Another Blowout For Back Mt. National/ Fourth Straight Rout Is Worth Winners Bracket Final Vs. Back Mt. American

By JOHN ERZAR [email protected]
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Page: 1B

One great opportunity was squandered for two-time defending District 16
Little League champion Back Mountain National on Monday.

Many smaller ones, though, added up quite quickly.
Scoring in all five innings – and eventually getting a big offensive
outburst – National defeated Newport Township 12-0 in five innings in a
winners bracket semifinal.

Kevin Gilbert’s three-run homer to center field with two outs in the bottom
of the fifth ended the game due to the 10-run rule. Marc Noyalis had an RBI
double for the first of four runs in the inning.

National will now host Back Mountain American in the winners bracket final
at 6 p.m. Friday. American defeated Exeter 5-2 in the other semifinal.
National manager Scott Jenkins said it was the first time the two Back
Mountain teams will meet in a winners bracket final.

Meanwhile, Newport Township will host Plains at 6 p.m. tomorrow in a losers
bracket semifinal.

“(The loss) won’t bother them,” said Newport manager Dean Myers, whose team
has defeated two of the other three teams in the losers bracket. “We’ve only
been this far twice in the last 20-some years, I think one time in ’87 and
another time in ’78. If we win one more game, it’s the farthest we’ve gone in


A milestone wasn’t going to be reached Monday.

National’s Zach Yursha opened the game with a triple and scored when Austin
Carr followed with a single. Marc Noyalis and Gilbert followed with singles to
load the bases. Newport pitcher John Lukaszewski, though, retired the next
three batters.

“We started the last game 1-0 and that was the first time we were losing,”
Jenkins said. “We left the bases loaded and second-and-third in that game
before we broke through.”

National has broken through numerous times during the tournament, and
Monday was the fourth time it scored in double digits in four games. It has
outscored its opponents 44-1.

The team, though, is the defending champion in name only as all 12 players
are new.

“The first speech I gave them I told them they are two-time defending
champs,” Jenkins said, “but look around and those kids aren’t there.”

The newcomers, though, picked up right where their predecessors left off.
Carr finished with two hits and three runs scored. Noyalis was 3-for-4 with
two RBI. Drew Schaub and winning pitcher Hayden Jenkins each had an RBI
single, T.J. Shultz came off the bench to hit a double and a two-run homer and
Jeff Heath had an RBI.

“They are always a quality program,” Myer said.

“We’re just happy to be here. We only draw from about 18-20 kids and are
playing against big-time teams.”

The offense obscured somewhat a strong pitching performance by Hayden
Jenkins. He struck out 10 and allowed just two hits, a single by Newport’s
Lucas Domulevicz in the first and another by Jeff Waugh in the second.

For more photos, visit www.timesleader.com.