LOCAL SPORTS: Worthington/Kittanning Win Over North Allegheny in Palomino League Showdown

by Jake DeLuca

On Wednesday, the W/K Stangs 17/18 year old Palomino team hosted what might have been their toughest test of the season thus far in North Allegheny.

The Palomino division is a part of the Pony League, a summer baseball program for kids ages 7 to 18. The Palomino division consists of 17 and 18 year-olds who are either getting ready for their Senior year of high school, getting ready to transition to college baseball, or even playing their last game of organized team baseball.

After winning their last two games in spectacular fashion, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 42-0 (yes, this is a baseball score) the Stangs were pushed to their limits.

The game started off well for the Stangs as they jumped out to an early 3-1 lead over North Allegheny. After their hot start, however, the Stangs’ bats cooled off until the fifth inning where they added three more runs to make the score 6-1.

Stangs starting pitcher, Kyle Lazaroff was very impressive against North Allegheny, allowing only one run through six innings.

“Their pitcher was fantastic all game long, he did a good job of filling up the strike zone and attacking our hitters. He had all of his pitches working for him, and he was very efficient,” North Allegheny coach Brad Comport said after the game.

In the sixth inning, JP Parisi was put in the game to relieve Lazaroff of his pitching duties, and that is when the away team made things interesting. North Allegheny put together four runs between the sixth and seventh innings to pull to within one run of tying the game. Stangs coach Paul Lhote knew his team was up for the challenge.

“We try to put them in these types of situations in practice; that way, they’re ready for it during the game. You can’t really coach them during the game, they should know what to do. So far it has paid off, and they’ve been executing during those close games,” Lhote said.

The Stangs held on in the final inning of the ball game, leaving the tying run stranded on third and winning the game 6-5 in what proved to be a photo finish. The Stangs are now 8-1 on the season.

The Stangs next game will be at Fox Chapel, where they will play a double header Sunday, June 19^th starting at 1PM.

 

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