Double Elimination Tournament

HAGERSTOWN -- Hagerstown Community College had the top seed and the home-field advantage, but didn't have luck to make a run in the Region XX Baseball Tournament. The Hawks were sent to the sidelines during the tournament's second day on Saturday as ASA (N.Y.) defeated HCC 9-3 in the completion of a suspended losers' bracket game. HCC trailed 7-3 after eight innings when the game was called because of darkness. The loss ended HCC's season with a 33-19 record, going out as the first team to be knocked out of the four-team, double-elimination tournament.

WALDORF, Md. -- Perhaps the only thing more impressive than South Maryland's dominant run to the Maryland State 11-12 Little League Tournament was Conococheague's dominance of South Maryland in their first-round game Saturday. South Maryland allowed merely seven hits, while outscoring its opponents 63-2 in its 4-0 run through District 4. Those numbers didn't faze District 1 champion Conococheague, which erupted for 13 hits in a 13-2, four-inning rout Saturday. "We thought we were going to see some top pitching," Conococheague manager Mike Iseminger said.

BOONSBORO - On the brink of elimination for four innings Wednesday, South Mountain got its offense going. The Boonsboro stars scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning and stayed in front to beat Federal 6-4 in the loser's bracket of the Maryland District 1 11-12-year-old Little League Baseball Tournament. [cont. from sports page ] South Mountain (2-1) advances in the loser's bracket to play at West End, which defeated LaVale 7-3 on Wednesday. Game time is 6 p.m. Friday.

MAUGANSVILLE -- The Hancock Junior League All-Stars were selective at the plate Friday and it paid off. Hancock drew 16 walks, and nine led to runs on the way to a 19-8 win over Maugansville in a Maryland District I Tournament game that was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule. Hancock advances to play at Conococheague on Monday night at 5:30 in the winners' bracket final of the double-elimination tournament. Maugansville will play at South County on Sunday night at 5:30 in a losers' bracket game.

Bouncing back from any loss can be tough. In a double-elimination tournament, there's are no other choices. It's win or go home. Sharpsburg continued to bounce back from its second-round loss, eliminating defending champion Conococheague 9-4 in a losers' bracket game Monday in the Maryland District 1 11-12 tournament. “Seems like since I've been involved in the league, we have a habit of having to come back,” said Sharpsburg manager Scott Bare. Sharpsburg didn't have to fight back in this game, scoring three runs in the top of the first off four hits, including an RBI single by Lane Gay. In the second, Jon Grimm tacked on another run when he walked, advanced on a groundout and a passed ball, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dalton Shank to make it 4-0. Conococheague got on the board in the third.

BOARDMAN, Ohio -- Hagerstown manager Steve Berger went with the flow. The Hagerstown PONY All-Stars washed away the competition. Hagerstown won three games -- one more than they were required to play -- on Sunday and did it in electrifying fashion to come out of the losers' bracket and win the East Zone West Region title. Hagerstown defeated Bucks County (Ohio) 16-8 in the losers' bracket final and came back to sweep tournament hosts Tri-T National 16-2, 13-6 in the championship round to claim the championship.

California dreaming ... The Hagerstown PONY 13-year-old 'A' all-star team is one step away from the World Series in Chino Hills, Calif. The team, managed by Ed Kipe, will compete in the East Zone Tournament, starting Sunday afternoon in Davidson, N.C. The winner will earn a trip to the World Series, which begins Aug. 1. "If we win, we'll go directly from North Carolina to California," Kipe said. Hagerstown earned a berth to the East Zone Tournament by winning the West Region tournament last week in Boardman, Ohio.

Click here for more photos of the game. Alexander Zoretich just reached out and touched something. The left-handed hitting Zoretich swung at an outside pitch to rip a game-winning, two-run triple to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning to help St. Maria Goretti squeeze out a come-from-behind 6-5 win over Avalon on Wednesday to win the Maryland Private Schools B Division state championship at Municipal Stadium. "I'm so happy right now," Zoretich said.

Hagerstown was eliminated from the Pony League 13-year-old East Zone Tournament on Tuesday night, losing a 5-4 heartbreaker to Boardman (Ohio). Hagerstown finished third with a 1-2 record in the four-team, double-elimination tournament. Hagerstown lost 8-7 in eight innings to Boardman on Sunday. "I'm just proud of the way that we hung in there all night," Hagerstown manager Steve Blickenstaff said. "We tried hard and we did not give up. It was a very talented group of kids.

kauffman@herald-mail.com HALFWAY - Halfway Little League's District 1 9-10 championship victory over Federal Little League was a walk in Marty Snook Park. Make that many walks. Halfway took advantage of 10 walks and three errors Saturday for a four-inning, 13-3 victory over Federal. "Federal's done a great job battling through the losers' bracket, but we assumed they'd be tired, so we were going to make them throw strikes," Halfway manager Duane Gigeous said.