The Back Mountain 9-11 All-Stars got off to a rocky start in their run in the Pennsylvania 9-11 state tournament, falling to West Point Little League 11-1 in five innings on Thursday afternoon at Selinsgrove Little League.
The District 31 and Section 5 champions will have to play their way through the elimination bracket, next in action against Southern Lehigh at 1 p.m. on Friday after Southern Lehigh fell into the elimination bracket with a loss to tournament host Selinsgrove.
It’s not an unfamiliar position for Back Mountain, who lost their first game of the Section 5 tournament before rattling off four wins in a row (including two wins over Green Ridge, the team that beat them) to win the championship.
West Point came ready to swing in Thursday’s opening round game, with all 12 hitters in the Section 2 champ’s lineup coming up with at least one hit and eight of the 12 hitters driving in at least one run.
Back Mountain fell behind 3-0 after one and 6-0 after two innings, with West Point putting the game away for good on the strength of a five-run fifth inning to make it an 11-1 game.
The lone run of the afternoon for Back Mountain was scored in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Monroe Hornak led off the inning with a walk, and Maxton Mercadante followed suit with a free pass of his own to put runners on first and second with nobody out.
Hornak was able to steal third and then score on a wild pitch to make it a 6-1 West Point lead at the time.
Tim Tarr also drew a walk for Back Mountain. Antonio Roman and Matt DeSanto reached on errors.
West Point advanced to the winners bracket semifinals on Friday with the victory. They’ll play Selinsgrove at 7 p.m. Friday.
Selinsgrove defeated Southern Lehigh 7-3 on Thursday night in the final game of the opening round of the state tournament.
Other winners on Thursday included Newtown Little League, who beat DuBois 12-0, and Hollidaysburg in a 12-7 win over Glenmoore Eagle.
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