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Going the distance: Evan Young, Laurel Medical force third and deciding game in Kelley Federation 19U finals

By John Hartsock 4 min read

It will be a case of deja vu when the George B. Kelley Federation decides its 2025 baseball league championship tonight at Vets Field.

For the second straight season, Laurel Medical and Tyrone Legion will meet in a winner-take-all third game in the best-of-three title series.

Laurel Med, which won last year's title series by capturing the deciding third game, punched its ticket into tonight's deciding 8 p.m. matchup by defeating Tyrone Legion, 12-4 Sunday night at Vets to even this year's championship series at a game apiece.

Right-hander Evan Young, who will be an incoming senior at Altoona Area High School this fall, spaced seven hits in a complete-game winning pitching effort, and Laurel Med broke the game open with a nine-run third inning by capitalizing on three Tyrone Legion errors and three walks.

"The story of the game tonight was our pitcher (Young),'' Laurel Med manager Brett Sanders said. "He was very efficient, he kept his pitch count down, and he threw a lot of strikes.''

Young struck out five batters and walked only three.

"He had a fantastic game, which is honestly what we expect from him because he has been around awhile and he's a good player,'' Sanders said.

Laurel Med shook off a tough 4-3 loss to Tyrone Legion in the series opener Saturday by putting together its big nine-run third inning Sunday night.

Laurel Med had only three hits in the inning -- RBI singles by Noah Hillard and Caleb Detrick, coupled with an RBI triple by Connor Sanders -- but the three Tyrone Legion errors in the inning led directly to three other runs.

Along with the three walks in the inning, another player was hit by a pitch in what was a very sloppy inning for Tyrone Legion.

"We made some errors, and we didn't pitch well tonight,'' Tyrone Legion manager Kevin Soellner said. "Our pitching wasn't getting ahead in the count, and that definitely makes for better batting by the opposition.

"They put the ball in play a lot,'' Soellner said of the Laurel Med team. "They're a veteran team that is returning most of their players from last year, and they're an excellent hitting team and the best fielding team in the league. We knew that they weren't going to be giving us any extra outs tonight.''

Connor Sanders had three hits and scored two runs, while Hillard had two hits and scored twice for Laurel Med, which also got a pair of RBIs from Detrick.

Now it's on to the deciding third game, which excites both managers.

"I love it,'' Soellner said of tonight's winner-take-all scenario.

Brett Sanders seconded the notion.

"Honestly, this is almost expected,'' Brett Sanders said. "These teams are so evenly-matched. Our kids have been playing together for a long time, and their kids are very well-coached and they have a very good team.''

SUNDAY

TYRONE LEGION (4): Kustenbauder cf-p 402, Frye cf 111, Parsons c 210, Zupon 3b 401, Oakes rf 401, Stroup ss 210, Jones dh-lf 300, C. McClure 1b 201, Walk lf 100, B. McClure 211. Totals - 25-4-7.

LAUREL MED (12): Con. Sanders c 423, Young p 210, Freiwald ss 310, Cal. Sanders 3b 421, Hillard 1b 322, Tipton cf 210, Detrick 2b 411, Karageanes rf 410, Morgan lf 210. Totals - 28-12-7.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Tyrone Legion 001 200 1--4-7-4

Laurel Med 009 102 X--12-7-2

E--Stroup 2, Parsons, B. McClure, Tipton, Detrick. 2B--C. McClure. 3B-Con. Sanders. RBI--Zupon, Fry, Detrick 2, Con. Sanders, Cal. Sanders, Hillard, Karageanes. SAC--Parsons. SF--Stroup. SB--Parsons, Stroup, Hillard, Cal. Sanders, Tipton. HBP--Young (by Woomer); Morgan (by Kustenbauder).

PITCHING

Tyrone Legion: Woomer (L) 2 1/3IP, 2H, 6R, 3ER, 1SO, 3BB; Kustenbauder 3 2/3IP, 5H, 6R, 3ER, 3SO, 6BB.

Laurel Med: Young (W) 7IP, 7H, 3R, 2ER, 5SO, 3BB.

Umpires: Matt Cursio (plate); Bill Wolf (first base); Erik Wardrop (third base).

Game 1 Saturday

Tyrone Legion rallied from a 3-0 deficit in Saturday's Game 1 at Vets Field to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth and then won the game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.

SATURDAY

SCORE BY INNINGS

Laurel Medical 100 020 0--3 7 2

Tyrone Legion 000 002 2--4 10 1

Starting at /week.