Ellwood City Rallies To Defeat Shenango In Its Little League Tournament Opening Game

Ellwood City rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to defeat Shenango, 5-2, in the 73rd Ellwood City Little League Tournament on Tuesday night.

Ben Sukits smacked the key hit of the game with a three-run triple which erased a 2-1 deficit. Joey Zito and Luca Smith combined for a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts to lead Ellwood City on the mound.

Shenango took an early lead in the top of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Luca Fiore drew a base on balls and moved around the bases on three wild pitches to score to give Shenango a 1-0 lead. Ellwood City scored a solo run in the bottom of the third inning to tie the score.

Shenango regained the lead in the top of the fifth inning. Carter Peluso reached on an error and stole second base and moved third on a wild pitch.  Carter Smith drew a base on balls and on a double steal Peluso stole home to give Shenango a 2-1 lead.

Ellwood City rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning with four runs to take the lead. Kaden Emswiler lead off with a single. Mason Bable followed with a single to send Emswiller to second base. Nate Martin drew a walk to load the bases to set the stage for Sukits. On a 1-2 count, Sukits drove a groundball double scoring all three runners to ive Ellwood City a 4-2 lead. An error on the play allowed Sukits to advance to third base.  Sukits scored on a wild pitch as Ellwood City increased their lead to 5-2.  Smith fanned all three batters in the top of the sixth inning to give Ellwood City the victory.

Starting pitcher Zito fanned nine batters in three innings of no-hit ball and fanned nine batters with one walk. Smith picked up the win with three innings of no-hit pitching and fanned eight batters. Connor Reamer pitched 3-2/3 innings for Shenango and allow one-hit and fanned 10 batters. Sukits led Ellwood City at the plate with a triple and three RBI. Isaiah Thompson, Emswiller, Bable and Bushman added singles. Conner Reamer fanned 8 batters in three innings of work for Shenango. He allowed one hit.

A moment of silence was observed for the Bogacki family who were involved in tragic accident on Saturday night. Nathan and Grant were former players in the Ellwood City Amateur Baseball Federation.

source: www.ellwoodcitybaseball.com