HS BASEBALL: Honesdale routs Old Forge for Lackawanna Division II title
May 20—DUNMORE — Old Forge pitcher Ryan Kissolovege was one strike away from getting out of the first inning unscathed.
Trent Gombita wouldn't let him.
Honesdale's lefty cleanup batter crushed an 0-2 pitch over the short porch in right field at Schautz Stadium for a two-run home run, sending the Hornets on their way to a 15-0, four-inning victory over the Blue Devils in the Lackawanna League Division II playoff Friday.
Winning pitcher Joseph Curreri tossed a one-hit shutout and helped himself with three hits as Honesdale (17-4) captured its first division title since 2001.
"It's been 22 years, so we were hungry for it," Honesdale coach Ernie Griffis said. "That's a long time. We're excited to give the community a league title today and hopefully setting up for more in the coming weeks."
After Curreri retired Old Forge in the top of the first inning, Nathan Hugaboom led off the bottom of the first with a double and was sacrificed to third by Peter Modrovsky.
Kissolovege struck out the next batter and got ahead of Gombita 0-2. But, he hung a slider and Gombita jumped on it to give the Hornets a 2-0 lead.
"I had a pretty bad swing on the pitch he threw me for the second strike," Gombita said. "So I kind of knew from that he was going to throw me that the next pitch. I was just sitting and waiting for it. He left it high and inside and as soon as it touched the bat, I knew it was crushed.
"It just sparked hit after hit after that. It kind of set a baseline and we just kept rolling from there."
Nate Greene followed with a walk and Curreri beat out an infield single. Jackson Morton smacked a two-run triple to the left-center field gap, then scored on a balk, giving the Hornets a 5-0 lead after one.
"Realistically, that was the only bad pitch (Kissolovege) threw," Old Forge coach Tony DiMattia said of Gombita's home run. "They went down and got the ball. You've got to give them credit, they hit.
"We knew coming in that we'd have to be pretty perfect because we needed to get length today out of Ryan as much as we could. But they jumped him early."
A five-run cushion was more than enough for Curreri. The senior and Hofstra University commit threw 53 pitches, 35 for strikes. He allowed just two Blue Devils to reach base — a walk to Josh Spindler leading off the second and a one-out single to Joe Granko in the fourth. He struck out three.
"I just really tried to ride the momentum of the first inning and keep it pumping," Curreri said. "I utilized my changeup a lot more today. The slider was working, too. I was throwing the inside fastball good as well."
In the bottom of the fourth, Honesdale sent 12 batters to the plate and scored 10 to put the game away via the 15-run mercy rule.
Hugaboom started it with a leadoff home run to right. Modrovsky walked and advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. One out later, Gombita was hit by a pitch. Greene reached on an error, allowing Modrovsky to score. Curreri singled to load the bases and end Kissolovege's day.
Frank Pero relieved and his first pitch was wild, enabling pinch-runner Travis Beisner to score. Morton walked to reload the bases and Grant Tonkin followed with a two-run single.
Jake Mundy was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Hugaboom walked to force home a run, Modrovsky had a two-run single and Max Mickel a two-run double to make it 15-0.
"This is a good push forward for us for the playoffs next week," Gombita said. "It gives us a spark, especially with a great win like that."
Honesdale is the No. 1 seed in the District 2 Class 4A playoffs, which begin Wednesday.
Old Forge (14-7), which played its fourth game of the week Friday, is the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A tournament, which opens Tuesday.
"Today doesn't define us," DiMattia said. "Our focus this week was to get the No. 1 seed in 2A and we did, which gives us the bye. That sets us up where we only have to win two games to win a district championship and everybody else has to win three. That was our main focus this week. Get the three wins we needed for the district seeding and we did."
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