ST. MARYS — The Minor League (10U) baseball teams from St. Marys and DuBois went toe-to-toe in a very well-played District 10 championship game on Friday, and despite recording just one hit, the hosting St. Marys squad was able to score three runs to sneak past DuBois 3-2 and win the D-10 title and earn a trip to sectionals.

Dylan Bauer, hitting out of the No. 9 hole, belted an RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the fourth to bring home Carson Chiodo and put his team ahead for good, and three of his teammates — Chase Smith, Jude Smith and Mason Reigel — pitched two innings apiece and limited DuBois to just two runs on six hits to secure the title in a talent-laden 10U tournament.

“Overall, the tournament was very good — a lot of good teams and a lot of good baseball,” St. Marys manager Leo Simbeck said after his team was presented with the banner. “Our team played really well in general, and I was happy for them. DuBois is a really good team. We knew it was going to be close, but we kept grinding and grinding and grinding, and eventually, we got a nice base hit for that one RBI.

“(Only having one hit) is a compliment to DuBois’ pitching. They always have really good pitching, and they hit the ball well. We knew it coming in, and they’re just a good baseball team overall. That game could have gone either way, and it’s just nice that we could grind that out and came away with a win.”

Chase Smith pitched the first two innings and didn’t allow any runs, ceding two hits and walking two while fanning three. Jude Smith pitched the third and fourth and allowed two earned runs on two hits and a walk, and Reigel closed things out with two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one.

The approach of pitcher by committee wasn’t a decision Simbeck and his coaching staff came to lightly, but it ended up working out very well for St. Marys.

“There was discussion coming into the game: who we were going to start and if we were going to change anything up from the first game, and we did,” Simbeck said. “We decided to go with Chase Smith, who pitched really well for two straight innings. We wanted to get him out; he got to 50 pitches early, unfortunately, but we’re not afraid to put different pitchers in there because we feel like we have very good pitching as well.

“We came back in with Jude Smith, who threw very well and gave us two innings of really solid baseball. Our fielding was excellent in those two innings, and then Mason Reigel to close it out. Mason throws hard. We weren’t sure what we were going to do because of it being close and the pitch counts and stuff like that, but he came in, did his job and shut it down.”

For the offense, Bauer had the only hit to drive in the go-ahead run, and Asher Pistner walked twice and scored two runs for the winners. Carson Chiodo and Bentley Chiesa each walked and drove in a run at the plate, and five others — Chase Smith, Jude Smith, Dax Newell, Jaxson Simbeck and Grady Sherry — walked once each.

DuBois’ offense was led by Krew Liddle and Carson Checchio, who each had an RBI single and walked once, and the team’s six-hit total was rounded out by four players with singles — Kennedy Lange, Lorenzo Morelli, Tripp Torrell and Bronson Mays.

Liddle got the start for DuBois and pitched 1-1/3 innings, allowing one earned run on no hits and four walks. Checchio pitched through the fourth, allowing two runs on one hit and five free passes, and Nolan Visniesky pitched a scoreless fifth, striking out two.

Playing as the visitors, DuBois threatened to score first in the top of the first with Liddle and Checchio each walking with one out then moving up a station each on a passed ball. Chase Smith got out of that jam, though, by serving up a soft grounder to first with no advancement and striking out the next hitter he faced.

St. Marys got one baserunner in the home half — a one-out walk to Newell — but Liddle got out of the inning with no damage done to send it to the second still scoreless.

Just as they had in the first inning, DuBois put two in scoring position with one out in the second thanks to one-out singles by Lange and Morelli, but once again, Chase Smith got two quick outs to get out of it unscathed.

In the home half of the second, St. Marys put the first tally on the scoreboard without recording a hit to take a 1-0 lead. Pistner led off the inning with a walk, then quickly moved up to third on a pair of passed balls.

Simbeck also walked and took second on defensive indifference, then Chiodo grounded one to Visniesky at short, who threw on to first for a 6-3 putout that allowed Pistner to score.

After Chiesa walked, Checchio came on in relief for DuBois and struck out the first two hitters he faced to strand a pair of baserunners and keep it 1-0.

DuBois’ offense responded with a pair of runs in the third inning thanks to a one-out walk to Hudson Hanzely, then back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Liddle and Checchio to put their team ahead 2-1 through two-and-a-half innings.

St. Marys loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the third thanks to a walk to Chase Smith, an error that allowed Newell to reach and a walk to Jude Smith, but Lorenzo Morelli robbed Reigel of a hit by snagging a hard-hit liner up the middle for the third out to keep DuBois’ one-run lead intact.

Jude Smith managed to set the DuBois side down in order in the top of the fourth, though, and his team responded by scoring a pair in the bottom half to take the lead for good.

Pistner led off the inning by working a walk, then advanced to second when Simbeck grounded out to the pitcher and took third on a passed ball with Chiodo in the box. Chiodo also walked, and took second without a throw down to try to get him, putting a pair in scoring position.

Chiesa followed by chopping one high in the air, and though it went for a 1-3 putout, it was high enough that Pistner was able to break for the plate and score to tie the game 2-2.

Bauer was the very next batter, and he lined a single just in front of the left fielder to bring Chiodo home and make it a 3-2 game.

DuBois managed just one baserunner in each of the final two innings — a one-out single by Torrell in the fifth and a leadoff one by Mays in the sixth. Torrell was thrown out trying to steal second, and after Mays advanced all the way to third with one out on a sac bunt by Hanzely, Reigel managed to get a pop fly back to himself and a 4-3 groundout to end the game and send his team to sectionals.

The four-team Section 1 Championships are scheduled to begin in a week — on Saturday, July 18 — and will be hosted by LeBoeuf Little League in Waterford.