Par-Troy East Two Wins Away From Williamsport

The 11/12 All-Stars trounced Maryland in Game 4 of the . Wednesday by a score of 9-1. The and   moves on to the tourney semifinals on Friday.

The star of the game was catcher Anthony Scannelli, who broke a 1-1 tie by powering a hit over the right field wall at Bristol's Breen Field for a bases-loaded home run in the fifth inning.

The contest against Maryland's West Salisbury team started well for the Parsippany boys.

As the visiting team, PTLLE led off the inning with a double by Emil Matti, who was sent to third on a wild pitch. Dan Ruggiero came to the plate next and earned a base on balls. Benner Uygun followed, grounding out to third and moving Ruggiero to second. Scannelli then grounded out to short, scoring Matti. David Ton also grounded out to short.

Maryland's half of the inning pitted the West Salisbury squad against starting PTLLE pitcher Benner Uygun. Uygun struck out the first batter and the second grounded out. Catcher Scannelli dispatched the final batter of the side.   At the end of the first, it was PTLLE 1, Maryland 0.

In the second inning, Vinny Prezioso and Sarang Amin went down swinging on strikes. Maryland switched pitchers and Kyle Phillips hit a line drive to the new mound man, who grabbed it.   Maryland's Grason Winterbottom homered to tie the game before Uygun successfully garnered a third out.

Par-Troy East's Alex Cavaluzzo struck out to start the third inning. Matti hit a pop fly to center field for the second out.  Ruggiero kept the inning going with a single, but a rally failed to ignite when Uygen popped up the ball to first, ending PTLLE's part of  the inning. Maryland's lead-off batter grounded out to second. The next batter hit the ball to Par-Troy East's first baseman, who made the grab. The next Maryland hitter connected for a single.   Parsippany pitcher Uygun reached his pitch count limit and was relieved by David Ton, who finished up retiring the side. After three, the score remained 1-1.

In the fourth, PTELL's Scannelli was the first out, hitting the ball to third base. Ton received a walk. Prezioso grounded out  to third, moving Ton to second. Steven Scevoli reached first on an error, but DJ Pico, with a fly ball to left field, became the third out. The sides switched, Ton struck out the first two Maryland batters and the third hitter grounded out to third, making a three up, three down fourth. At the end of the inning, the tie held: PTLLE 1, Maryland 1.

The fifth inning proved pivotal for Parsippany. Cavaluzzo started the inning by grounding out to third. Matti was hit by a pitch, earning a walk that was followed by singles by Ruggiero and Uygun loaded the bases. Scannelli came to the plate with bases loaded and hit the long ball over the right field fence, giving Par-Troy East a 5-1 lead. Afterward, Ton grounded out and Prezioso's fly ball to center was nabbed for the final two outs. In Maryland's half of the fifth, one batter reaced base with a single, but all the others were retired.

In the sixth inning, Amin singled and moved to second on  a wild pitch. Pico went down on swinging for the first out. Cavaluzzo then got to first on balls. Matti grounded to short forcing Cavaluzzo to second for the second out. Matti then stole second base. Ruggiero hit a double, scoring two runs for Parsippany. After a Maryland pitching change, the momentum continued: Uygen walked, then stole second. Scannelli, fresh from his fifth-inning grand slam, smacked a single, driving in two additional runs. Ton hit a single. Then Prezioso was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with two outs. Maryland changed pitchers again and the new mound man struck out Amin to end the inning.

The Maryland half of the sixth went uneventfully—the lead-off batter hit a flier to left field followed by a ground out to short for two quick outs. Parsippany's David Ton walked the next batter, who moved to second on a PTLLE error. Dan Ruggiero was brought in to pitch. Catcher Scannelli tossed out the batter for the final out as he tried to get to third. The game was over, with Par-Troy East achieving a final score of 9-1.

In short: Anthony Scanelli drove in seven runs on a grand slam and a single. Reliever David Ton secured the win.

Wednesday's victory may give Par-Troy Little League East the second seed position in the East Regionals semifinals, which will take place Thursday at 11 a.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.

Prior to its Game 4 win, 's squads before .