Kittanning Pawnee Squeeze Out a Win in a Nail-Biter Game

by Jake DeLuca

The Kittanning Pawnee 7/8 year old baseball team took down the rival Kittanning Apache 20-16 in a game that came down to the wire at Montebell field.

In this league, the players are really still trying to grasp the overall feel of the game; this is why the coaches pitch. Coach pitch baseball has its own set of rules, too. In standard little league, after the fourth inning if a team is up by ten or more runs they enact the ten run rule, effectively calling the game for the team who is up by ten or more. However, this is not the case in coach pitch leagues.

“We don’t have a 10 run rule. We bat through the order and once we go through the order we switch sides. If there’s not enough outs to get the opposing team out, then we switch sides once everyone has batted. Some coaches try to push a 5 run rule, but it’s more fun for the kids to bat. That’s what’s going to happen when they get older. If they don’t get them out, then they’re going to keep batting,” Pawnee manager Jim Morrow said.

The game wasn’t always as close as the score indicated. Pawnee had a ten run lead throughout most of this game, from the second inning through the 5th inning. That is when the Apache made it interesting. The Apache team was able to cut the deficit to four runs in the 6th and final inning, but it wasn’t enough to come all the way back.

“They’re usually high scoring, but the kids have a lot of fun. It’s a learning process for everyone. This is the first step up from T-Ball, so all the kids except for one are right out of T-Ball. But they’re doing well for their age, for sure,” said Morrow.

Game times, rosters and more information can be found on the official Kittanning Little League website, www.kllb.org.

 

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