YOUTH BASEBALL: OWEGO (BENSLEY) WINS OWEGO LITTLE LEAGUE 12U TOURNAMENT 'B' DIVISION (12 PHOTOS) (2019-07-15)
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Connor Kotski threw a no-hitter Saturday, then he and his Owego (Bensley) teammates capped off a special weekend by winning the Owego Little League 12U Tournament B division title Sunday.
After blanking M-E (Chesna), 10-0, the previous day, Owego defeated Johnson City, 10-7, the next by building sizeable cushion in the early innings of the championship game.
Owego 10, M-E 0Kotski worked through some early control issues to retire the final nine M-E batters, six by strikeout, to end the game in four innings.
He offset three walks and a hit batter in the first two innings with five strikeouts. He finished the game with nine Ks.
Dominick Ottaviani belted a home run and went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. Kam Wicklund was 2-for-2 with a triple and two runs; Matt Higgins was 2-for-2 with an RBI; Zack Bensley had a double, run and RBI; and Brendan Schofield went 2-for-3 with a double and a run.
Nick Bensley went 1-for-2 with a run and two RBI; Kotski had a run and an RBI; and Evan English scored a run.
Owego 10, Johnson City 7
Owego picked up four runs in the bottom of the first and four more in the second to grab an 8-2 advantage.
They were still up six, 10-4, headed into the sixth and JC pushed three runs across to make things a little bit more interesting.
Higgins went the distance on the hill and caught a pop-up to end the game with runners at first and second.
Down 2-0 in the first, Owego rode five singles and a pair of walks to a 4-2 lead, surviving a double play along the way.
In the second, back-to-back doubles by Schofield and Ottaviani set the stage. A single, two errors and a walk helped the effort.
Consecutive doubles by English and Elijah Lewis in the fourth led to the team's final two runs.
Wicklund was 2-for-3 with a run and three RBI; Schofield went 2-for-4 with a double, run and two RBI; and Ottaviani was 2-for-4 with two doubles, and an RBI.
English was 1-for-1 with three runs; Lewis was 1-for-2 with two runs and an RBI; Higgins had a hit and two runs; Kotski and Jake Bensley contributed one hit and one RBI apiece; and Zack Bensley added a hit and a run.
Higgins surrendered just two earned runs, and allowed nine hits and three walks. He struck out 13.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR