District 24 Little League: Tri-Valley storms past Ashland to win Major Division title
Tri-Valley poses with the District 24 Little League Major Division championship banner after defeating Ashland 9-2 in Sunday's title game (Photo by Leroy Boyer).
ASHLAND — Tri-Valley manager Guy Julian huddled his all-star squad near the dugout for one final pep talk.
“Do you want it?” he shouted.
“Yeah,” his players responded loudly.
“Then take it!” Julian said.
The Hegins Valley squad didn’t waste any time following their skipper’s advice.
With a three-run first inning setting the tone, Tri-Valley rolled to a 9-2 victory over Ashland in Sunday’s District 24 Little League Major Division championship game at Ashland’s Rebuck Field.
The victory gives Tri-Valley its third District 24 Little League Major Division crown overall (2012, 2021) and advances the squad to the Section 3 Tournament, set to begin later this week.
“I’m super excited. The boys played really hard,” Julian said. “We just chipped away, chipped away, chipped away. That’s what Tri-Valley squads have always done. We get ahead a little bit and just kept grinding.”
The home team after the pre-game coin flip, Tri-Valley jumped ahead with three runs in the bottom of the first, then added two more in the second to build a quick 5-0 lead. The Hegins squad put the game away with a four-run fourth to go up 9-0.
Ashland, looking for its first Major Division title since 1999, was hurt by five errors. Ashland had allowed just four runs in its five games of the tournament prior to Sunday.
In the first, Daniel Dieffenbach and Blake Becher had RBI singles while Bryson Boyer plated another run when his grounder to short was misplayed.
In the second, Tri-Valley capitalized on three Ashland errors to score a pair of two-out runs. The bottom of the order did the damage, with No. 10 hitter Deklon Zettick reaching on an error, No. 11 hitter Camdyn Stiely reaching on an error and No. 12 hitter Cole Johnson delivering an RBI double.
In the fourth, Brayden Graver started the inning with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Grayden Camden and Zettick reached base safely before Stiely had a two-run single and Johnson followed with another RBI single.
The bottom three players in Tri-Valley’s 12-man batting order (remember, every player on the roster bats in Little League) combined to reach base safely all six at-bats, scored four runs and had four RBIs.
Johnson, the 12th-man in the order, was 2-for-2 with a single, double and two RBIs.
“Cole Johnson, double leadoff …,” Julian said, holding a game ball he said was going to Johnson. “There’s a young man … it’s hard to believe. He has a high batting average, he doesn’t complain about being in the 12 hole, from the very first game.”
Dieffenbach pitched the first three frames for Tri-Valley, allowing just two hits. Ryken Maurer, who hit a big three-run homer in Saturday’s semifinal win over Blue Mountain, tossed the final three.
Ashland’s two runs came in the fifth when Jonah Leib and Remington Stehr had singles and Justin Fetterolf delivered an RBI groundout.
It all added up to a second straight District 24 crown for this group of Tri-Valley all-stars after they won the 9-11-year-old title last year.
“I’m super proud of my boys,” Julian said. “Back-to-back champs.”
District 24 Little League
Major Division Championship
At Ashland
Ashland (5-1) — 000 020 — 2 / 4 / 5
Tri-Valley (6-1) — 320 40x — 9 / 9 / 2
McElhenny, Leib (2), Monahan (4) and Stehr; Dieffenbach, Maurer (4) and Ulinitz, Becher (4). WP — Dieffenbach. LP — McElhenny.
HITS: Ashland — Monahan, Leib, Stehr 2. Tri-Valley — Julian, Dieffenbach, Maurer, Hughes, Becher, Graver, Stiely, Johnson 2.
2B — Dieffenbach, Becher, Hughes, Johnson.
