Pleasureville beats Dallastown, forces rubber match for Legion championship
Alas, Pleasureville and Dallastown will play once again for the York-Adams American Legion championship.
The two teams squared off Monday, with Pleasureville winning 7-3. At the outset of of the day, Pleasureville head coach Elliott Ness said, the two teams were under the impression that the game would decide the local title. At about 3:30 p.m., however, Ness said he received a text message that if Pleasureville won, the two teams would take the field again Tuesday to decide it all.
Tuesday's game will be at 5:45 p.m., at either Dover High School or Central York High School, Ness said.
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Pleasureville was triumphant Monday in large part because of a six run top of the third. The team seldom hit the ball hard in the inning, but bunted to create opportunities and ran the bases well.
Catcher Colin Parks got the rally going with a bloop single into center field no-man's land. Pleasureville would go on to load the bases and score a run. Then, a bunt laid down by Ben Reed was picked up by Jake Gates, but the pitcher's throw to first went wide and into right field allowing two runs to score.
Pleasureville continued to capitalize with RBI base hits from Beau Burris and Ben Ward, along with an RBI sacrifice fly from Landon Ness.
"We put pressure on the defense, we had guys on base and we were able to do some of the small-ball type stuff," Elliott Ness said.
Dallastown coach Phil Jeanmenne said Gates tweaked his hamstring fielding a bunt in the inning and it affected his performance.
That output was more than enough for Pleasureville starting pitcher Mike Livingston, who displayed a fastball-changeup-curveball mix to throw strikes and keep the Dallastown offense completely at bay.
"He locates pitches well," Elliott Ness said. "He's not a power pitcher, he's a finesse guy. Hits his spot. That's what he lives on, and he does a good job of it."
Dallastown finally woke out of its slumber in the sixth inning, scoring three runs on the strength of solid solid contact from Pete Capobianco (double, run scored in the rally), Darren Sciortino (RBI single) and Keegan Wolf (RBI double).
"Hopefully we can carry that forward to (Tuesday)," Jeanmenne said.
Jeanmenne said his team could throw Nick Parker in the championship. Ness said he was unsure who would take the hill for Pleasureville, and had to check on the availablility of his starting pitchers.
After Tuesday's championship game, American Legion regionals get underway Saturday. Both teams have qualified.