Kittanning 11-12s bow out of tournament

The Kittanning 11- and 12-year-old all-stars' run in the Pennsylvania Little League Baseball postseason ended Monday night with their second loss in the Section 4 tournament.

Kittanning fell, 14-0, to Huntingdon in four innings. The loss knocked Kittanning out of the four-team, double-elimination tournament held just outside of Harrisburg in Camp Hill.

"I think sometimes when you're four hours away from home, it's one of those things that can be a little tough on them," coach Brian Ploski said.

Kittanning won the District 7 title last week to advance to the section round. The team last appeared in the section tournament in 2007, when it reached the title game but lost to State College.

The 11 boys responsible for the tournament run were Nick Benvenutti, T.J. Corson, Zane Dudek, Eli Hickman, Tyler Johnson, Brian Kline, Zack Kutch, Jonathan Patcyk, Hunter Ploski, Dawson Porter and Tanner Witenski.

Huntingdon, the District 11 champion, defeated Kittanning, 10-3, on Saturday. Kittanning bounced back with a 9-5 win over District 5 champion Bellefonte on Sunday.

The Kittanning-Huntingdon rematch was slated to start at 6 p.m., but a storm during the first inning delayed the game almost 45 minutes, said Ploski, who noted the unfortunate timing of the delay.

"(Huntingdon) got to bat first, so they got up on us real quick," Ploski said. "They were pumped, and we were down."

The loss brought tears to the eyes of a few boys, the coach said. But he commended his players for their passion and commitment.

"They were all excellent," Ploski said. "They all had excellent attitudes. They wanted to be there to play baseball.

"They definitely got a lot of good experience out of it. I mean, we were in the top 24 in the state."