The Allegheny Coatings Goats jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back Tuesday night, winning game one of the best of five championship series against Elk County Tool & Die 13-3 in action at the Robin Road Softball Complex.
Elk County Tool & Die, the regular season champions and number one seed reached the championships by beating Wildwoods 2-0 in their opening round series and then coming back from a game down to get past Carlson Technologies in the semi-finals 2-1.
Allegheny Coatings, the third seed, swept both their first round and semi-final series 2-0, defeating Tubby’s Tavern and St. Marys Insurance.
Cole Peterson’s two-run , two-out triple in the top of the first inning set the tone for the night for the Goats. Peterson’s hit scored Kevin Hoy and Andy Eck. Peterson then scored on an RBI single by Justin Quiggle for the 3-0 lead.
ECTD got a run back in the bottom of the first, their only run until the bottom of the seventh, when Kyler Lenox hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Danny Singer, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
The Goats scored three more in the top of the second, this time on an RBI double by Ricky Pearsall and a two-run single by Hoy, giving Allegheny Coatings a 6-1 lead.
The score stayed that way until the fifth, when again the Goats put up their third three spot of the night. Peterson again supplied the big blow, smacking a double to left, scoring two. Peterson then scored on a triple by Quiggle to make it 9-1.
Three’s were the theme of the night for Allegheny Coatings, who again plated three more runs in the top of the sixth to push the lead to 12-1. RBI singles from Dalton Kline, Derek Meyer and Hoy provided the offense.
Coatings scored another run in the top of the seventh when Dalton Kline scored his brother Dillon Kline to make it 13-1.
Kyler Lenox’s two-run homerun provided the rest of the runs for the night in the bottom of the seventh, making the final 13-3.
The Goats were led by Hoy, who finished 4 for 4 with 3 RBI’s. Peterson was 2 for 4 with a double, triple and 4 RBI. Dalton Kline added a 3 for 4 night with a pair of RBI’s. Ricky Pearsall and Nick Brennen added doubles as the Goats pounded out 20 hits in all.
Kyler Lenox finished the night 2 for 2 for ECTD, smacking a homerun and driving in all three runs for the Diemen. Rudy Gleixner was 2 for 3 with a double and Brandon Sicheri also went 2 for 3 in the losing effort.
Game two of the best of five series will be Wednesday night at 6:30 pm at the Robin Road Sports Complex.