S.W. JACK, MARION CENTER OPEN WITH SEMIFINAL WINS IN YOUTH LEGION PLAYOFFS

YOUTH LEGION

The Indiana County Youth Legion playoff semifinals opened last with S.W. Jack routing Homer City Post 493 and Marion Center holding off Mahoning Valley.

S.W. Jack scored 3 runs in the first inning and 6 in the second on the way to an 11-0 six-inning win over Homer City. Brady Oakes had quite a night, pitching five two-hit shutout innings, striking out nine, while he also drove in three runs and stole five bases. Riley George drove in a couple of runs with a hit off the fence and Peyton Mamros cleared the bases with a three-run double.

Marion Center scored a run in the first, three in the third, and two more in the 6^th to take a 6-0 lead, then had to hold off Mahoning Valley for a 6-5 win. Tyler Phillips drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder in the first inning, and he hit a two-run inside-the-park home run in the third. Cole Adamson had a run-scoring single in the third to make it 4-0 and MC added a sacrifice fly by Hayden Fox and an RBI single by Troy Slovinsky in the 6^th.

Mahoning Valley got three in the 6^th, highlighted by a Gavin Jacobson two-run single, and they scored two more in the 7^th on a two-out, two-run single by Camden Fischer before Jaxson Davis got Jacobson to ground out to end the game.

Hayden Fox, Cole Adamson, Tyler Phillips, and Theo Barry all had two hits for MC and Trent Slovinsky got the win with three innings of shutout work on the mound, giving up one hit and striking out five.

SENIOR LEGION

Homer City Post 493 scored five runs in each of the first three innings on the way to a 20-11 win over Derry. HC actually trailed 7-5 after one inning, but the offense was rolling from the start. Rocco Cosentino had three hits, a double and two triples, and drove in two runs. Braden Dunn was 3-for-3 with a double and two runs driven in. Luke Rowe had two hits, with a double and four RBIs. Brayden Rado, Tristan Redinger, and Michael Krejocic all had two hits.

It wasn’t the cleanest game…Homer City committed 6 errors and their pitchers walked ten. Derry had four errors and their pitchers walked six.