Jul. 21—Carbondale/Lakeland Post 221 punched a ticket to the American Legion state tournament with a 9-6 win over Wilkes-Barre Plains Post 558 on Tuesday in the Region 5 championship game at Central Columbia High School.
Post 221 will play the host, Ephrata, at 7:10 p.m. on Saturday in the first round of the double elimination tournament that features the final eight teams of the 327 Legion teams in the state.
Tyler Uram led the winners with three hits and four RBIs, and contributed to a four-run outburst in the top of the seventh inning that broke a 5-5 tie.
“It feels great to win it,” Uram said. “We kept coming back after falling behind and then we got the lead and finished it out.
“We are really looking forward to the state tournament. It will be exciting to see what we can do.”
In the top of the seventh, Post 221 hitters showed patience at the plate as Michael Nowak, Jonathan Nowak and Timmy McGrane all walked to load the bases. Peter Kawash then laced a single to right to drive in the first run of the inning that broke the tie.
“Going into it we just needed to be patient,” Kawash said. “We had to put in some quality at-bats. Once those first three guys walked to load the bases, I looked for a pitch and was able to poke it into right and bring in the go-ahead run.”
After the Kawash single, Corey Daniels walked to bring home Jonathan Nowak. Uram followed with a single to left for an RBI and Kyle Perri drove in one with a single to right.
“I knew we were facing a tough pitcher and I just tried to put the bat on the ball and put the ball in play,” Uram said.
Post 558 scored one in the seventh, but got no closer and with Post 221 out of pitching because of the pitch-count rule Daniels, who did not pitch all season, earned the win after throwing 3 2/3 innings of relief and had five strikeouts.
“It’s an awesome feeling to win it,” Post 221 coach Jeff Moczulski said. “They kept coming through. We were out of pitching because of the pitch count rules and Corey really came through in the last three innings and we pulled it out.
“These kids are ecstatic.”
Post 221 scored single runs in the top half of the first, third and fourth innings and built a 3-0 lead.
In the first, McGrane and Kawash walked and Uram brought home McGrane with a single to left. Then, McGrane added an infield single in the third and Uram drove him in again, this time with a double to center to make it 2-0.
McGrane started another scoring rally in the fourth with a single to right. Kawash reached on a bunt single, Daniels walked and Uram earned an RBI with a walk.
Post 558, which had only two hits in the game, capitalized on 12 walks issued by Post 221 pitching. Christopher Maciejczyk and Nicholas Dunleavy each had RBI doubles as part of a five-run fourth inning that put Post 558 into the lead 5-3.
In the fifth, Post 221 had a quick response with two runs to tie the game.
Logan Wormuth had a single to right, then Michael Nowak and Jonathan Nowak walked to load the bases. McGrane had a sacrifice fly to score Wormuth. Kawash walked and Daniels walked to bring in another run in the top of the fifth.
“That was big,” McGrane said. “We had the bases loaded and we just wanted to get a run in and then we put it together and had a good inning to tie it.”
Mahalidge to receive honor
District 11 American Legion president Bob Mahalidge will be inducted to the American Legion Hall of Fame on Friday as part of the state tournament weekend celebration.
Carb/Lake 221 WB/Plains 558
ab r h bi ab r h bi
McGrane ss 2 4 2 1 Plnowski 2b 1 0 0 1
Kawash c 3 1 2 1 CMciejczyk c 4 0 1 1
Daniels 2b/p 2 0 0 0 MMcjczyk 3b 1 1 0 0
Uram 1b 4 0 3 4 Bynon rf/p 3 0 0 0
Mushow lf/p 5 0 1 0 Dunleavy lf 4 1 1 0
Perri dh/3b 4 0 1 1 Murphy ss/3b 3 1 0 0
Fx-Nwcomb rf 2 0 1 0 Tkach rf 1 1 0 0
Wormuth rf 3 1 1 0 Martin ss 1 0 0 0
MNowak cf 3 2 0 0 Bush 1b 2 1 0 1
JNowak rf/2b 1 1 0 0 Kugler cf 4 1 0 0
Totals 29 9 11 7 Totals 24 6 2 3
Carb/Lake 221 101 120 4 — 9
WB/Plains 558 000 500 1 — 6
2B: Uram, Dunleavy, C. Maciejczyk.
Carb/Lake 221 IP H R ER BB SO
Datto 3.1 2 3 3 4 1
Mushow 0 0 2 0 2 0
Daniels, WP 3.2 0 1 0 6 5
WB/Plains 558 IP H R ER BB SO
Hoedl 4.1 8 4 4 6 7
Bynon 0 0 1 1 2 0
MMaciejczyk, LP 2.2 3 4 4 6 3
Contact the writer: jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @sportsTT on Twitter