MOUNT CARMEL - Zeke Zsido touched home in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Mount Carmel Lions took Game 1 of the Lower Anthracite Teener League championship over Ralpho Wednesday evening.
While that may sound easy, runs were at a premium in the Lions' 3-2 win as both teams' starting pitchers dueled at Midway Field.
Game 2 is today at 5:30 p.m. at Ralpho's field in the best-of-three series.
Aaron Butkiewicz worked five strong innings, allowing just four hits and one run for the Lions. On the other side, Ralpho's John Wilson gave up a two-run home run to Mike Menapace while striking out four.
"Game 1 is the most important game, and to be up 1-0 at the end of the day is great," Lions manager Jeff Deitz said.
"It's definitely not the finish you're looking for, but we got run-
ners on base and made them make plays. We came up with the winning run when we needed it."
Nate Hunter, on the mound in relief of Wilson in the seventh, gave up a single to Zsido, who then moved up to second when Menapace waited out a four-pitch walk. Both moved up on a steal attempt, forcing Ralpho to intentionally walk Colin Bettleyon to set up the force at home.
Cleanup hitter Gary Bregensir, who ultimately picked up the win with two innings on the mound in relief, drew a bases-loaded walk to bring Zsido home.
The Lions started the scoring when Zsido singled in the third and Menapace drove the third pitch of his at-bat over the center-field fence.
Then the Lions went into hold-on mode, with just two more hits until Zsido led off the seventh.
Ralpho cut the Lions' 2-0 lead in half when Nick Becker sent a towering shot into trees beyond the fence in center.
The Lions' defense was solid behind Butkiewicz, playing error-free ball and scoring an outfield assist when Joey Bergan threw out Kyle Mostik at second when he tried to stretch an outfield single into a double.
Similarly, the Ralpho defense helped out Wilson by turning a double play in the second and making the necessary plays to stay close.
"I thought it was a great pitching duel," Deitz said. "It was two lefties going at it, and both of them threw great. Butkiewicz pitched well in a position that was probably difficult for him to be in. We made plays when we needed to and worked out of a couple jams."
Ralpho tied the game in the top of the seventh when Matt Lupold reached on an error and then stretched a steal of second into a trip to third on an overthrow. He came on fielder's choice off the bat of Mike Klebon.
Game Summary
Ralpho (AB-R-H-BI) - Mostik 3-0-2-0, Klebon 3-0-0-1, Wilson 4-0-1-0, Yoder 3-0-0-0, Becker 3-1-2-1, Crowl 1-0-0-0, Hunter 2-0-0-0, Chaundy 1-0-0-0, Feudale 1-0-0-0, Kranzel 3-0-0-0, Brokus 0-0-0-0, Lupold 3-1-0-0. Total 27-2-5-2.
Lions (AB-R-H-BI) - Zsido 4-2-3-0, Menapace 3-1-1-2, Bettleyon 3-0-1-0, Breginsir 3-0-0-1, Coffman 2-0-0-0, Milewski 3-0-0-0, Bergan 3-0-2-0, Butkiewicz 3-0-0-0, Grabowski 3-0-0-0. Total 27-3-7-3.
Ralpho 000 100 1 - 2 5 2
Lions 002 000 1 - 3 7 4
2B: Bettleyon. HR: Menapace, Becker.
IP H R ER BB K
Ralpho
Wilson 6 6 2 2 1 4
Hunter (L) 0 1 1 1 3 0
Lions
Butkiewicz 5 4 1 1 3 7
Bregensir (W) 2 1 1 0 0 2