BASEBALL: Pleasureville forces winner-take-all battle for American Legion playoff title

• Pleasureville downed Dallastown 7-3 on Monday in York-Adams American Legion baseball playoff action.
• The two teams will now meet in a winner-take-all battle for the title on Tuesday evening.
• Pleasureville exploded for six runs in the third inning to take control of the game.

SPRY — When Elliot Ness went to bed Sunday night, he thought that his Pleasureville Post 799 club would only have to play one more game in the York-Adams American Legion playoffs.

Things remained that way until right around 3:30 p.m. Monday, when Ness got word that the Dallastown players voted, as a team, to play again Tuesday if Post 799 beat them Monday.

Welcome to York-Adams American Legion baseball, where things can change quickly.

Because of Dallastown’s wishes, Ness and his team will have to play one more game before they head to Fredericksburg, Lebanon County, for the Region 4 Tournament starting Saturday. That’s because Pleasureville cruised to a 7-3 triumph over Dallastown on Monday behind the pitching of Mike Livingston.

Both teams now have one loss in the double-elimination playoff tournament.

The two rivals will square off again in a winner-take-all battle for the playoff title at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at Central York High School. Regardless of the outcome, both teams have already earned regional berths.

Pleasureville clinched its regional berth by winning the league regular-season title. The other York-Adams berth goes to the league playoff champion. If Pleasureville wins that title, too, the second York-Adams regional berth goes to the league playoff runner-up. That means Dallastown has also already clinched a regional berth. 

With no regional berth at stake for either team, Ness was under the impression that the "if-needed" game set for Tuesday would not be played, and that Monday's winner would be declared the playoff champion.

“When (Dallastown coach) Phil (Jeanmenne) and I talked last Friday, we decided that if we both got (to Monday) that we would only go one game,” said Ness, whose team will now have play its fifth game over four days come Tuesday.

“We both want to save our pitching for regionals, but I guess that changed today. I got a text around 3:30-3:45 saying that we’re going to play another one if (we) win.”

Now Ness, who has recently become quite adept at finding pitching in these playoffs, will have to do so once more Tuesday. After the conclusion of Monday’s victory, Ness sounded unsure of who he will have for what is now a championship contest Tuesday.

Whoever Ness gives the ball to Tuesday figures to be effective. As a team Post 799 (17-1-1) has allowed just 27 runs over 19 games this season.

That strong pitching continued against Dallastown. Livingston shut down the home team through five innings. He did allow three runs to score in the sixth, but that was after his side was leading 7-0.

“Michael came out today and he pounded the zone,” Ness said. “Once we got a lead there he was able to just come right out and go at them.”

A junior-to-be at Central, Livingston mixed in a wide variety of pitches over the contest. He used his change and curve off of his fastball to keep the Dallastown lineup off-balance.

“I knew I was getting the ball and I was ready to go right after them,” he said. “I just pounded the zone. Everything was working for me so it ended up in my favor.”

For the second day in a row Post 799 used a big six-run inning to gain control. The visitors put up six in the second in a 10-0 victory over Gettysburg Sunday, before repeating that feat again Monday in the third.

The fact that they did it against Dallastown’s Jake Gates made it all the more satisfying. Gates shut down Pleasureville last Thursday with six innings of one-hit ball, but Monday was a different story. Post 799 clawed out seven runs by combining five hits to go with five walks and four Dallastown errors to knock Gates out after four innings.

“We found something,” Livingston said. “It just worked out for us.”

Dallastown managed just five hits for the contest, two apiece from Peter Capobianco (two doubles) and Keegan Wolf, who drove in two runs with a double in the sixth inning.

SUSQUEHANNA

LEAGUE GAME

East Prospect 15, Felton 4: At Felton, the first-place Pistons improved to 20-3 behind D.J. Ream and Dan Marano, who each had three hits (including a homer) with four RBIs and three runs scored. Tanner Forry also homered with three runs scored and two RBIs. Jeremy Mohr (two hits, double, two RBIs), Ryky Smith (three hits, three runs), Mark Schauren (two hits, double, RBI) and Anthony Torreullas (two hits, two RBIs) also excelled for the Pistons. Seth Lefever went the distance to get the win, allowing no earned runs and six hits, while striking out four and walking one. The game went six innings. Dan Waldrup hit a grand slam for Felton, while Kevin Ehrman and Ben Kitzmiller each added two hits.

Windsor 10, Hallam 6: At Windsor, Matt Robinson finished with three hits, including a grand slam and a double, to go with four RBIs and three runs scored to power Windsor. The winners also got big offensive evenings from Zach Harrison (two hits, three runs), Cole Delp (two hits, RBI, run) and Luke Greisler (hit, run, three RBIs). Angel Matias (three hits, grand slam, double, four RBIs, run) led Hallam.

Reach Ryan Vandersloot at sports@yorkdispatch.com.