Bellefonte 11/12s tips State College for D5 title

By rscaife
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Updated: July 8, 2018

Togetherness.

For three consecutive years, the Bellefonte 11/12Us have been together, capturing the 10U and 11U District 5 titles, making them one of the best Bellefonte all-star team in recent history.

In order to capture its third in a row, the Red Raiders would have to go through a spunky State College team that lost its first game in the post season and went on to battle through, making the championship appearance.

Bellefonte pitcher Josh Brown and his defense were strong from beginning to end as he allowed two runs in four and two-thirds inning before handing the ball over to reliever Braedyn Kormanic who finished things off, giving Bellefonte the title with a 9-2 victory.

It was a total team effort as “the Red and White” 12 hits while allowing State College eight.

Highlighting the afternoon for State College was Kody Aurandt as he went yard with a 2-run home run, putting his team on the board. He finished with a 2-for-3 performance.

Bellefonte was led by the 3-for-4 plate performance by Kormanic.

Tristin Heckman also has multiple hits as he collected two hits.

Seven different players in the Bellefonte line up had at least an RBI.

But it was the defense that proved to be the clincher for Bellefonte and manager Jake Corman.

“One of the reasons we took 13 players was so we could have our best defense out there at all times,” Corman said. “We had two shut outs and tonight we gave up just two. That’s been our strong point. So we will continue focus on that.”

In the first inning, both teams controlled each other.

Brown took control of State’s offense in the second as he gave his offense a chance to get things going.

Kormanic got the inning going with a sizzling single that skipped into right field. He was replaced by pinch runner Ethan Tomasacci. Jake Corman followed with a single in the middle.

Brown helped his own cause with a walk to load the bases.

Caleb Stock walked home Tomasacci, giving Bellefonte the 1-0 lead.

Teammate Luke Fisher’s sacrifice fly brought in Corman to give his team a 2-0 advantage as the game went into the third.

Brown once again kept the State College bats at bay in the third.

Grayson Alterio got the inning going with a walk.

Once again, Kormanic came up and blasted yet another single down the line.

Pinch hitter Peyton Vancas hit a clutch single, allowing Alterio to score and Kormanic to third.

Walks were aplenty from there as teammates Josh Brown and Tomasacci picked up crucial RBIs with walks, upping the lead to 5-0.

Heckman singles in one more run, giving them a 6-0 advantage after three.

Bellefonte added three more in the fourth, extending things to 9-0.

State College would not go out without a fight and reached the scoreboard on a 2-run home run by Aurandt.

But it wasn’t enough as Bellefonte was able to shut things down from there, giving them the 9-2 victory and a meeting with Huntingdon next Saturday.