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Curt Yenchik of Creswood congratulates teammates Keaton Dolan and David Klein after scoring in the 4th inning of the third annual Field of Dreams senior high school baseball all-star game on Sunday at PNC Field.

Jason Hoggarth of Holy Redeemer makes a diving catch for the Wyoming Valley All-Star team.

Kyle Rogers of Hazleton makes the catch for the out during the third annual Field of Dreams senior high school baseball all-star game on Sunday at PNC Field.

MOOSIC — The Wyoming Valley Conference had to take on the Lackawanna League in the third annual Field of Dreams senior high school baseball all-star game without players from Division 1 champion Wyoming Valley West, which is still active in the state Class 4A semifinals.

Players from Hazleton Area, the team that chased the Spartans in the division and faced them in the District 2-4 championship game, took over the spotlight.

Ryan Heller was the winning pitcher, teammate Kyle Rogers was the only player with two runs and two hits and Chris Panzarella had a two-run double when the WVC rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Lackawanna Sunday afternoon at PNC Field.

“We were just playing the game hard, the way it’s supposed to be played,” Panzarella said. “We played for fun, but we also wanted to win.

“It was a little bit of a rough start, but then we came back, got the bats going, made some nice plays in the field and we went from there.”

Between the two teams 14 pitchers worked one inning each.

Pittston Area’s John Fagotti went one extra batter, getting a fourth out before handing the ball over to Heller with one out in the bottom of the seventh with the WVC still trailing, 6-4, after being down by five runs early.

Heller finished up with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, retiring seven out of eight before a two-out error and infield single allowed the Lackawanna League to put together a threat in the bottom of the ninth. Heller stopped that with a game-ending strikeout.

Wyoming Area’s Ron Musto, who coached the WVC team, told Heller to be ready for some extra work.

“Coach told me in the beginning of the game, just because I’m a pitcher and I don’t play the field,” said Heller, who has not pitched in a game since the Cougars had their season end two weeks ago and his Hazleton Legion team has not played its game. “I felt pretty good.”

Heller knew if things went according to plan he would be the last WVC pitcher, but as the game unfolded, he didn’t picture throwing while the outcome was being decided.

Lackawanna scored in each of the first three innings, then managed just two hits over the final six innings as Fagotti went 1 1/3 hitless, Holy Redeemer’s Keaton Dolan pitched a perfect inning and Wyoming Area’s Ryan Lopatka got three straight outs after the first two batters reach against him in the fifth.

The WVC did not get rolling offensively until the fifth inning, getting a hit in every inning the rest of the way while combining for eight runs on seven hits in the last five innings.

Lackawanna led 4-0 after two innings and 6-1 after three.

Rogers had a big part in the only early run. He had the WVC’s first two hits. He led off the third with a triple and scored on a two-out single by Wyoming Area’s Ryan Musto.

The winning run was scored by Rogers after he was walked in the eighth inning. Crestwood’s Josh Dotzel singled to right field to complete a three-run inning for a 7-6 lead.

“We were just here to have fun,” Dotzel said. “If you get out, you try not to let it get you down.”

Panzarella got the rally started in the fifth inning with a two-run double that scored the fourth Hazleton Area player in the game, David Klein.

Division 2 champion Wyoming Area also had four players in the game – starting pitcher Joe Gavenonis and Jeremy Zezza joined Lopatka and Evan Musto – along with coach Ron Musto.

In addition to Dotzel’s game-winning hit, Crestwood also made a big contribution with catcher Curt Yenchik doubling to drive in one run and score the other in the ninth inning. Yenchik also threw out Lackawanna leadoff hitter Jake McCarthy trying to steal second after he drew a walk as the only base runner against Fagotti.

A.J. Sweppenheiser from Dallas singled in the other run in the ninth and Christian Pack from Division 3 champion Hanover Area drove in the first run of the eighth on a bases-loaded groundout.

Wyoming Valley Conference 9, Lackawanna League 6

WVC `AB`R`H`BI

Delaney cf 2 1 1 0

Dolan 2b-p 1 1 0 0

Rogers 1b-rf 2 2 2 0

Klein cf 1 1 0 0

Pack ss 2 0 0 1

Lopatka p-rf 3 1 1 0

Dotzel 2b-3b 3 0 1 2

Panzarella ss 1 1 1 2

Musto c-3b 3 0 1 1

Yenchik c 2 1 1 1

Baran lf-p 0 0 0 0

Andres c 2 0 0 0

Gavenonis p 1 0 0 0

Fagotti p-2b 3 0 0 0

Semanek 1b 2 1 0 0

Zezza 3b-lf 0 0 0 0

Hoggarth cf-lf 2 0 1 0

Olszyk rf-p 1 0 0 0

Heller p 1 0 0 0

Sweppenheiser lf 3 0 1 1

Totals`35`9`10`8

Lackawanna League`AB`R`H`BI

McCarthy cf 3 0 1 0

Carpenter 2b 2 1 0 0

Ryan ss 2 0 0 0

Rivenburgh 3b 3 0 1 2

Benninger p-3b 2 0 1 0

Bordo p 2 0 0 0

Dougherty p-2b 2 0 0 0

Aniska rf 1 1 1 1

Arthur rf 2 0 1 0

Phillips 1b 2 0 0 0

Amant 1b 2 1 1 1

Lynch 1b 1 0 0 0

Nemitz ss-p 2 1 2 0

Felter p 2 0 0 0

Spinelli lf 1 1 0 0

Hart lf 2 0 1 0

White p 2 0 0 0

Stankiewicz c 1 1 1 0

Varaska c 1 0 0 1

Fisch p 0 0 0 0

Totals`35`6`10`5

Wyoming Valley Conference`001`020`132`—`9

Lackawanna League`132`000`000`—`6

2B — Panzarella, Yenchik, Amant. 3B – Rogers.

Wyoming Valley Conference`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Gavenonis`1.0`2`1`1`0`0

Olszyk `1.0`3`3`3`1`2

Baran`1.0`2`2`2`1`1

Dolan `1.0`0`0`0`0`0

Lopatka `1.0`1`0`0`0`1

Fagotti`1.1`0`0`0`1`2

Heller (W) `2.2`1`0`0`0`2

Lackawanna League`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO

Benninger `1.0`1`0`0`1`0

Bordo`1.0`0`0`0`1`1

Felter `1.0`2`1`1`0`0

Dougherty`1.0`0`0`0`0`2

White `1.0`1`2`2`2`3

Amant `1.0`1`0`0`0`1

Rivenburgh `1.0`1`1`1`1`2

Nemitz (L) `1.0`2`3`0`0`1

Fisch `1.0`2`2`2`1`2