Sometimes, all it takes is one swing to change the course of a game.

Towamensing found that out the hard way Friday against East Stroudsburg. With the home team one strike away from a scoreless first inning, a three-run homer gave East Stroudsburg a lead it never relinquished en route to a convincing 14-1 victory in the District 18 10-12-year-old Little League tournament.

Towamensing starting pitcher Lucas Sutton worked around a walk and a single with a pair of strikeouts in the opening inning. After getting ahead 0-2 and appearing on the verge of escaping the jam, Lucas Balatoni crushed the next pitch, sending a no-doubt home run over the right-field fence.

“He got strike 2 and had that look of defeat on him,” said East Stroudsburg head coach John Penatello. “I reminded him real quick like, ‘Hey, this is why you got three (strikes) in this game.’ He quickly changed his mindset, got a good pitch and drove it.”

While a 3-0 lead isn’t insurmountable at any level of baseball, the home run seemed to take the wind out of Towamensing’s sails after the team came within one strike of escaping the inning unscathed. To compound matters, East Stroudsburg’s Ezra Paolino proved difficult to solve on the mound, striking out five over two innings.

East Stroudsburg never let up offensively. After adding another run in the second, it broke the game open with four more in the third. Xxzavier Murphy and Jayden Carmella each drove in a run, while Balatoni followed his first-inning homer with a double before eventually scoring.

Towamensing broke through in the bottom of the third when Sutton drove in a run with a groundout. But that was all the offense the hosts could muster.

Colton Miller added an RBI in the fourth as part of a two-run inning for East Stroudsburg. The visitors capped the scoring with another four-run frame in the fifth, highlighted by Kaden Beresk’s RBI single.

The victory was a satisfying one for Penatello, but he stressed to his team that games won’t always come this easily.

“Today, they didn’t play down to the competition; (Towamensing was) definitely a younger team,” he said. “So (I’m) just trying to keep them in the right mindset and understanding that moving forward, they’re going to see some competition like they did the other day (against Franklin Township).”

For Towamensing and head coach Tyler Sutton, coaching such a young team has presented challenges, but he believes the experience will pay off as the players continue to develop.

“Kids’ attitudes, they just need to mature a little bit, and they’re a little young yet,” he said. “They like the pressure; just got to get the hitting going. Just keep your heads up and play better every day.”

NEXT CHALLENGER… East Stroudsburg advanced in the losers’ bracket and will face Pocono Mountain East on Sunday. Pocono Mountain East lost its previous game, 5-2, to Tamaqua on Thursday.

Eastburg 314 24 - 14 10 0

Towamensing 001 00 - 1 1 1

Paolino, Miller (3), Goulet (4) and Murphy; Sutton, Kresge (4) and Lengel. W - Paolino. L - Sutton.