BLOOMSBURG -- With July 4th picnics and barbecues scheduled for the afternoon, the South Columbia Major Division All-Star team made sure its fans got to their festivities in plenty of time on Saturday.
Ignited by a grand slam home run by Austin Farver, South Columbia scored 10 runs in the top of the fourth inning to blow past Danville 12-1 in four innings in the District 13 Little League Area I winners' bracket matchup at Town Park.
"Danville is a good team, there's no doubt about it," said South Columbia manager Joe Kowalski. "We just got on them in that one inning, and when you have a big inning like that it's tough for kids to keep their heads up."
"I have a good feeling we could see them again," Kowalski added.
South Columbia advances to the bracket final on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Danville, which was cruising after winning its first two games by a combined score of 25-2, falls into the elimination bracket and plays either Warrior Run or Bloomsburg on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
A win and Danville would have another shot at South Columbia.
"It was a hard loss," said Danville manager Bill Mettler. "(South Columbia) beat us twice last year, and they are obviously a very good team -- good fundamentals and good sticks -- and we just didn't have it today."
After getting a pair of runs in the second inning on RBI doubles by Danny Koch and Joey Eckenrode, South Columbia's momentum was put on standby for an inning when the team was put down in order in the third. But in the fourth, everything clicked and kept on clicking for South Columbia, which sent 14 players to the plate.
A double by Dain Kowalski and singles by Lewis Williams and Danny Koch led off the inning, with the latter scoring a run to increase the lead to 3-1.
After an out, Crue Hock reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases before Blake Marks reached on an error to plate another run.
The floodgates opened after, that as Trent Kowalski drew a bases-loaded walk and Austin Farver hit a grand slam off the roof of the park's rest room facility behind the fence in left to push the lead to 9-1.
Four batters later the hit barrage continued as Koch added an RBI double and Lane, who struck out in his first at-bat in the inning, lined a two-run single to left.
"It's one of those things in sports where you get the ball rolling sometimes and you thank God it's in your favor," said manager Kowalski.
With all that run support, Dain Kowalski easily picked up the complete-game win for South Columbia. He threw a three-hitter and had nine strikeouts, two walks and a hit batsmen. Three strikeouts came in the fourth when he struck out the side to end the game.
Danville, which scored its lone run in the third on an RBI single by Dalton Lupini to plate Tom Brouse, who had doubled to lead off the inning, now must regroup after the lopsided loss.
"The gates blew open there (in the fourth). Everything that could go wrong went wrong, and when you're 12 years old you have those days and those innings," said Mettler. "We played good baseball up until the fourth, and we'll play good baseball again in the next game.
"We'll be back," Mettler added. "We'll be practicing (Sunday) and we'll come back a lot better prepared."
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