Section 6 Majors Preview

The Section 6 Major All-Stars tournament will take place at Council Rock Holland in District 30 featuring Southern Lehigh, Stroudsburg, Council Rock Newtown and Franklin Township. The action kicks off Sunday and you can listen to both games at the following links on the Eastern PA Sports Network, featuring EPASN founder Scott Johnston and LSV Sports founder Cody Brady. Follow for updates on X: @LSVSports

Sunday 7/14

1:00 – Council Rock Holland v Franklin Township – LISTEN

4:00 – Southern Lehigh v Stroudsburg – LISTEN

Previous Champions

2023 – Council Rock Newtown

2022 – Southern Lehigh

2021 – Valley West

2019 – Council Rock Holland

2018 – Lehigh

Southern Lehigh(4-0)

Manager: Travis Ney

For the third consecutive year, Southern Lehigh won District 20. However, it was far from a walk in the ballpark. The tournament began with a 7-inning classic against rival Lehigh. Both teams were held scoreless through six and Southern Lehigh scored twice in the top of the 7th. Austin Showalter provided the game-winning RBI single and Jayden Ney laid down a bunt single for the insurance run. In the bottom of the inning, Irvin Brunner caught a ball in right field and fired home for an impressive double play to stop a Lehigh scoring threat.

Solehi then traveled to Northeast Little League to face North Bethlehem who had received a bye into the second round. After taking a 4-1 1st inning lead, powered by three walks and a hit by pitch, North Bethlehem stormed back with four in the 4th to take a 5-4 lead. Aydin Bekiri responded in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run to center to tie the game. Jayden Ney tied the game again at seven in the bottom of the 5th on a 2-RBI single. Bekiri walked to leadoff the bottom of the 6th and was brought in on the game-winning single by Logan Davis to walk-off with the 8-7 victory.

The next challenge was a road trip to another top rival in the district: Pennridge. Surprisingly, Southern Lehigh got out to a 3-0 lead after three innings before exploding for seven in the 4th. Bud Johnson went 3/3 with 4RBI. Following a rain delay, Pennridge staved off the mercy rule with a two-run homerun, but Lucian Maggazu responded with a two-run shot of his own in the 5th, leading to a mercy rule victory and a berth in the district championship game back at Living Memorial Park in Coopersburg.

The final test was the upstart, dark horse of the tournament: Hellertown/Lower Saucon. Hellertown had made a habit of jumping on opponents early, and the title game was no different. HLS got out to a 4-0 lead and just like that, it seemed Southern Lehigh would be pushed to a decisive if-game the next day. However, the Spartans responded with six in the bottom of the inning, including a Bekiri 3-run homerun and 2RBI single by Thomas Roth. However, Hellertown was not deterred, scoring two in the 4th and four more in the 5th to take a 11-6 lead. Again it seemed the mountain was too high for Solehi to climb. However, a 2-out, five run rally tied the game once again at 11. Lucian Maggazu got things going with an RBI single and Austin Showalter followed up with a 2RBI single up the middle. Roth walked with the bases loaded and Ney would single him in after Roth moved up two bases on a wild pitch. Bekiri led off the bottom of the 6th and after taking a ball, he blasted the walk-off homerun to left field for a 12-11 title victory.

Southern Lehigh has defied many statistics thus far in its unbeaten district run. Against Lehigh, they struck out 14 times. Against North Bethlehem, they benefited from 11 walks and were outhit 11-5. In the championship, Solehi overcame six uncharacteristic errors as well. Now the Spartans will take on Stroudsburg in the first round of Section 6 tournament play, Sunday at 4:00

Stroudsburg(5-1)

Manager: Derek Marinaro

Stroudsburg is a perennial power in District 29, winning 16 district titles since 2000. This time, the challenge would be coming back from the elimination bracket.

In their first game, Stroudsburg defeated West End 4-3. Olivia Bunn, one of two girls on the team, walked off the game with an RBI single past third base. Dom Marinaro pitched 3.2 innings of 9 strikeout ball and was able to work around six walks to allow just two earned runs.

An eight run second inning propelled Stroudsburg past Dingman’s Ferry/Delaware Valley in the second round. Five runs would come with two outs. Luca Hodson got things started with an RBI single and both Marinaro and Elias Pabon added 2RBI hits in the inning. The final score was 14-4 in five innings.

Stroudsburg then had its first meeting with Pocono Mountain, falling 8-5. A seven run first inning set the tone for Pocono Mountain, despite a 3RBI effort by Bridget Hardy, which included a 2RBI single.

The team dropped into the elimination bracket and faced East Stroudsburg. A six-run 4th inning lifted Stroudsburg to an 8-5 victory and berth in the championship series. Both Hardy and Hodson had 2RBI efforts and Jordan Volino added an RBI double that tied the game at three at the time.

