTEN BROADCAST

St. Joe’s scored 14 runs on just three hits, as the second-seeded Owls cruised to a 14-7 triumph against the No. 5 Derry Ukes in the opener of the Latrobe Derry-Area Teener League semifinals. The offensive success of the Owls was epitomized by the fifth inning, in which St. Joes scored seven runs without collecting a hit. In that frame, St. Joe’s drew seven walks, was twice hit by pitch, and capitalized on an error. The Owls (22-6) also scored four times in the third, and added three runs in the sixth. Brody Chismar accounted for two of the three hits, as he also drew a walk and scored twice. Sam Hochard picked up the other hit for the Owls, while Robert Visnick and Anthony Matthews each reached base four times. The Ukes (14-14), who scored four of their runs in the top of the seventh, notched six hits in the setback. Parker Zinkham paced the offense, as he had three hits and scored twice, while Tyler Martin, who took the loss on the mound, singled, walked, and scored three times.

VFW 3 St. Anthony's Saints 2 (Wildcard Game)

Colin Barkley and Nick Jacobsky combined to allow just two runs and lead No. 6 seed VFW to a 3-2 upset victory over No. 3 St. Anthony's in the Latrobe-Derry Area Teener League Wildcard Round. The Saint scored a pair of runs in the first inning to go ahead 2-0 but VFW tied the game with single runs in the second and fourth innings. The contest was then suspended due to lightning and resumed on Friday. VFW scored the game-winning run in the top of the seventh inning to claim the win. Nick Jacobsky had two hits for VFW while Braden Nelson added a double. Ethan Haydo tripled and Zach Theys doubled for St. Anthony's. Jacobsky, who came in relief, was the winning pitcher.

Derry Ukes 6 Nakles Sharks 2 (Wildcard Game)       LISTEN BROADCAST

The fifth-seeded Derry Ukes scored the final four runs of the game, bouncing the fourth seed Nakles Sharks 6-2 in the Latrobe-Derry Area Teener League Wildcard round on Thursday. After each team posted a pair of runs in the opening inning, the Ukes (14-13) plated a single run in each of the next four frames, while the pitching duo of Parker Petrosky and Mikey Monois kept the Sharks (15-13) off the board for the rest of the contest. The Ukes recaptured the lead in the top of the second, as Tristan Lettie singled to open the frame, and after an error and a wild pitch, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Mason Zinkham. In the third, Tyler Martin reached on a two-base error, and later scored on another sac fly off the bat of Petrosky. Camron Forbes reached on an infield single, stole a pair of bases, and scored on a wild pitch to extend to a 5-2 lead in the fourth. The Ukes manufactured another run in the fifth, as Parker Zinkham singled to open the stanza, advanced via a balk and a stolen base, and scored on a groundout off the bat of Monios. That run support was more than enough for Petrosky, who worked into the fifth, and Monios, who pitched 2.1 perfect innings in relief. In the victory, Parker Zinkham had a pair of singles and scored twice, Petrosky had two RBIs, and Forbes singled, walked, and registered four stolen bases. Ramone Williams scored, walked, and scored a run for Nakles, while Anthony Scarton, who took the loss on the mound, contributed an RBI single. The Ukes advance to the best-of-three semifinals, which is slated to begin on Saturday.