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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
West Point came ready to swing in Thursday\u2019s opening round game, with all 12 hitters in the Section 2 champ\u2019s lineup coming up with at least one hit and eight of the 12 hitters driving in at least one run.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The lone run of the afternoon for Back Mountain was scored in the bottom of the fourth inning.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Tim Tarr also drew a walk for Back Mountain. Antonio Roman and Matt DeSanto reached on errors.<\/p>\n
West Point advanced to the winners bracket semifinals on Friday with the victory. They\u2019ll play Selinsgrove at 7 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n
Selinsgrove defeated Southern Lehigh 7-3 on Thursday night in the final game of the opening round of the state tournament.<\/p>\n
Other winners on Thursday included Newtown Little League, who beat DuBois 12-0, and Hollidaysburg in a 12-7 win over Glenmoore Eagle.<\/p>\n
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