YOUTH: RTL MINORS BASEBALL FALLS TO ATHENS IN EXTRA INNINGS (2024-07-07)

Northern Tier Sports Report
SAYRE — For six innings RTL went toe-to-toe with Athens and both teams were even. Then, in the top of the seventh, RTL got stuck in an inning they couldn’t get out of as Athens rattled off 16 straight runs to win the District 15 Minors All-star baseball title 27-11.

RTL jumped out with five runs in the bottom of the first, but Athens came back with five runs in the top of the second.

RTL retook the lead with a run in the bottom half of the inning, but Athens kept pace with a run in the top of the third.

A 2-run bottom third by RTL put them back up 8-6. Athens cut it to 8-7 with a run in the top of the fifth, but two more runs by RTL in the bottom half of the inning saw they build a 10-7 lead.

Athens would take their first lead with a 4-run top sixth inning, going up 11-10, but Brantley Cron extended the game for RTL, hitting a home run to notch the game up at 11-all.

Then came the top of the seventh as Athens pulled away for the district championship.

Emerson Clouse (4-for-4) had a double with three runs scored and 2-RBI as Weston Maines (2-for-4) had a triple, a home run, 4-RBI, and two runs scored.

Ethan Shaffer (3-for-4) scored and drove in a run as Cron (1-for-2) scored twice with his home run.

Cayden Benjamin (1-for-2) scored and drove in a run as Wesley Carr (1-for-4) and Elijah Rought both crossed home.

Grayson House (1-for-3) and Eli Howard (1-for-3) each had hits.

Nine different RTL players saw the mound, with Clouse starting. He went 1 1/3-innings with four strikeouts.

Carr then came on for the next 2 2/3-innings with one strikeout, followed by Cron getting a strikeout in an inning of work.

Shaffer would toss one-third of an inning, striking out one, followed by Forrest Fisk going an inning with two strikeouts.

Benjamin would toss one-third of an inning with a strikeout, as Maines, House, and Rought all pitched after him, with Rought getting the final out.

Elliott Campbell was behind the plate for all of them, catching 206 pitches in the upper-80 degree heat.

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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