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Pittston Area starter John Fagotti delivers a pitch against Wyoming Area in the 18th annual Andy Ashby game at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday night.

WA’s Ryan Kaslavage, left, takes a lead off second base ahead of PA shortstop Kyle O’Fier.

Michael Delaney scores Pittston Area’s first run against Wyoming Area in the 18th annual Andy Ashby game at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday night.

Pittston Area shortstop Kyle O’Fier, left, tags out Wyoming Area’s Marty Michaels on an attempted steal.

WA shortstop Cory Lescavage looks to throw to first.

Pittston Area’s Jeffrey Donnora, center, celebrates with his teammates after the Patriots defeated Wyoming Area 2-1 in the 18th annual Andy Ashby game at PNC Field in Moosic on Sunday night.

Andy Ashby, right, presents the Most Valuable Player award to Pittston Area starting pitcher John Fagotti.

Pittston Area’s John Fagotti, center, raises his Most Valuable Player trophy into the air with his teammates as sponsor Andy Ashby, far right, look on.

PA’s John Fagotti walks away with the Andy Ashby MVP trophy at PNC Field Sunday night.

MOOSIC – Wyoming Area raced out to the division lead and immediately started thinking about winning titles this season.

With a young lineup – six sophomores started Sunday night’s Andy Ashby Game – Pittston Area struggled at the outset and had to set different goals.

One of the biggest for the Patriots and John Fagotti, their top pitcher, became being ready for Sunday’s meeting with the arch rival Warriors.

Pittston Area had Fagotti well-rested to go the distance as the pitcher in the Ashby Game and the move paid off in a 2-1 upset victory at PNC Field in a Wyoming Valley Conference crossover baseball game before the biggest crowd of the season for either team.

“We were pretty realistic,” Pittston Area coach Paul Zaffuto said. “Every year that I was here, for the last 16 years, we’ve tried to play for a district championship.

“Playing seven sophomores and not having a lot of experience with the guys we have on the mound, we figured that this might not be a year that we could actually contend for a championship.”

The Patriots, however, are a different team when they have their one veteran pitcher on the mound. That showed Sunday night.

“We placed our goals,” Zaffuto said. “We knew Wyoming Area had a good team coming back, but we knew last year John pitched in the game, but (Joe) Champi got the Ashby Award.

“That’s something John talked about early this year that he wanted to do. We had four games this week. John said he wanted Wyoming Area. We said you know what, ‘are we going to get a chance to play here this year for a district championship? Maybe not.’ So we took our shot here.”

Fagotti came away with the Ashby Award as the MVP of the game between the rivals. He was the winning pitcher in last year’s 5-3 Pittston Area victory, but Champi took the honors.

“Fagotti threw the ball great,” said Ashby, the former Major League pitcher and current Jenkins Township resident.

On a night when the Patriots managed just two hits, Fagotti kept them in the game and made sure they never trailed.

“John held us in until we had the opportunity to score,” Zaffuto said.

Michael Delaney and Joe Delucca each had one of the two Pittston Area hits and each turned it into one of the two runs.

Delaney, who was hit by pitches twice to reach base in three of four plate appearances, stole second and third with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, then scored on a wild pitch to break the scoreless tie.

Wyoming Area tied the game in the top of the fifth, but Delucca won it in the bottom of the seventh.

Delucca led off with an infield single and took second on a throwing error. He scored the winning run from there with one out when a groundball got through the infield and the throw to try to get him at the plate was too high.

Fagotti allowed just six singles while walking one and striking out seven.

“I try to stay ahead as much as possible,” said Fagotti, who threw 72 of 105 pitches for strikes.

Wyoming Area tied the game with its own two-out rally.

Evan Musto singled. Courtesy runner Brandon Charney stole second, then scored on Marty Michaels’ second hit of the game.

Zach Lopatka and Josh Kopcza combined on a two-hitter for Wyoming Area. Lopatka started and struck out six in four innings.

Going into Friday, Pittston Area was 1-4 and ahead of only Coughlin in Division 1 of the WVC while Wyoming Area was 7-0 and threatening to run away with Division 2, leading by 2 ½ games.

The Patriots have now won two straight and passed Crestwood into third place. The Warriors have dropped two straight and are even with second-place Berwick (4-2) in the loss column.

Ashby supports the game each season, including selecting and presenting the MVP award. The large crowd that showed on a cool evening made the move to a Sunday night at the minor league stadium appear like a wise choice.

“Every year, it’s run,” Ashby said. ” … I want to thank the RailRiders, PNC and everybody for letting us do this.

“With all the people that showed up, it was awesome. It was a nice crowd for a high school game. It was a good night.”