WILLIAMSPORT - The first meeting between Brandywine and Mifflin County in Babe Ruth baseball was memorable.
Memorable for Mifflin County that is.
Mifflin County opened up the 15-year-old Pennsylvania Babe Ruth tournament by beating Brandywine 33-2. The game, needless to say, was over after five innings due to the 10-run rule.
The next game for Mifflin County is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. against the host team, West End of Williamsport.
"This team has been known for its offensive prowess," Mifflin County manager Bernie Howard said. "Tonight it was on display. This team (Brandywine) was 2-2 last year in pool play. We didn't know what to expect. Everybody got to play and all 14 players had at least one hit."
The 33 runs are the third highest of all-time and the most ever for a Mifflin County team in a state tournament. It was also the third-largest margin of victory and the largest ever in a state game.
Mifflin County pounded out 30 hits in the contest and it was the most ever by a Mifflin County 15-year-old squad. It tied the record for most hits by any Mifflin County All-Star team. Two years ago, this same team had 30 hits in a 13-year-old, 48-1 win over Perry County in a District 7 game.
Lucas McKay had the biggest night of all as he went 5-for-5 and drove in five runs and had Mifflin County's only triple of the night.
McKay is just the fifth player ever to get at least five hits in a game. The other four were Dave Cleck in 1970 in a district game; Kenny Wagner in 1997 in a state game; Matt Hilton in 2002 in a district game and Matt Gregg in 2004 in a Mid-Atlantic regional game.
McKay becomes just the 44th player to get four or more hits in an All-Star game in the 58-year history of the league, which includes 835 games. However, it marked the fifth time this year that a Mifflin County player has had four or more hits.
The all-time record is held by Hunter Shuff, who had six hits in a game as a 13-year-old in 2010.
But, the hits didn't stop with McKay.
Max Remy, Jared Michaels, Ross Torquato and Hunter Walker each had three, while Carter Spade, Drew Hannon and Jacob Walters had two. Matt Lutz, Teague Miller and Michaels each had an extra-base hit, all doubles.
Another statistical note in the game came in the third inning, as Lutz had the league's 23,000 official at-bat as he reached on error.
Shuff picked up the win with three innings of work. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out two. Torquato finished as he went two innings, giving up two runs, four hits, walking none and struck out one.
The top defensive play for Mifflin County came in the first inning as Jon Quigley hit a foul ball that Walker raced over from his third base position and jumped against the fence and pulled down for an out.
Brandywine pulled off two double plays during the game, but it also gave up 15 runs and 15 hits in the fifth inning.
