Baseball is a team sport, but sometimes one pitcher can take over a game.

Nick Dedinsky certainly proved that on Saturday.

Jim Thorpe hosted Towamensing in Little League action, and Dedinsky stole the show in dominant fashion. The right-hander recorded all 15 outs via strikeout, silencing Towamensing offensively and leading his team to an 11-1 victory in the District 18 10-12-year-old tournament.

While getting every out in a game by strikeout sounds almost unheard of, this level of dominance from Dedinsky is nothing new.

“All season long,” said Jim Thorpe manager Steve Heydt. “He’s on my regular season team and he plays amazing.”

The only hit and run Dedinsky allowed came with two outs in the first inning after a hit batter, a double to the right-field wall and a wild pitch. From that point forward, he allowed just two more baserunners, both on walks, and struck out everyone else he faced.

“He’s a great kid; he just plays baseball,” Heydt said. “He’s out there having a good time. Somebody walks? He’s OK with it. He throws a lot of strikes, and it shows. It’s going to be great when he gets a little bit older.”

JT got its offense going in the bottom of the first on a wild pitch and never looked back. In contrast to Dedinsky, Towamensing’s pitching struggled to find the strike zone, and Jim Thorpe took advantage with 16 walks and four separate multi-run innings.

The bats also produced for JT, with six different players driving in runs. Dedinsky helped his own cause, going 2-for-2 with an RBI, while Edwardo Camacho finished 1-for-2 with an RBI. The other runs batted in came from Owen Hosier, Mason Pruitte, Miles Smith and Jaggar McElmoyle.

Even after a game like this one, there are still important takeaways for both squads. Towamensing head coach Tyler Sutton is thankful not every pitcher his team faces will be as dominant as Dedinsky, but his main priority is keeping his players engaged.

“We’ve got to get at it at practice this week; focus on getting confidence, (making) more defensive plays, more hustle, and not watching those pitches go by,” he said.

For JT, it can be easy for young players to feel like every game will be similar to the one they just played. Heydt’s most important reminder is that not every contest will be the same and to never stop competing.

“You might have a couple of easy ones, you might have a hard one, but you can’t stop playing in the middle of a game,” he said. “Keep playing your game. It doesn’t matter who it’s against.”

WHO’S NEXT? … Jim Thorpe travels to Stroudsburg on Thursday after Stroudsburg defeated East Stroudsburg in its previous game.

Towamensing awaits the winner of Franklin Township and East Stroudsburg, who play tonight.

Towamensing 100 00 — 1 1 3

Jim Thorpe 233 03 — 11 5 0

Sutton, Santiago (4) and Lengel, Sturdik (5); Dedinsky and Eckert. W — Dedinsky. L — Sutton.