Latrobe, Yough, Bushy Run advance in District 31 American Legion playoffs

By: Paul Schofield
Wednesday, July 7, 2021 | 10:32 PM

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Top-seeded Latrobe combined the four-hit shutout pitching of Payton Henry and a 12-hit attack to defeat Hempfield East, 11-0, in the District 31 American Legion opening round Wednesday.

Latrobe swept the best-of-three series, 2-0. It will play the winner of the Young Township and Murrysville series. Young Township leads the series, 1-0. Game 2 at Murrysville was postponed because of weather.

Young Township and Murrysville are scheduled to play 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Haymaker Park.

Logan Gustafson led the Jethawks attack by going 4-for-4. Grant Dowden was 3-for-3, while Ben Anderson tripled and Jake Bradish and Vinny Amatucci each doubled.

Shane Evans had a double for Hempfield East.

Latrobe snapped a scoreless game with four runs in the fourth inning. It added three in the fifth and four more in the sixth. The game was called after six innings because of the 10-run rule.

Yough 11, Unity 8: Yough rallied from a 6-0 deficit, scoring seven runs in the fourth inning, to sweep the series, 2-0.

Jim Shoman picked up the save in relief of Sean Royer. Yough committed seven errors.

“We were lucky to win,” Yough coach Craig Spisak said. “But Sean and the defense settled down and played well. It was a sloppy game.”

Nate Wilkins and Christian Park each went 3-for-4. Park had two RBIs. Wilkins hit a triple.

Ryan Sickenberger had a triple for Unity. Andrew Person took the loss.

Yough will play Bushy Run in the semifinals, which begins Saturday.

Bushy Run 8, Derry 7: Bushy Run swept Derry in their best-of-three series by rallying for a victory.

Derry banged out five hits in the second inning and scored six runs to grab a 6-2 lead.

Gio Scott tripled, singled and had three RBIs. Liam Hileman had three hits.

A bases-loaded double in the fifth inning by Gavin Berardi tied the score, 7-7.

In the sixth inning, Zach Hoffman walked, stole second and scored on Ryan Scavnicky’s second hit of the game.

Jake Chrise was the winning pitcher.

Josh Ulery had a triple and single for Derry.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.