1985 District Tournament

Little League playoffs to start. (1985, July 7). Centre Daily Times, p17.

Little League playoffs to start

The long chase for the State Little League baseball title will begin for teams in the Area 5 tournament tomorrow at 6 p.m.

In lower tier action, Lewistown will entertain Nittany Valley and Bellefonte will invade Suburban.

The Nittany Valley-Lewistown winner will be the host team for Wednesday night action against A.R. Rook of Lewistown.

Upper tier action tomorrow will find Curwensville at Mountaintop, Tri-County at Philipsburg and Four Leaf at Moshannon Valley. Clearfield drew a firs-round bye and will entertain the Mountaintop-Curwensville survivor. The Tri-County-Philipsburg winner visit the Four Leaf-Philipsburg winner Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The double-elimination tourney will determine its Area 5 champion July 22 at Suburban, provided the State College team is not the finalist.

Area 5 Senior Little League playoffs will begin Tuesday, with Moshannon Valley at Tri-County.

Stump, B. (1985, July 9). Suburban dumps Bellefonte, 14-3; Nittany Valley wins. Centre Daily Times, p14.

Suburban dumps Bellefonte, 14-3; Nittany Valley wins

By BILL STUMP

Special to the Times

Suburban Little League All-Stars took their first step toward their third consecutive Area 5 title by beating Bellefonte 14-3 yesterday at Suburban Field.

Led by Dave Blythe's five-hit , 12-strike-out pitching and a 10-hit offensive attack, Suburban jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and built it to 8-0 and 12-1. Suburban scored in each of the first four innings.

"Our team is a hitting team," said Suburban Manager Al Leitzell. "We were really aggressive at the plate and David did a heck of a job pitching."

Suburban scored three runs in the first when Al Witmer led off with a walk, Blythe followed with a single and, one out later, Andy Mitchell and Todd Kulka drew walks to score one run. Rob Yingling then singled to right field to score two more.

Suburban struck again with five runs in the top of the second by using three walks and three hits, the big blow being Kulka's two-run double.

Bellefonte managed to score in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Jeremy Neidigh and Rusty Schrreffler drew two-out walks. Frank Mease hit a soft fly ball to short right field which Suburban second baseman Johnny Bryan got a glove on but dropped when he collided with Yingling, the right fielder. Bellefonte didn't score again until the sixth.

Suburban once again scored in its half of the third inning. Mark Farabaugh led off with a walk, Al Witmer got on on an error and one out later Mike Moriarta doubled to score two runs. Kulka who was 2-for-2 with two RBI and two turns scored, later hit a home run to right center field.

Suburban ended its scoring in the fourth inning on a walk, a single by David Brooks and Witmer's two-run double.

Blythe, who gave up six walks while striking out 12 and yielding just five hits, shut Bellefonte's batter down until the sixth inning. Bellefonte's Justin Brooks led off with a single, Doug Besch followed with a walk, Mease hit into a force-out but the ball was thrown into center field and Besch scored. Zach Wilson doubled to score Mease. Matt Hardy singled to put two men on but Blythe ended the game by forcing a ground ball.

"I don't think anyone has won the district (Area 5) three years in a row," Leitzell said. "This team is a better practice team than the last two, but whether that can translate into another title is the question, I'm optimistic."

Leitzell plans to use Chris Campbell as his starting pitcher tomorrow night at 6 against Pleasant Gap at Suburban Field. Bellefonte plays on Friday against the loser of tomorrow's Nittany Valley - A.R. Rook game.

Stump, B. (1985, July 13). N. Valley 2, Bellefonte 1. Centre Daily Times, p15.

N. Valley 2, Bellefonte 1

Matt Steindl hurled a two-hitter while Greg Gilbert deleivered a run-scoring single in the sixth to lift Nittany Valley to a 2-1 win over Bellefonte in last night’s Area 5 Southern Tier Little League action.

Steve Nelson rapped out three hits while Greg Gilbert added a pair in the winning 10-hit attack for Nittany Valley.

“Matt Hardy (Bellefonte) pitched a good game”, said Nittany’s Coach Frank Clemente, “but Matt (Steindl) was just outstanding both pitching and defensively. He allowed just the two hits and made three great plays in the field.

“I was pleased with our pitching and defense but, again, we couldn’t get the timely hit.”