.jpeg "Pittston Baseball continues perfect season, beats Dallas in AAAAA semifinals")
Pittston Baseball continues perfect season, beats Dallas in AAAAA semifinals
By: Nate Johns | Sportzwire | May 23, 2025 | Photo courtesy Sportzwire
Entering their district playoff semifinal game against Dallas, the Pittston Area Patriots had a record of 20-0. They kept their perfect season alive in dominating fashion, scoring a 16-6 win over their division rival Dallas Mountaineers. The win sends the Patriots to their third straight PIAA District Two Class AAAAA championship game.
The Patriots offense fired on all cylinders throughout the entire game. They recorded 16 runs on 14 hits en route to the five inning victory. Seven Patriots batters recorded an RBI. Sophomore Jacoby Hanen led the way with three hits and three RBIs. “I just gotta keep the same approach,” Harnen said following the win, “he throws first pitch, hit curveball, I'm just taking it, waiting for the fastball and tagging the fastball.” Head Coach Paul Zaffuto said of Harnen, “Over the last two weeks, we had 10 days off, when we weren’t playing, and we ended up doing some scrimmage games. We got him some at bats and that really impressed us. So we gave him a shot today and it paid off for us.” Zaffuto also complimented the way Harnen was able to drive the ball, stating “when he gets his pitch, he can really turn on it.” The Patriots also had big contributions from Richard Tonte, Elijah Barr and Beau Widdick, who all recorded multiple RBIs in the game.
The Patriots were also able to put their deep rotation to use as three pitchers did their part. The best part for Pittston was being able to preserve their No. 2 starter TJ Johnson. Johnson will be fully available for the district championship game next week along with Silvio Giardina and Beau Widdick, who both pitched one inning each. Barr started the contest, going three innings and allowing three earned runs while striking out two batters. Zaffuto described the team’s pitching depth as a “luxury” and said, “we are pretty deep on the mound.”
The Mountaineers did not go away quietly however, as they fought back from a scoreless first inning to score in the next three frames. Dominick Zangardi recorded multiple hits and Connor Healey had two RBIs. Zaffuto said, “Dallas gave us their best today when at the plate. I mean, every time we fired, they fired back.”
The Patriots will face the winner of the North Pocono vs Abington Heights semi final scheduled for May 24 at 2:00 PM. The district championship date, time and venue will be announced at a later date.
