Valley Sports Report
OWEGO —The Nichols-Tioga Majors All-Stars beat Ithaca, 16-6 in five innings in the Owego Tournament here Saturday.
Nichols-Tioga scored its 16th run to go up by 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, and tournament rules state that a if a team is winning by ten or more runs after the fifth inning, the game ends.
Trailing 6-4 going into the bottom of the third inning, Nichols-Tioga rallied for five runs to go up 9-6, and kept the runners coming home over the next two innings.
Three Nichols/Tioga batters went 3-for-3 with a walk each to lead the team to victory. Nick Cotto, batting in the lead-off spot, hit two singles and a double and was hit by a pitch to reach base all four of his at-bats. He also scored once and knocked in three runs. Zack Krapf hit two doubles and a single with five RBI and was hit by a pitch. Krapf scored once and stole three bases. Adam Layman hit three singles and walked once. Layman scored three runs and picked up three stolen bases.
Adding to the Nichols-Tioga scoring effort were Jake Evanek, who scored three runs after reaching base four times on walks; Matthew Lounsbury with three runs on two walks and a single; Gabe Hoose using a walk and a single to score twice; Tyler Whitmore after reaching on a base hit; Hunter Singer who scored after being hit by a pitch; and Austin Payne, scoring after reaching base on balls.
Cotto also started on the mound, pitching 2 1/3 innings. He threw a strong second inning, striking out two and catching a line drive hit back at him for a three-up, three-down inning. In total, Cotto struck out three and walked two before Singer relieved him in the third inning to pick up the last two outs by striking out both Ithaca batters. Singer's fourth inning effort saw him strike out two more Ithaca batters while Dylan Rockwell recorded the third out. Evanek closed the game for Nichols-Tioga, going 1-2-3 inning.
Nichols-Tioga was 2-1 in tournament round-robin pool play and advance to play a yet to be determined opponent at noon Sunday in the opening of the double-elimination championship round.