Entering the championship series, Stroudsburg would need to defeat Pocono Mountain twice to advance to another Section 6 tournament. They did just that with identical 13-7 scores on their home field at Creekview Park, near the campus of East Stroudsburg University. The top of the order was particularly productive in the first game, as Jalen Pluviose, Frankie Revitt, and Jordan Volino combined for 6RBI. Olivia Bunn added two more to her total as well. She and Hodson finished the district tournament tied with 7RBI to lead Stroudsburg.

In the decisive championship game, which took place six days after the first meeting, Stroudsburg built a 7-1 lead over the first three innnings and never looked back. This time, production came from the middle of the order, with Lucas Staub, Luca Hodson and Olivia Bunn combining for 7RBI. Stroudsburg overcame four errors in the victory.

Pitching has been a solid strength for the team, as Pluviose, Volino and Marinaro struck out a total of 43 batters. They will now face Southern Lehigh in the first round of Section 6 play Sunday at 4:00. Stroudsburg will look to improve on last year’s showing in the tournament, as they were eliminated in two games, scoring just one run.

Franklin Township(5-0)

Manager: Ben Moyer

Franklin Township, comprised of 11 and 12 year olds from the Lehighton school district, cruised through most of the District 18 tournament en rout to their first district title since 2007. Through the first four games, the team outscored opponents 49-3 and all four were mercy rule victories.

The first game was against Towamensing, a 12-2 victory in four innings. Eleven of those runs came in the third inning off of two errors, two bases loaded walks, a wild pitch, and four hits resulting in runs scored.

Next up was a 15-0 victory over Jim Thorpe. Miles Mann and Owen Moyer combined for a no-hitter and Moyer knocked in 4 runs. Carter Spotts, Parker Cummins and Ethan Laible each had 2RBI.

Moyer and Laible then combined for a three-hitter against a very formidable Hazleton squad. Scoring in four of five innings, Franklin Township amassed an 11-0 five inning win. Jayce Hunsberger and Roman White each brought home two runs.

Continuing the excellent stretch of pitching, Owen Moyer pitched a complete game of four innings, striking out six in a 11-1 victory over Valley East. Five runs in the first inning were scored on RBI singles by Mann, Hunsberger, Myles Meek and Jakoby Andrews. The victory put Franklin Township into the title game against Valley East.

After powering through four opponents, Franklin only needed one run in the championship game. A first inning RBI single by Mann held up for the rest of the game and Laible pitched a complete game four-hitter, walking one and striking out six. Second base was as far as any Valley West runner got.

Franklin Township will open section play against last year’s section champion in Council Rock Newtown, Sunday at 1:00.

Council Rock Newtown(8-0)

Manager: Brad Hamilton

Council Rock Newtown, like Southern Lehigh and Stroudsburg, is a returning team to the section tournament from a year ago. Despite having only one returning player from last year’s squad in Will Siveter, Newtown went unbeaten in District 30 play, a very impressive 8-0 record. Newtown allowed seven runs while scoring 93 and played six straight games decided in mercy rule fashion.

Pool play kicked off with a 10-3 victory over Council Rock Holland, in which Gavin Caudill clocked two homeruns. Wes Esteves went 2/3 with 2RBI. Tyler Neeld went three innnings, striking out five and allowing just two hits. Brayden Peiffer and Dean Hamilton also saw time on the mound, giving up two hits and an earned run each.

Pool play continued with a 15-0 victory over Lenape Valley and 10-0 shutout of Plumstead. Against Lenape Valley, Neeld was 2/2 with 4RBI, while Siveter, Esteves and Sav Longo all drove in two. Tyler Wexler struck out four in three innnings of no-hit work. Against Plumstead, Longo threw four shutout innings and struck out nine on just 44 pitches. Neeld and Cummins each had 3RBI. Pool play concluded with a 16-0 victory over Warwick. Peiffer had 4RBI and Ryan Uhl went yard.

After seeding for the bracket portion of district play, Newtown opened with a 13-0 win over Lenape Valley and then beat Deep Run 13-2. Siveter, Uhl, Longo, and Greyson and Brody Gage knocked in two runs apiece against Lenape Valley and capitalized on four errors. Longo homered twice against Deep Run, plating four runs.

In the semifinals, Newtown continued rolling, plating eight in the fourth inning to beat Northampton 12-2. Longo struck out ten more in 3.2 innings pitched. The victory moved Newtown into the title game for a second meeting with Council Rock Holland.

Longo got the scoring started against Holland with a first inning RBI single. He singled again in the third to extend the lead to 3-0, scoring Neeld and Peiffer. Peiffer’s sac fly RBI in the 5th capped a 4-0 victory and berth into the section tournament. Longo again pitched strong, striking out 12 in a complete game one-hitter.The hard-hitting offense and strong arms will faceoff with Franklin Township Sunday at 1:00.