American Legion District 31 playoff roundup: Bushy Run holds on for win vs. Plum

Defending American Legion state champion Bushy Run opened the District 31 playoffs on a winning note.

No. 2 Bushy Run built an early 2-0 lead and held on for a 5-4 victory against No. 7 Plum on Tuesday at home.

Game 2 of the best-of-3 series is 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Plum.

Jayden Kennedy, who played a key role in helping Bushy Run win last year's District 31, Region 7 and state tournaments, picked up the win on the mound.

Bushy Run grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never surrendered the lead.

Jordan White doubled and eventually scored when he and Noah Rattigan pulled off a double steal.

Rattigan scored on an RBI hit by Grady Dunsmore.

Plum cut a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 in the top of the sixth inning, but Bushy Run countered when Andrew McFarland walked, Amari Thomas had a bunt single and Kaleb Kerstetter singled home the eventual winning run.

"It was a great game," Bushy Run coach Mario Disso said. "It ended on a great defensive play.

"Plum had a runner on first, and they hit a gap shot. Jordan White cut off the ball, made a great throw to Kerstetter, who made a great throw home to gun down the runner."

Cameron Duddy picked up the save.

Ethan Septak drove in two runs with a double. Tommy Ruggiero had two hits and two RBIs.

Lower Burrell 8, Unity 1 - The Bulldogs pounded out 11 hits, including three by Tylar Hanley.

Game 2 is at ABC Field in Lower Burrell.

A five-run third inning broke open a close game.

Adam Wass had three RBIs, and Ryan Wass, Brad Smith and Brayden Mell had two hits.

Ethan Goughneour, Tyler Hahn, Brady Kronenwetter and Tommy Snyder had hits for Unity.

Colton Whitlock was the winning pitcher.

Homer City 9, Young Township 8 - Braden Bonatch drove in four runs with a double and single, and No. 3 Homer City held on for a win at First Commonwealth Park.

Game 2 is 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Young Township. It was the third time in the past two days the two Indiana County teams squared off.

Homer City built a 9-2 lead before Young Township made things interesting by scoring six runs (three each in the sixth and seventh innings) to make it close.

Brock Lewis drove in two runs on three hits, including two doubles.

Ben McConnell had four hits, including a double, and three RBIs.

Luke McCullough had three hits with a home run in the loss.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

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