Bushy Run stays unbeaten in American Legion baseball regional tournament

District 31 champion Bushy Run stayed unbeaten in the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Region 7 tournament Sunday, while Latrobe and Murrysville suffered their first losses.

Pool play continues Monday with four games. Bushy Run (2-0) faces St. Michael (0-2) at 12:30 p.m. at Governor’s Park in Bellefonte. The other games will be played at Bald Eagle Area High School in Milesburg. Bedford (1-1) faces Huntingdon (0-2) at noon, Latrobe (1-1) battles Philipsburg (2-0) at 3 p.m., and Murrysville (1-1) meets Beech Creek (1-1) at 6.

Sunday began with the finish of the Murrysville/St. Michael game, which was suspended Saturday night.

Cole Brinker drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of the eighth inning, and Murrysville held on for a 9-8 victory.

Murrysville used a five-run first inning to grab a 5-1 lead, and the Eagles stretched their lead to 7-1 after three innings.

St. Michael then scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, highlighted by a grand slam by Andrew Miko.

Blake Bertucci (double, two singles) and Ryan DalCanton (triple, two singles) had three hits each for Murrysville. Max Bernadowski (double, single), Owen Sinclair (two singles), Eric Hutsko (double), Josh Hudak (double) and Brinker (double) contributed to the 14-hit attack.

Bushy Run 14, Murrysville 5 — Bushy Run scored seven runs in the first inning and breezed to an easy win.

Four pitchers — Brandon Roher, Tyler Freas, Peyton Bigler and Chuck Fontana Jr. — scattered nine hits.

Jason Sabol drove in three runs, and Brody Hoffman drove in two runs with a triple and single. Bigler had two doubles and two RBIs, Fontana doubled, Matt Lichota had two RBIs, Gavin Good had two hits and Freas had two hits.

Murrysville used six pitchers in the game.

Bedford 9, Latrobe 4 — Bedford got home runs from winning pitcher Cal Lesminger, Joey Huxta, Nate Wysong and Garrett Merrick and scored five runs in the first inning in defeating Latrobe. Lou Amatucci doubled, and Vinny Amatucci homered for the Jethawks.

Region 6 — Charleroi and New Brighton stayed unbeaten in the Region 6 tournament at Washington & Jefferson. Charleroi defeated rival Belle Vernon, 5-3, and New Brighton toppled Hopewell, 6-4. They will play at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

In the losers’ bracket, Connellsville eliminated Uniontown, 3-2, and Blackhawk knocked out Baden, 11-1. Connellsville will face Belle Vernon at 11 a.m. and Blackhawk tangles with Hopewell at 1:45 p.m. Monday.

In late action on Saturday, Belle Vernon scored nine runs in the seventh inning to shock Blackhawk, 9-6. The Blackhawk staff hadn’t allowed a hit in the first six innings.

Uniontown led Hopewell 1-0 into the seventh inning but fell 5-3.