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SOUTH CENTER TWP. — Facing the potential finality of a season and fighting through a suddenly sporadic offense, Greater Pittston faced doubts if the team had enough to remain alive in the Region 5 American Legion Baseball Playoffs.
Zach Lopatka and his hard-hitting teammates found all the right answers.
Lopatka pitched six shutout innings of three-hit ball Tuesday and three other teammates had a multiple-hit game as Greater Pittston dominated Dickson City, 11-0 in a losers’ bracket elimination game at Central Columbia High School that ended after 7 innings by the 10-run rule.
“We’re a really good-hitting team,” Lopatka insisted. “When we’re all on, we’re really good. The whole lineup hit today.”
The pitching wasn’t bad, either.
Lopatka struck out eight batters and allowed just five baserunners, keeping Dickson City off the board long enough to end the day early.
“I just tried to hold them to zero,” Lopatka said.
He allowed two walks and surrendered only singles to Alex Varaksa in the first inning, Austin Shattin in the fourth and R.J. Gouldsburg in the sixth before reliever Bob Wychock finished up the combined shutout while working around two singles in the seventh inning.
The only real danger Lopatka faced came in his final inning, when a one-out walk followed by Gouldsburg’s single to deep left-center field put runners at the corners. But Lopatka responded with a strikeout and induced an inning-ending groundout to keep Dickson City from scoring.
“The curveball wasn’t as good as I was hoping for it to be,” Lopatka said. “The changeup was working really well for me, especially as a strikeout pitch. And, of course, getting ahead with my fastball. I didn’t throw a lot of pitches.”
That could prove pivotal, with Greater Pittston facing the possibility of playing three nine-inning games over the next two days as it battles its way through the tournament losers’ bracket – starting with today’s noon game against South Scranton at Central Columbia High School.
“Very important,” said Greater Pittston manager Jerry Ranieli, whose team improved to 16-9 overall and 2-1 in the Region 5 tourney. “We still have three games to win. To only have him throw six innings, about 75 pitches, was very important.”
So was the offensive explosion Greater Pittston was looking for.
The team entered regionals as the Wyoming Valley Conference runner-up off an 11-1 loss to Nanticoke in the Wyoming Valley American Legion championship game, then fell 4-1 to Hughesville in Sunday’s Region 5 opener. Greater Pittston also managed just two runs through eight innings in a regional elimination game Monday – extending a scoring drought that produced just four runs in 24 innings – before a three-run ninth inning secured Greater Pittston’s 5-1 victory over Bloomsburg.
“Our offense sputters every once in awhile,” Ranieli said.
Not Tuesday.
Shortstop Nick Gushka went 3-for-3, scored two runs and drove one home while Lopatka also belted three hits – including a double – and scored three runs while finishing with an RBI.
Joe Gavenonis and Tyler Daugherty collected two hits apiece combined for three RBI and two runs scored, while Steve Homza drove home a pair of runs in Greater Pittston’s victory.
It didn’t hurt when Dickson City committed six errors – all in the first five innings as Greater Pittston jumped to a 6-0 lead.
“Today, we capitalized on our chances,” Ranieli said.
For the most part, though, Greater Pittston’s batters made their own breaks.
Lopatka singled to open the game and scored when Gavenonis poked a two-out single past first base, and Greater Pittston was off and running.
Evan Musto scored on a wild pitch in the second inning and Gushka scored on a fielder’s choice in the fourth as Greater Pittston manufactured a 3-0 lead. That grew to 6-0 with a three-run fifth inning, highlighted by Gushka’s RBI single.
Lopatka scored on a ground out in the sixth inning and doubled home one run while scoring the game’s last as Greater Pittston boosted its lead to 11-0 by scoring three times in the seventh inning.
“I’ve been seeing the ball really well lately,” Lopatka said. “This is a real big win for us. We came into this game hoping to score a lot of runs to save our pitching as much as we could.”
The plan worked to perfection when Lopatka delivered a prime pitching performance to go along with his ‘Big Zach Attack’ at the plate.
“Oh, Zach’s a great pitcher,” Ranieli said. “I was confident coming into this game, we had one of our best on the mound. He got ahead of hitters, kept them off balance. And he’s been one of our best hitters coming into this thing. We’re going to need him to continue that if we’re going to have any chance in this thing. He’s our table-setter.
“When he gets on, things happen.”
Greater Pittston 11, Dickson City 0
Greater Pittston`AB`R`H`BI
Lopatka p,3b`5`3`3`1
Dougharty 2b`4`1`2`1
Homza cf`4`0`0`2
Gavenonis rf`3`1`2`2
Zezza lf`4`0`1`0
Mitchell 1b`3`1`0`0
Musto c`4`2`0`0
Gushka ss`3`2`3`1
Malanpy 3b`3`1`1`0
Wychock p`0`0`0`0
Totals`33`11`13`7
Dickson City`AB`R`H`BI
Mandarano p,lf`4`0`0`0
Varaksa rf,3b`2`0`1`0
Gouldsburg c`3`0`1`0
Humenchak 1b`3`0`0`0
Shattin cf`3`0`1`0
Donlin 3b,p`3`0`0`0
Salzmann ss`2`0`1`0
Walsh lf,rf`3`0`0`0
Hasanzahl 2b`3`0`1`0
Totals`26`0`5`0
Greater Pittston`110`132`3`-`11
Dickson City`000`000`0`-`0
2B – Lopatka.
Greater Pittston`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Lopatka, W`6`3`0`0`2`8
Wychock`1`2`0`0`0`0
Dickson City`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Mandarano, L`4`4`3`1`2`1
Donlin`3`8`8`4`2`0