FT Pirates win Babe Ruth title

David Berger couldn’t sleep.

Pete Bongiorno was nearly sick to his stomach.

Franklin Township’s starting pitcher and head coach were beside themselves.

All it took was one big inning from the Pirates for those butterflies to fly away.

Franklin blasted top seed Pocono Mountain 10-0 in five innings Monday to win the Carbon County Babe Ruth title.

“I was sick all day at work,” Bongiorno said with a laugh.

“To get that jump on them was a big thing. Once we got up on them … it just started clicking.”

The second-seeded Pirates took any drama out of it early, sending nine batters to the plate and scoring five runs in the second inning to blow the game open.

Owen Brady delivered the big blow in the inning, driving in Matt Stauffer and Jayden Gable to put Franklin up 2-0. Dylan Bowman’s groundout scored Brady before an error allowed Ben Seachrist (walk, run scored) and Michael Yeakel, who singled, to score to make it 5-0.

Brady finished the game with two hits, three RBIs a walk and two runs scored.

“We played as a team,” said Brady. “On offense and defense, we just set the tone early and kept going.

“In the second inning when I hit a double to drive in two runs, it just started the ball rolling.”

Brady also drove in a run in the third inning, one that started when Randy Bongiorno reached on an error and courtesy runner Matt Stauffer came around to score.

Bongiorno was the catalyst for the Pirates in all three innings that produced runs. Franklin’s cleanup hitter doubled in the fifth, an inning that saw that Pirates bat around and score four runs to bring the mercy rule into play.

Tret Solt (2-for-3, run scored) had an RBI single and leadoff hitter Seachrist added a two-run base knock to make it 10-0.

The rout certainly wasn’t something the Franklin’s players were expecting, either.

“I thought we were gonna lose,” said Randy Bongiorno. “They were undefeated; we weren’t.”

“I couldn’t sleep last night because of this game,” added Berger.

Berger did his part on the mound to keep the Orioles off the scoreboard. He struck out four in four innings of work, and got out of two big jams to keep the shutout intact.

Pocono got back-to-back two-out singles from Cole Goucher and Zach Hazen in the second before Berger struck out Jarred Cirrilo to end the inning. Berger worked around a two-out walk by Joel Weirich and a single from Tim Napoli in the third, getting Palmer Posten to fly out to center to finish the frame unscathed.

“David had some great pitching,” said Brady. “You gotta watch it when they get runners at second or third base. But we made all the right plays, and they weren’t able to score at all.”

DJ Richebacher had two strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth inning to close it out.

But even if the Orioles had scored in those innings, it might not have mattered. The Pirates simply put it all together when it mattered most.

And they weren’t going to be denied.

“It’s great,” said Brady. “It’s my third year on this team and we finally pulled it off. Pitching was great, and we made all the plays in the field, and our batting was great.

“In the beginning of the season, we were a little rough around the edges. But throughout the season, we got better and better, and we put things together, and that’s how we ended up.”

COME ON OVER … Napoli was called for a balk in the top of the third inning, one that allowed Stauffer to advance to third base. Brady took advantage with an RBI single, plating Stauffer with a one-out infield hit to push Franklin’s advantage to 6-0.

FT Pirates 051 04 – 10 8 1

Pocono 000 00 – 0 4 4

Berger, Richebacher (5) and Bongiorno; Goucher, Napoli (3), Posten (5) and Weirich. W - Berger. L - Goucher.