PA Little League Baseball: Ciccone, Goodman power Blue Mtn. past East Side
(Photo courtesy of Sportzwire.com)
Blue Mountain stays unbeaten at PA state tournament
PITTSTON —- East Side entered Wednesday’s Pennsylvania Little League State Tournament winners’ bracket game against Blue Mountain having not allowed more than two runs in any of its eight previous games.
The Blue Mountain bats made that statistic obsolete in the first inning.
The District 24 champions used a pair of three-run innings to outlast East Side 6-4 at a rainy Jenkins Township Little League Field.
Chase Goodman and Ben Ciccone hit home runs as Blue Mountain collected nine hits to stay unbeaten at the state tournament and advance to Friday’s winners’ bracket final.
“We keep getting contributions from everybody throughout our lineup,” Blue Mountain manager Cory Porrino said. “We practice hard, we continue to practice hard. The kids respond to it well.
“We’ve seen so much pitching over the years that they’re not really intimidated by anybody anymore. It’s been great to see that, that they’re staying in the box and swinging the bat with confidence and getting the timely hits when we need them.”
East Side (8-1), from the West Chester area, had only allowed four runs total in rolling to the District 28 and Section 7 championships. It continued that defensive dominance in Monday’s opening round with a 2-1 victory over Section 4 champion Hollidaysburg.
Blue Mountain (11-2), however, used a little two-out magic in the bottom of the first inning to reverse that trend after East Side scored a run in the top half. Goodman launched a solo homer to tie the game. Ciccone and Anthony Grimminger then drew walks off starting pitcher Ryan Hennessey and Jayse Callaghan singled to load the bases.
Joe Minnick delivered the big blow, a two-run single that put Blue Mountain up 3-1.
After East Side sliced the deficit to 3-2 with a run in the third, Ciccone answered with authority, blasting a three-run homer to make it 6-2. Jacob Gombar had opened the bottom of the third with a single. Goodman added a single two outs later before Ciccone drilled the first pitch he saw from reliever Dillon DiGiulio over the scoreboard in left field.
“It was great. Right off the bat I knew it was gone,” Ciccone said in a post-game interview with Cody Brady from Sportzwire.com. “It was a great pitch … first pitch actually. I liked it so much I crushed it over the scoreboard.
“I made great contact. I lowered my head, put my hands up … I knew it was gone. It was just amazing.”
Blue Mountain finished with nine hits, as Goodman was 3-for-3, Minnick was 2-for-2 and Ciccone, Grimminger, Callaghan and Gombar had hits. Blue Mountain also drew four walks.
Ciccone also got the pitching victory, scattering four hits over four innings of work, giving up two runs, striking out three and walking none. He threw 32 of his 50 pitches for strikes.
The right-hander didn’t know he was going to pitch until just before game time, as Porrino and his staff weighed their options while considering the elements.
Rain has drenched Northeastern Pennsylvania the past two days, with Wednesday’s game being delayed at the outset and steady rain falling over the first few innings. Rain caused Tuesday’s entire schedule to be postponed and Wednesday’s fourth game between Newtown Edgmont and Back Mountain to be postponed.
Porrino didn’t want to start his ace, Goodman, and lose him for a couple of days if the game was stopped midway through. Goodman came in to pitch the final two innings, giving up solo homers to Darren Molineux and Paul Cowperthwait in the sixth that set the final margin.
“The rain has been really tough this week,” Ciccone said. “We haven’t been able to get in a lot of games. Games have been pushed back all week.
“We were going to put Chase on the mound and then me into close, but we didn’t want Chase throw out for the championship, if we make it. It was a great opportunity to go on the mound and start the game.”
Added Porrino: “We knew we were going to have to use him at some point this week. For him to come out and do that against a top-ranked team is great for his confidence. We played good defense behind him, too.”
Ciccone gave a shout out to his fielders, who played error-free defense behind him.
“Chase Goodman with that home run … he pitched, closed the game, did a great job,” Ciccone said. “All the infield, Max (Porrino), Ike (Schneider), Jayse, did a good job fielding balls, Enzo (Ritter) stopping passed balls, the outfielders catching everything.”
The victory puts the Section 6 champions in excellent position heading into the weekend. State tournament officials adjusted the bracket late Wednesday night (see official bracket: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2026/07/29/little-league-baseball-pennsylvania-major-division-state-tournament-brackets-updated-through-game-2/), moving the championship round to Monday and Tuesday, if needed.
That means Blue Mountain will have Thursday off, play Friday, have Saturday off and play either Sunday (if it loses Friday), or Monday if reaches the championship round.
With Thursday off, Blue Mountain will have Grimminger, Goodman and Minnick available to pitch Friday. Ciccone could then come back for Sunday or Monday.
Friday’s opponent, either Newtown Edgmont or Back Mountain, will be playing on back-to-back days.
“It’s good we have Anthony and Chase for Friday,” Porrino said. “Ben would be back for Sunday as well. I think as far as pitching goes, it’s good.
“We’re going to have to practice hard the next couple of days because obviously we’re going to see everybody’s best the rest of the way. Not getting game reps is a disadvantage we have sitting and waiting while some of the other teams are playing, seeing more pitches and getting more at-bats.”
Porrino applauded the efforts of his team’s parents and families, as Blue Mountain has stayed in a Wilkes-Barre hotel the entire week. He said his squad will practice at an indoor facility Thursday morning, then come home for a day before heading back up Interstate 81 for Friday’s game.
“We have good chemistry,” Porrino said. “Part of it was keeping the kids together and avoiding other distractions and just making sure they’re focused on baseball. They’ve sacrificed so much at this point that all the families agreed that we’ll continue to hang out and make the sacrifice until the schedule opens up and we know what’s going on.”
Game Summary
Pennsylvania Little League State Tournament
At Jenkins Township Little League, Pittston
| Teams | 123 | 456 | — | R | H | E | |
| East Side (8-1) | 101 | 002 | — | 4 | 6 | 1 | |
| Blue Mtn (11-2) | 303 | 00x | — | 6 | 9 | 0 |
