HUGHESTOWN — Danville left a distinct impression on the best of the Wyoming Valley Senior American Legion Baseball League in five days of commuting to Luzerne County for the Region 5 Tournament.
It was clearly a team that would not go down without a fight.
Danville came up with one last rally Tuesday, scoring the game’s final six runs before falling to host Greater Pittston, 9-8, in the championship game.
Facing three straight must-win games, Danville extended its season twice — pushing past a run from Plains/Wilkes-Barre in the top of the first inning of Sunday’s pool game, then rallying from four runs down to produce a walk-off win over undefeated Wyoming Valley champion Swoyersville in Monday’s semifinals.
Against tournament host and Wyoming Valley runner-up Greater Pittston in the final, Danville fell behind 6-1 after one inning and 9-2 going into the fifth.
Danville scored six times in the last three innings and put six other runners on base, five of them reaching scoring position.
“It was great to play this far in,” Danville manager Jim Burns said. “Guys just never gave up. We gave ourselves chances at the end the whole time.”
With the bases loaded and two out in the top of the seventh, Matt Masala bounced a ball toward the middle with the chance to bring in the tying and go-ahead runs. Relief pitcher Evan Melberger jumped to get his glove on the ball. Melberger deflected it toward shortstop Max Paczewski, who completed a 1-6-3 groundout, just ahead of Masala’s dive, ending the game.
“At first, I thought Evan actually had it, but you never know with turf,” first-year Greater Pittston manager Steve Homza said. “I’m glad he was able to slow it down enough for Max to make a play.”
Leadoff hitter Jake Cambria got on base in the last three innings as Danville kept rallying. He reached in his last eight plate appearances of the tournament, five straight singles — three of them, including the game-winner, against Swoyersville — then three straight walks.
Cambria scored in the fifth and sixth innings, then drew the walk that loaded the bases again in the seventh with two out.
Daniel Knight drove in four runs in the loss. He had an RBI single for the game’s first run in the top of the first, had a sacrifice fly for the first run of the comeback in the three-run fifth, then tripled to the center-field fence to score two runs in the sixth.
“There’s a bunch of fighters here,” Burns said. “We did a lot of great things this year.”
Gatlin Hovenstine followed Knight’s sacrifice fly by greeting reliever Adam Felinski with a two-run single on his first pitch in the fifth.
“They had a lot of heart,” Homza said. “Every single game they played in pool play, they came back from behind … then they pulled the upset (Monday) to get here and almost upset us today.”
Greater Pittston reached the final by getting the last five outs Tuesday afternoon to complete a suspended game and defeat Carbondale/Lakeland, 11-5.
The hosts then scored six runs and had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the first. Danville’s Carl Price came in to get two popouts on two pitches.
“It allowed us to come back in the game a little bit, stick to our approach,” Burns said. “We don’t get nervous. We just try to make the right plays that we need to make.
“Guys just stay within themselves, which is great.”
Price’s pitching helped keep the game from getting out of reach, but Greater Pittston still added to its lead over the next three innings.
Greater Pittston advances to the eight-team state tournament, which opens Saturday in Boyertown and continues through July 27.
AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL
PENNSYLVANIA REGION 5 TOURNAMENT
At Pittston Primary Center, Hughestown
Championship game
Greater Pittston 9, Danville 8
Danville;110;032;1 — 8-9-3
Greater Pittston;601;200;x — 9-11-1
Jake Cambria, Carl Price (1), Joey Delbo (6) and Gabe Benjamin. Lawall, Felinski (5), Melberger (7) and Connors.
WP: Lawall. LP: Cambria. S: Melberger.
Danville: Cambria 2-for-2, 3 runs; Daniel Knight 2-for-3, triple, 4 RBIs; Gatlin Hovenstine 2 RBIs.
Greater Pittston: Elmes 3-for-3, triple, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Melberger 1-for-2, double, run, RBI; Skutack 2-for-3, triple, 2 runs, RBI; Supey 2 RBIs.