Hempfield East opens state legion tournament with a victory

Hempfield East got three RBIs from Noah Sweeny and four pitchers scattered nine hits in a 6-2 victory over Paxton on Saturday during Day 1 of the Pennsylvania American Legion tournament at Showers Field in DuBois.

It was a pair of three-run innings — one in the first inning and the other in the fifth — that propelled Hempfield East to a Day 2 match-up for the second-consecutive year against South Parkland, a 15-0 winner against Bristol.

Hempfield East lost to Swoyersville, 3-0, in last year’s tournament. Swoyersville, located near Wilkes-Barre, defeated French Creek Valley, 7-5.

Hunter Eperesi’s two-run single scored Dajauhn Hertzog and winning pitcher Andrew Rosenberg for a quick 2-0 lead.

Eperesi moved to second on a groundout by Matt Wicker and to third on a Reed Hipps single. He scored on a Sweeney groundout.

Paxton, located near Harrisburg, scored an unearned run in the first inning and got an RBI double from Josh Dougher in the third inning to make it 3-2.

Hempfield East then took advantage of three fielding errors in the fifth inning to snag a 6-2 lead.

Eperesi was hit by a pitch. Wicker and Hipps reached on errors to load the bases, and Sweeney doubled home a pair. Hipps then scored on the third error of the inning.

Rosenberg, Hipps, Sweeney and Wicker pitched for East. Joel Sneeringer took the loss.

Wicker had a double for Hempfield East, and Reilly Shafer had two hits for Paxton.

Last year, Hempfield East opened the tournament with a 4-1 win against Meadville.