The Wallenpaupack 12-year-old All-Star team took to the field in Bingham Park early on Saturday morning to face off with Waymart for the first game of the Cal Ripken District 5 tournament and looked like a team destined to win it all. They exploded in the third inning with ten hits and racked up ten runs in the process on route to an 11-0 victory after just four innings of play because of the ten run mercy rule.

In the first inning Wallenpaupack’s Brandon Newsome took to the mound and was throwing some heat to the Waymart batters, knocking them down in consecutive order. The Paupack team then took their turn at the plate and had two reach base, Shayne McCormack on a shot up the middle and Dan Skibber on a walk before Connor Jones stood at the dish and had RBI’s just waiting to be brought home. Jones ripped a shot down the third base line that was met by Waymart’s Pat Miller who made a highlight type of snag and denied the Paupack slugger a chance to put his team ahead.

In the second frame Paupack got a defensive highlight of its own when McCormack made a charging play from shortstop to scoop up a grounder that had base hit written all over it. The play ended the inning and the Bucks were about to take their turn at the plate once again.

This time the Bucks would capitalize on the baserunners they were getting. Newsome led off with a single, Luke Camuso reached on a base knock and moved Newsome to third and Liam Cunningham finished it off with a long sacrifice fly to deep center that scored Newsome. Sammy Vargas kept things moving in the right direction for Paupack when he connected with a high fastball that he sent through the middle, but the streak would end here as Waymart buckled down and played some solid defense and their pitcher Alex Fink, recorded a whiff and an inning-ending pop-up catch from his knees. At the end of two it was a one-run game with Wallenpaupack on top, but in the third things would be put out of reach.

Newsome came out to the mound and confidently struck out the first batter he faced. Then he forced a ground out and fly out to end the inning in a matter of a few short minutes and the Bucks were about to go on a tear.

The bottom half of the third saw ten hits from Paupack starting off with an inside the park homerun from Dan Skibber. Skibber ripped a shot down the first base line and he never looked back, rounding the bases and giving his squad a two run lead. The homeruns didn’t stop there as they went back-to-back when Connor Jones hit one out of the park on a long blast over the left field fence. Zach Wirth then took the plate and kept the streak alive when he hit a hard shot into centerfield and slid into third for a triple. Luke Camuso then hit an RBI single, Cunningham reached base and after a throwing error Camuso crossed home. Vargas collected an RBI, Ean Hibian hit a bomb to center for a triple scoring Vargas in the process, McCormack reached on an error scoring Hibian. McCormack then stole second and Newsome and Skibber both hit the rawhide off the fence in center for doubles. Jones hit another single and Wirth brought him in when he hit a double. When all was said and done, and just in time for the ink to run out in my pen from all the stats I was trying to write down, Paupack had racked up 10 runs on 10 hits with two homeruns, two triples, three doubles and three singles.

The damage was done and Waymart was never able to fully recover from the barrage of balls that came their way. Wallenpaupack brought in McCormack to pitch in the fourth and he closed out the game with some defensive plays from Brian Rose who recorded the last two outs of the game with some gold glove highlights in the infield.

Other action in 12-year-old brackets of the tournament: First Round play; Delaware Valley beat Honesdale. Forest City over North Pocono. Second Round; Delaware Valley over Valley View, Wallenpaupack over Forest City. Third Round: Wallenpaupack over Delaware Valley. Loser’s bracket; Waymart over North Pocono, Waymart over Valley View, Honesdale over Forest City. Honesdale over Waymart. Honesdale over Delaware Valley. First Round Championship. Honesdale over Wallenpaupack.

11-Year-olds

First Round; Honesdale over Waymart. Second Round; Wallenpaupack over Delaware Valley, Honesdale over North Pocono. Third Round; Honesdale over Wallenpaupack. Loser’s bracket; Delaware Valley over Waymart, Delaware Valley over North Pocono. Wallenpaupack over Delaware Valley. Championship Round: Honesdale and Wallenpaupack.

10-Year-olds

First Round; Wallenpaupack over Valley View. Second Round; Forest City over Delaware Valley, Honesdale over Wallenpaupack. Loser’s bracket; Delaware Valley over Valley View, Delaware Valley over Wallenpaupack. Loser’s bracket third round: Forest City over Delaware Valley. Championship Round: Honesdale and Forest City.

Nine-year-olds

First Round; Honesdale over Waymart, Delaware Valley over Wallenpaupack. Second Round; Delaware Valley over Honesdale. Loser’s bracket; Wallenpaupack over Waymart, Honesdale over Wallenpaupack. Honesdale over Delaware Valley in first round of championship. (Must lose two to be eliminated).