First and foremost

By T.J. Turrisi

July 19, 2008 July 18, 2008 11:37 pm

— The Linesville 9 & 10 baseball all-stars were like a deer in the headlights Friday — they saw it coming, but it was too late.
Meadville dug its way out of a 3-0 hole to earn an 8-3 win and its first District 1 9 & 10 championship at the Crawford County Fairgrounds fields.
In the bottom of the third, Linesville lifted starter Joey Litwin with no outs and a tie score.
Hunter Merritt came to the hill and allowed an RBI single by Curtis Mattocks which ended up being the game-winner.
Meadville added four more runs on three hits in the fourth for the five-run edge.
Linesville scored two in the first on a wild pitch and tacked on one in the fourth with an RBI single by Jared Gallo. Gallo knocked in Taylor Williams, who also reached on a base hit.
Meadville topped Linesville 6-5 in Tuesday’s winner’s bracket final, and head coach Tyrone Brown felt that win was good for the confidence of the team.
“That was a big help, because being in that intense game Tuesday night kept us from getting our heads down,” he said. “We stayed in the game.
“We’ve been doing that all year — battling adversity and coming back and hitting the ball and playing solid defense.”
Meadville winning pitcher Jason Clune went 51⁄3 innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts. He stranded six Linesville runners, which included defusing a bases-loaded timebomb in the fifth.
“Clune pitched a heck of a game,” Brown said. “And our defense came through once again. We are starting to rely on ourselves and becoming a team right now.”
“One through three and their fifth hitter was pretty good,” Clune said. “They have good hitters.
“It was great. I just felt so good, and I don’t know how to explain it.”
Kye Hopkins and Kyle Luben paced the Meadville offense, each going 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Hopkins also recorded a two-run triple for a game-high three RBIs and scored the winning run in the third.
“That was the big hit,” Brown said of Hopkins’ three-bagger. “He’s been a little sluggish, but he came out here and had the game- tying hit for us.”
“We had a good offense; we had good hits,” Hopkins said. “My triple was nice. I thought I hit a home run.”
Catcher Shawn Epps also recorded a double in the second for Meadville.
Litwin took the loss with four earned runs on three hits and four walks in two inning of work.
Williams led the offense by going 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Merritt cracked a double in the first.
Meadville will face the District 10 champion at 4 p.m., Thursday, July 24 to open the Section 1 Tournament at Allegheny-Clarion Valley Little League in Emlenton.