At the 2000 Pennsylvania state tournament in DuBois, the State College American all-star team reached the championship game before posting twelve consecutive scoreless innings at the plate in a championship series sweep by eventual winner Levittown Eastern.

One year later, State College returned to the state title game. This time, they brought their offense.

State College scored ten runs in the first inning, and added another six in the second to rout Milton 16-0 in a mercy rule-shortened state championship game at Council Rock Northampton's William B. Curry Memorial Park in Richboro. The early onslaught was a reprise of State College's start in the winner's bracket finals, when the District 5 champions scored 15 runs in the first two innings of a 15-5 win over Plains.

Doug Suhey led the championship game attack for State College. Suhey, one of four returnees from the previous year's squad, faced only thirteen batters in four innings of one-hit work on the mound, and led the offense by clubbing a pair of two-run homers. His first round-tripper was one of four hits in the ten-run first inning rally, while his encore in the second inning stretched the lead to 13-0. State College capitalized on eight walks issued by Milton's pitchers in the championship game.

State College American's toughest test at the 2001 state tournament came in the opening round, when the Americans faced West Chester West Side in a rematch of the 1999 state championship game in the 9-10 year old division. As in the earlier meeting, State College prevailed, rallying from a 1-0 first inning deficit to win 2-1. Suhey allowed only three hits, and shut down the Philadelphia-area team after Drew Constable's first inning RBI single. State College climbed into the lead on RBI singles by Brendan Pfifer and Andrew Kerr, but West Side threatened to tie the score by moving the potential tying run to third base with no outs in the top of the fifth inning. Suhey responded by striking out the side to end the threat, and upped his strikeout total to ten for the game by striking out the side again in the sixth inning to preserve the win.

Plains advanced to face State College by cruising past Milton 16-4. Milton attempted to save ace pitcher Tony Fannick for a potential meeting with State College, but the plan backfired when Plains built an early 8-0 lead in the five inning victory. The first four hitters in the Plains batting order -- D.J. Trunzo, Mike Ramirez, Tom Butch, and Chris Hall -- combined for ten hits and nine runs scored.

State College made quick work of Plains in the winner's bracket finals. The District 5 champions sent twelve batters to the plate in a seven run first inning, and added eight more runs in the second to advance to the championship game with a 15-5 win. Shane Gray's three-run homer over the right center field fence highlighted the seven run first inning, giving State College an early 4-0 lead. In the second, Suhey led off with a double, and later in the inning added a home run that stretched the lead to 15-1. Tom Hutch drilled a grand slam in the fourth for Plains to cut the final margin to 15-5.

While State College was blasting its way to the championship game, Milton relied on Fannick's sixth inning heroics to claim the second title game slot. The six foot, 180 pound pitcher escaped a sixth inning jam by recording the final three outs (two via strikeout) with the tying run on second base as Milton ousted West Chester West Side 6-4. Randy Riffe's solo home run in the fifth inning gave Milton a 5-2 lead before Fannick stymied the West Side comeback.

The next night, Fannick used his bat to rescue his team, as Milton stunned Plains 4-3. Fannick -- whose walk-off home run against Minersville in the Section 3 championship game advanced Milton to the state tournament -- followed Bud Kurtz's leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run homer over the right-center field fence as Milton rallied from a 3-2 deficit to advance to the state championship game for the first time since 1985. The blast was Fannick's 13th home run over the course of district, sectional, and state tournament play.

Plains, which outhit Milton 10-5, failed to score on two occasions when it had runners at second and third with nobody out, and also left the bases loaded once. Kurtz allowed ten hits and three walks, but kept the Plains offense from registering a big inning.

State College was a clear favorite heading into the title game, and the Americans benefitted further by a key development: Milton manager Dave Byers chose not to start Fannick, his top pitcher, in his team's biggest game of the summer. Fannick indicated before the game that his arm was tired but that he would pitch if asked, but Byers didn't want to risk damaging his top pitcher's prospects by having him pitch on only 48 hours rest.

"You see this kid who is 6-feet tall and 180 pounds and people think he can do anything," Byers explained after the game. "What they forget to realize is Tony is a 12-year-old boy who has a lot of baseball left to play in him. I am not going to jeopardize that."

Recognizing the magnitude of this decision, State College manager Tom Hart observed after the title game that, "I take my hat off to Dave Byers . . . it took a lot of courage to do what (he) did."

Byers chose to forego a win-at-all-cost attitude in the title game. State College was not as fortunate at the Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament in Bristol, CT. On the field, State College American finished as the region runner-up after being no-hit 2-0 by Rolando Paulino Little League (Bronx, New York) in the nationally-televised title game. When an investigation following the World Series revealed a series of rule violations by the New York team, Williamsport officials stripped Rolando Paulino of their tournament victories, and awarded the Mid-Atlantic title to State College American. Because the investigation and subsequent ruling occurred after the Little League World Series, State College American did not have the opportunity to compete with other region champions in South Williamsport.

"I feel badly for the State College kids," observed Daryl Wasano, manager of the Oceanside American (Southern California) Little League team that lost to Rolando Paulino in the U.S. semifinals.

"We got to experience something that they never got to experience."

Follow State College American at the Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament -- Click here to view results.

