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ALTOONA -- The Mifflin County Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Stars had a great state tournament in Williamsport. The local All-Stars went 2-2 and finished in third place. Last year as 14-year-olds, the team went 1-3.
For their outstanding play, Mifflin County earned a spot in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Altoona starting on Wednesday.
Mifflin County will open pool play against Delaware at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. On Thursday, Mifflin County will meet the Southern New Jersey champion at 11 a.m. and on Friday, it will close out pool play with a game against the Maryland state champion at 5 p.m.
Teams in the other pool include, Altoona, the Pennsylvania state champion, West End of Williamsport, the second place team in Pennsylvania, the Southern New Jersey runner-up and the Maryland runner-up.
Last year, Bridgewater, New Jersey won the Babe Ruth 14-year-old national title, but they will not be back to defend their title.
The winner of the Mid-Atlantic advances to the Babe Ruth 15-year-old World Series in Glen Allen, Virginia starting on August 11.
This will mark the fourth time that Mifflin County has gone to a regional as a state representative. The other years were 1976, 13-year-olds, third place; 2009, 13-year-olds, third place and in 2021 at the 15-year-old level when Mifflin County was a state runner-up and won the regional and went to the World Series in Eagle Pass, Texas and finished second in the country.
In the 2022 state tournament, Mifflin County (15-year-olds) played good defense and got good pitching in its four games.
Mifflin County only allowed 11 runs and commited just three errors in four games.
"I was pleased with our pitchers in state's" said Josh Snook, the Mifflin County manager, "We did not use everybody on the staff, so we should be ready to go in Altoona."
"I thought our defense was great," Snook said, "We made very few errors and that is what we need to do in the next round."
Mifflin County did not score a lot runs in Williamsport. In four games it had just 18 runners cross the plate.
"Our hitters got off to a slow start," Snook said, "We didn't score a lot of runs in the first two games, but we came to life in the last two games."
Mifflin County beat Scranton, 2-1 and then lost to Altoona, 3-0. The last two games saw Mifflin County beat Broomall-Newtown, 10-0 and was edged by West End, 7-6.
Logan Alexander and Clay Ammon each have six hits, while Hayden Yoder has four. Ammon has smashed three doubles and has driven in four runs, while Yoder has two doubles and a triple and also has four RBIs.
Cole Keister and Aidan Arnold each have a win for Mifflin County on the mound. Mifflin County has used just six pitchers and has a team WHIP of 1.16. Mifflin County has only given up six walks and 24 hits.
"Our coaches are really happy for the players," Snook noted. "They worked hard and this is the reward they got."
Mifflin County goes into the regionals with a 744-328 record.
NOTES -- Mifflin County's record in the regionals is 73-49…Mifflin County's record against Delaware is 5-4… The last time Mifflin County played Delaware was in 2009 in a 13-year-old game in Williamsport and Mifflin County lost 10-3. Mifflin County's last win against Delaware came in 2008 in a 15-year-old game, 15-5, in Syracuse, NY…Mifflin County has a 10-4 record in opening games for 15-year-olds in regionals and has an overall record of 20-9 for all three age groups.