Local roundup: Belle Vernon edges Murrysville in state Legion tourney; Trafford stays alive
Belle Vernon scored a run in the sixth inning and two in the seventh and rallied to defeat host Murrysville, 3-2, in the Pennsylvania American Legion tournament at North Allegheny.
The loss eliminated Murrysville from the tournament. Belle Vernon will face Northeastern, which lost 8-4 to Quakertown, at 12:40 p.m. Monday.
After Murrysville grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, Belle Vernon won it in the top of the seventh. Cole Matisuk, who walked, scored on a Mason Suss groundout, and Alex Nash, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on a double by Wessel.
Nash was the winning pitcher. He allowed nine hits, walked two and struck out one.
Cole Brinker opened the bottom of the seventh with a single, but Murrysville couldn’t get him home.
Max Bernadowski had three hits for Murrysville. Marko Rudek and Josh Hudak had two hits each for Murrysville.
Blake Bertucci worked the first 61⁄3 innings. Brinker got the final two outs.
Murrysville took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Bernadowski singled and scored on Nolan Boehm’s grounder.
Belle Vernon tied the score in the sixth when Suss singled and scored on J.B. Crovak’s double.
Murrysville reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning on singles by Brody Reese, Hudak and Rudek.
Bristol 10, Bushy Run 1 — Bushy Run saw its season end in a losers’ bracket game.
Bristol took advantage of a couple of early errors to defeat Bushy Run.
Bushy Run grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Brody Hoffman singled, David Newsom singled and Carmen Metcalfe hit an RBI double.
Bushy Run didn’t get another hit until the sixth inning when Steve Freas singled.
Rob Andrews took the loss. Freas and Ethan Septak also pitched.
Wesleyville 1, Murrysville 0 — Wesleyville won a pitchers’ duel Saturday as Jason Fultz bested Erik Streussnig.
Fultz allowed a leadoff double to Bernadowski and nothing else.
He struck out 14. Streussnig allowed four hits and struck out nine.
The only run of the game came on an RBI hit by Tyler Burick.
Junior Legion states
Trafford stayed alive in the Junior American Legion state tournament at Homer City by defeating the host 18-8.
It will play Upper Perkiomen at 10 a.m. on Monday at White Township Complex in Indiana.
Evan Gigliotti drove in five runs with a triple, two doubles and a single. Noah Rattigan drove in three with three hits, which included a triple and a double.
Caleb Kerstetter and Cameron King drove in a pair of runs each on two hits. Otto Hettler also had two hits, and Landon Thomas doubled.
Trafford trailed 5-4 after three innings but took over the game with seven runs in the fourth inning and added six more in the sixth inning.
Little League
The West Point 11U softball team was eliminated from the Pennsylvania Little League state tournament, falling to DuBois, 2-1, on Sunday at Fairchance.
West Point picked up a 15-2 victory Saturday in the double-elimination tournament.
Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.
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