Linescores:

Opening Round	1	2	3	4	5	6		R	H	E
Milton	1	0	3	1	1	4		10	9	1
Clarion	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	5	2
Winner's Bracket Semifinal
West Side	1	0	0	0	0	0		1	3	-
State College American	0	0	1	1	0	x		2	-	-
Winner's Bracket Semifinal
Plains	3	5	3	2	3			16	15	-
Milton	0	0	0	4	0			4	5	-
Elimination Bracket Quarterfinal
West Side								5	-	-
Clarion								0	-	-
Winner's Bracket Final
State College American	7	8	0	0				15	14	-
Plains	1	0	0	4				5	-	-
Elimination Bracket Semifinal
Milton	0	2	0	2	1	1		6	9	1
West Side	0	1	0	1	2	0		4	5	1
Elimination Bracket Final
Plains	0	1	1	0	1	0		3	10	-
Milton	0	0	0	2	0	2		4	5	-
Championship Game
Milton	0	0	0	0				0	1	-
State College American	10	6	0	x				16	-	-

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2001 Pennsylvania District Champions and Sectional Tournament Results

District Champions in Section 1	District Champions in Section 2
D4 - Moon Township D5 - State College American D9 - Connellsville D11 - Greater Mount Union D26 - Derry Section 1 Tournament Host - State College (District 5) At Stonebridge Montressor Field Tournament Results: 1 - Greater Mount Union 7, Derry 4 2 - Connellsville 2, Moon Township 1 3 - State College American 10, Greater Mount Union 0 (5 innings) 4 - Moon Township 17, Derry 7 (4 innings; elim.) 5 - State College American 8, Connellsville 1 6 - Moon Township 15, Greater Mount Union 9 (elim.) 7 - Moon Township 2, Connellsville 1 (elim.) 8 - State College American 20, Moon Township 4 (4 innings; TITLE)	D1 - F.L.A.G. (Fairview) D2 - Grove City D7 - Ford City D10 - DuBois D25 - Clarion Section 2 Tournament Host - Mercer Area (District 2) Tournament Results: 1 - Clarion 6, Ford City 3 2 - DuBois 14, F.L.A.G. 4 3 - Grove City 15, Clarion 4 4 - F.L.A.G. 7, Ford City 2 (elim.) 5 - DuBois 3, Grove City 1 6 - Clarion 13, F.L.A.G. 3 (elim.) 7 - Clarion 6, Grove City 4 (elim.) 8 - Clarion d. DuBois 9 - Clarion 5, DuBois 2 (TITLE)
District Champions in Section 3	District Champions in Section 4
D12 - Montoursville D13 - Milton D14 - Greencastle D15 - Athens D24 - Minersville Section 3 Tournament Championship Game Host - Minersville (District 24) At Carl E. Ulmer Memorial Field Tournament Results: 1 - Montoursville 5, Greencastle 2 2 - Minersville 7, Athens 6 (8 innings) 3 - Montoursville 3, Milton 2 (8 innings) 4 - Athens 9, Greencastle 5 (elim.) 5 - Minersville 6, Montoursville 5 6 - Milton 3, Athens 2 (elim.) 7 - Milton 7, Montoursville 0 (elim.) 8 - Milton 6, Minersville 4 9 - Milton 7, Minersville 6 (TITLE)	D16 - Plains D17 - Carbino Club (Jessup) D18 - Tamaqua Area D20 - Southern Lehigh (Coopersburg) D29 - Slate Belt (Upper Mount Bethel) Section 4 Tournament Held at District Sites Championship Game Host - Plains (District 16) At Tokach Field Tournament Results: 1 - Carbino Club 8, Southern Lehigh 1 2 - Plains 6, Tamaqua Area 1 3 - Slate Belt 11, Carbino Club 2 4 - Southern Lehigh 4, Tamaqua Area 1 (elim.) 5 - Plains 10, Slate Belt 0 (4 innings) 6 - Carbino Club 10, Southern Lehigh 5 (elim.) 7 - Slate Belt 4, Carbino Club 2 (elim.) 8 - Plains 11, Slate Belt 8 (TITLE)

District Champions in Section 5

D19 - Newtown-Edgmont (Newtown Square) D21 - Morrisville D22 - Upper Moreland (Willow Grove) D23 - Conestoga Valley (Leola) D27 - Berwyn-Paoli D28 - West Side (West Chester) D30 - Warrington American Section 5 Tournament Host - Council Rock Northampton (Richboro) (District 30) At William B. Curry Memorial Park Tournament Results: 1 - West Side 16, Berwyn-Paoli 2 2 - Warrington American 7, Conestoga Valley 1 3 - Upper Moreland 3, Newtown-Edgmont 1 4 - West Side 11, Morrisville 10 5 - Warrington American 15, Upper Moreland 3 (5 innings) 6 - Conestoga Valley 14, Newtown-Edgmont 4 (elim.) 7 - Berwyn-Paoli 6, Upper Moreland 1 (elim.) 8 - Morrisville 12, Conestoga Valley 5 (elim.) 9 - West Side 6, Warrington American 4 10 - Berwyn-Paoli 10, Morrisville 8 (elim.) 11 - Warrington American 13, Berwyn-Paoli 3 (5 innings; elim.) 12 - West Side 7, Warrington American 2 (TITLE)

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Toward the past

Toward the present

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