MOUNT UNION – Penstan Supply pitcher A.J. Bardalang stranded the bases loaded twice in the first four innings and gave his team a chance to push ahead of Schuylkill West on Tuesday.

The Altoona entry couldn’t break the 1-1 deadlock, though, and West pushed ahead with two runs in the fifth to capture the state championship of the VFW Teener Under-16 Tournament in Mount Union, 7-1.

“That is a big part of it,” Altoona coach Tony Sinisi said of not capitalizing on those moments. “This team is a very good team that we played against here. They hit the ball and their pitchers did super well. We played flat our first game against them and the last game. We just couldn’t get the bats rolling. All the games in between, we hit the ball really well, scored a lot of runs and left a lot of guys on.”

Both teams connected for a run in the first inning.

Schuylkill West got one on a Dawson Maurer RBI double, and Altoona plated one on Ian Yon’s run-scoring single to make it 1-1 after one inning.

In the second and third innings, it was Altoona’s Bardaling on the mound that kept the game that close.

In the second, Schuylkill West loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of walks and a single from catcher Peyton Poletti.

Bardalang got out of it, though, when he got leadoff hitter Will Kimmel looking.

The third was much of the same.

Back-to-back singles from Maurer and Jake Masser, coupled with a walk from Justin Mihalchick, loaded the bases.

A two-out flyout to center ended the inning, though ,and left the game scoreless after three.

After Schuylkill West pitcher Dawson Schwalm faced one over the minimum in innings 2-4, he came up with a go-ahead double down the left field line in the fifth.

Kimmel reached on an infield single to start the inning and scored on Schwalm’s double.

Alex Witmer came through with what the visitors had been lacking the first four innings – a two-out hit.

His single scored Schwalm to extend the lead to 3-1 in favor of Schuylkill West heading to the bottom of the fifth.

“I knew they didn’t have much (left going through the loser’s bracket).”

Schuylkill West coach Shawn Masser said. “We tried to get his pitch count up, which we did. We were hitting good balls, we had bases loaded for two innings and didn’t get anyone in. We knew eventually that we’d get to him, but it took a little longer than I thought it would, but they did.”

Altoona looked to get one back in its half, but Poletti had other ideas.

He caught Sam Mierley stealing after he reached on an error to start the inning and on the next pitch, Schwalm got Jake Hunter swinging.

It was the second time in the game that an Altoona runner was erased on the base paths, along with Schwalm’s second inning pickoff.

“They were big,” Masser said. “You get runners on and sometimes you have to come up with stuff other than the normal outs. Peyton is a great catcher and Schwalm has a really good move. You take them any way you can get them.”

A ground ball to short ended the inning and made it three of four facing the minimum for Schwalm.

Schuylkill West added four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Brett Amspach’s RBI double.

Schwalm stranded a pair of runners in the bottom half of the seventh to finish the complete game victory.

“He was throwing strikes,” Sinisi said. “He kept us off balance and had good location around the plate. He just placed the ball in spots that we couldn’t get the meat of the bat on it. He did a great job and my hat’s off to him and their team.”

SCORE BY INNINGS

Schuylkill West100 024 0-7 14 2

Penstan100 000 0-1 3 2

2B-Hunter (P); Schwalm 2, Masser (SW). Mulitple hits-Schwalm 3, Maurer 2, Masser 2, Poletti 2 (SW). RBI-Maurer 2, Schwalm, Amspach (SW). WP-Schwalm. LP-Bardalang. SO-Bardalang 5, Hartman 1 (P); Schwalm 5 (SW). BB-Bardalang 3 (PA); Schwalm 4 (SW).