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Post 33 wins Region 7 title

CELEBRATING — The Jefferson County Teramana Post 33 Legion baseball team celebrates after winning the Region 7 American Legion Baseball Tournament over Toronto Post 86 on Monday. (Photo by Joe Catullo)

TORONTO — The Jefferson County Teramana Post 33 Legion baseball program has a long and storied history.

The team added another chapter Monday as it shut out Toronto Post 86, 10-0, in six innings in the Region 7 Legion Baseball Tournament final at the Knights Baseball Complex.

“Winning the regional title is just the first step toward our goal this season,” Post 33 (22-18) head coach Anthony Pierro said. “Coming into the season, our goal was to reach the state tournament. In order to do that, we had to win the regional tournament. The guys came up here and competed. The guys are fired up. A lot of these guys have never played in the state tournament before. They are excited about being able to go to the state tournament.”

The state tournament will be held from July 25-29 at Beavers Field in Lancaster.

The regional title is the program’s first as Jefferson County. The team name was changed from Steubenville to Jefferson County prior to the start of this season. Post 33 won the regional title last year.

“It is nice to be able to get over the hump,” Pierro said. “It is nice to make it back to the state tournament. The guys are excited. We think we can make a run this season.”

Jefferson County scored in all six innings, while Toronto was limited to just two hits. Tristan Haught collected the victory for Post 33. He went the distance striking out 11, while walking one.

“It is tough going up against a pitcher like that,” Toronto (13-12) head coach Steve Sninchak said. “It was the way the bracket fell. It was a luxury for them to be able to throw their No. 1 pitcher in the first game. That makes it tough. It is a long road coming out of the loser’s bracket. We had to face their best in Game 1.

“We had a couple of runners on, and you have to take advantage of that. We didn’t. We couldn’t come up with the clutch hit. We left runners on base. You have to score runs in those situations, especially against a pitcher like Tristan. It is hard to battle back.”

Isaac Schmitz took the loss for Post 86. He struck out three, walked two and allowed four runs on three hits. Logan Torma came on to start the fifth and pitched the rest of the game. He did not record a strikeout, walked three and allowed six runs on two hits.

“Our pitchers did a good job of preventing a big inning early on,” Sninchak said. “They gave us a chance. We just could not come up with a big hit when we had runners in scoring position. We have to take advantage of those situations.”

Neither team was able to produce many hits as Jefferson County out-hit Toronto 5-2.

For Post 33, Connor Hyndman contributed a single, a double and an RBI. Nicky Zorne ended up with a single and two RBIs. Joey Nave collected an RBI double. Michael Pierro produced an RBI single, and Haught collected an RBI.

Cole Bodnar and Zac Gulczynski each singled for Post 86.

Jefferson County tallied a run in each of the first four innings before scoring two in the fifth and four more in the sixth.

“Tristan was Tristan,” Pierro said. “The only thing we ask of our pitchers is to throw strikes. We want our pitchers to throw strikes and for our defense to field the ball. Tristan picked up our defense today, and he picked up our hitters, too.

“Offensively, we just want to put the ball in play. Our team speed is above average. We want to put the ball on the ground, so we can beat the ball out or use our speed to put pressure on the defense forcing them to make mistakes. We did that today.”

Jefferson County is going to try and play a couple of games against Wheeling prior to the start of the state tournament.

Jefferson County 10, Toronto 0

Toronto 0-0-0 0-0-0 — 0 2 5

Jefferson County 1-1-1 1-2-4 — 10 5 3

TORONTO (13-12) Schmitz (LP, 4IP, 4R, 3H, 3K, 2BB), Torma (1 1/3IP, 6R, 2H, 0K, 3BB) and Marelli.

JEFFERSON COUNTY (22-18): Haught (WP, CG, 0R, 2H, 11K, 1BB) and Bielawski.

TWO OR MORE HITS: Toronto none; Jefferson County 1 (Hyndman 2). DOUBLES: Toronto none; Jefferson County 2 (Hyndman, Nave). TRIPLES: Toronto none; Jefferson County none. HOME RUNS: Toronto none; Jefferson County none. RBIs: Toronto none; Jefferson County 6 (N. Zorne 2, Hyndman, Haught, M. Pierro, Nave).

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