Maryland Silences Pennsylvania, Heads To Little League Semi-Final

BRISTOL, CT — Dazzling pitching and timely hitting propelled Maryland to a 6-0 victory Thursday over Pennsylvania in the Little League Mid-Atlantic Region. The Berlin Little League all stars (3-1) from Maryland scored first in the contest and never looked back, adding run after run to the lead throughout the game.

Marvelous Maryland pitching ultimately baffled batters on the opposing Keystone Little League team (1-2) out of Clayton County. Kannon Cropper tossed a complete game, six inning shut out. He allowed just one hit and two walks and struck out seven batters. The Alex Navarro and Gavin Solito carried the offense, accounting for four of the team's RBIs. Both doubled in the game and Solito added a run, to boot.

The Keystone boys simply couldn't figure out Cropper. Connor Foltz would be the only Pennsylvania player to get a hit on the day, though Dallas Alexander drew a pair of walks. The team struck out seven times and left four runners on base. Pennsylvania also committed three errors on the day. Gabriel Johnson pitched three serviceable innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits and three walks. Later in the game Levi Schlesinger labored through his .2 innings, serving up four hits, a walk and three earned runs.

Both teams came into the game riding high. Maryland earned a huge 18-7 win over Washington, D.C. and Keystone easily handled Delaware 6-1.

Maryland moves on to the semi-final Friday with New Jersey. The winner of that game will advance to the regional championship Saturday against New York and play for a berth in the Little League World Series.

Pennsylvania has been eliminated.

Berlin is located about 100 miles east of Washington, D.C. near Ocean City,

The Mid-Atlantic champion will go on to play the Midwest champion Aug. 16 in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Rosters

Maryland

#0 Owen Knerr

#1 Alex Navarro

#2 Gavin Solito

#6 Kannon Cropper

#13 Nate Berzonski

#14 Briggs Pugner

#16 Adam Gardner

#24 Lukas Loring

#27 Waylon Hobgood

#30 Case Tilghman

#37 Ryder Swanson

#44 Stephen Wade

#48 Riley Calloway

#50 Foster Smith

Pennsylvania

#0 Levi Schlesinger

#2 Nathan Wian

#4 Cayden Culvey

#8 Dallas Alexander

#10 Gardner Fravel

#11 Gabriel Johnson

#12 Elek Fravel

#13 Wyatt Kramer

#14 Gavin Burnell

#18 Brady Myers

#20 Connor Foltz

#22 Braylen Corter

#25 Kevin Grenninger

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