MILROY - With the Mifflin County Babe Ruth season inching toward the halfway point, it looks like Lewistown is in firm control of first place, while Beaver Springs and Reedsville are in a dogfight for second place.
The West now has a 13-0 record and has a two and half game lead over 10-2 Reedsville. Beaver Springs is three games out of first with a 9-2 mark.
Today at 6 p.m., Reedsville travels to the Springs for a battle between the second and third place teams.
Burnham 5, Belltown 2
BURNHAM - Burnham's Jack Packer tossed a no-hitter in the only game played Sunday, beating Belltown 5-2.
Since May 6, when Burnham lost to Yeagertown, 21-1, it has won three out of four games and trailed league-leading Lewistown by just one run going into the seventh inning in what ended as an 11-6 loss.
Packer, a 14-year-old, struck out nine and walked four. Both of the Belltown runs came on Burnham errors.
Belltown scored its first run in the second as Alec Smith reached on an error with two out. Nate Horne walked and Smith scored when Burnham made miss played a fly ball off the bat of Austin Erb.
In the fifth, Belltown took a 2-1 lead as Zach Hostetler reached first on a walk, stole second and scored when Ross Underhill reached on an error.
Burnham scored a run in the first as Tyler Powell singled, stole second and scored on Packer base hit.
But from that point on, Smith, the Belltown pitcher, matched zeroes on the scoreboard with Packer.
Finally, in the sixth inning, Burnham scored four runs on four hits. Packer had an RBI single and Jeremy Stunden followed with a two run base hit. Jordon Benner knocked in the final run with a single.
It was the second time this year that Belltown was no-hit - Peyton Reesman of the West did it back on May 15.
Saturday's games
Reedsville 11, Strodes Mills 8
Reedsville 11, Strodes Mills 1
MILROY - In a makeup from a previous rain out, Strodes Mills had the game tied, 3-3 after five innings, but Reesdsville pulled out the win, 11-8.
With the game tied, Reedsville had to go to two of its top pitchers, Cade Attick and Dakotah Schlegel.
Attick came in the with two men on and no outs and got Reedsville out of the jam without Strodes Mills scoring a run. The 13-year-old threw two more scoreless innings until Strodes Mills scored a run in the sixth and had runners on first and third with one out.
Schlegel got the final two outs of the sixth. Attick finished by giving up two runs on two hits in the seventh.
Reedsville finished with 12 hits and scored four times in the seventh to take an 11-6 lead. Although the game was played in Milroy, Strodes Mills was the home team.
Hunter Walker, who finished with three hits, knocked in two of the runs in the seventh.
Walker finished with four RBIs. Nate Koller also had a big game with the bat as he had four hits. Reedsville's other multiple hitter was Jared Michaels with two hits, including a double in the fifth inning.
Luke Amspacker, Andrew Bernstein and Kevin Cahill each had two hits for Strodes Mills. Cahill had an RBI double in the second inning.
Walker pitched a complete game for Reedsville in the second game of the doubleheader as he gave up only five hits in an 11-1 triumph.
Walker only had to go five innings because of the 10-run rule. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter.
Andrew Larson had three of the five hits for Strodes Mills. Derrick Kepner had Strodes' only extra-base hit, a double.
Reedsville pounded out 16 hits with Schlegel and Michaels each getting three. Drew Kline and Will Fox each had two hits. Keenan Walker, Kline and Koller each had doubles; Koller's was the game winner in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Reedsville's last doubleheader sweep came on June 24, 2009, against McVeytown.
The win for Reedsville was its 10th of the season and it now has won at least 10 games every season since 1977. The second-longest current streak is Lewistown's at 12 years.
Lewistown 12, Yeagertown 8
YEAGERTOWN - Lewistown had seven players with at least two hits on Saturday as it downed Yeagertown, 12-8.
The win kept the West undefeated at 13-0; it now has won 34 in a row. For Yeagertown, it ended a tough stretch as it had to play all three of the top teams last week.
Despite the difference in hits (Lewistown had 15, while Yeagertown had five), the West made some costly mistakes that kept Yeagertown in the game.
In the fourth inning, Yeagertown scored four runs on no hits as Lewistown had three errors in the inning. And again in the seventh inning, the West had another miscue that led to another Yeagertown run.
The seven players for the West with two hits were Max Remy, Isaiah Kearns, Lucas McKay, Peyton Reesman, Blaise Roush, Teague Miller and Joanah Schultz. Both of Kearns' blasts were triples.
Devin Ammerman and Zack Knepp each had two hits for Yeagertown. Ty Hunter had a double in the third inning and Ammerman had a triple in the fourth.
Yeagertown's Knepp made all three put outs in center field in the seventh inning, two of them diving catches.
Yeagertown manager Fred Zook marked another milestone as he managed his 749th game (including All Stars) to move into second place, passing the late Bob Reigle of Reedsville. The all-time leader is Belleville's Bill Corbin with 865.
Belleville 10, Milroy 9
MILROY - Coming into the Sarturday game between Milroy and Belleville, the two teams were evenly matched. Milroy was a half a game ahead in the standings with a 6-5 record, while Belleville was right behind at 6-6.
The game turned out to be as close as the standings on Saturday night. Belleville won 10-9.
Ross Torquato picked up the win for Belleville as he went six innings. Torquato gave up just six hits, walked three. He struck out eight including three of the last four men he faced to close out the victory.
Belleville led 10-5 going into the last inning, but its defense committed three errors along with a hit from Matt Lutz and a walk as Milroy scored four times and had the tying run on second base when Torquato got the game ending strike out.
Milroy's Drew Hannon had his thrid home run of the year in the first inning, a solo shot tying the game at 2-2.
Belleville finished with nine hits as Trent Yoder and David Walker each had two. Belleville's big inning came in the third as it scored four times with Kyle Harshbarger driving in two runs with a single.
However, the key to the game was Belleville's defense or lack of as it committed 11 errors for the game.
Beaver Springs 15, McVeytown 5
MCVEYTOWN - Powered by two home runs, Beaver Springs beat McVeytown, 15-5, on Saturday. The game ended after six innings.
Hunter Shuff had a solo blast to left field in the third inning and Alex Hackenberg had a two run shot in the fourth inning.
The Springs had a total of 12 hits with Shuff, Hackenberg, Tyson Troutman and Adrian Martin each getting two. Hackenberg, Martin, Josh Zimmerman and Tyler Arbogast each had doubles.
Aaron Sharp picked up the win for the Springs with three innings of work. He allowed one hit, struck out one and walked two.
McVeytown scored four runs late in the game as Drew Harshbarger and Lucas Harshbarger combined for doubles in the fifth inning for a run and Drew Harshbarger had another two base hit in the fourth. McVeytown finished with five hits against two Beaver Springs pitchers, Sharp and Zane Leister.
