The 2013 Lehigh Valley Keystone State Games Junior Division baseball team won the silver medal by going 3-1 in the KSG pool play last weekend. That 3-1 mark qualified the LV squad for the gold medal game against an undefeated West team, which proved to be the end of the road for the LV, as the West team proved to be the tournament champion with an 8-2 win over LV to claim the gold medal.

Despite the finish, LV assistant coach Ted Plessl was happy about the end result for the LV team.

"This year's Lehigh Valley Junior team was made up from 12 different high schools and came from all four of our designated KSG counties of Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, and Northampton," said Plessl. "The silver medal was the first medal won by the LV since 2008. This year, we had the biggest turnout of players at our five tryouts and we were able to draw a lot of players from our designated county areas."

The Lehigh Valley first beat Pocono 2-1 in the tournament opener and then handled Blue Mountain in nine innings with a 4-3 walk-off victory. Going into the Saturday games the LV needed one victory to advance out of the pool. The LV lost to Capital, a perennial KSG powerhouse, 4-3, but came back later in the day to beat Metro 1-0 in another intense, hard-fought game in the bottom of the seventh.

To be able to play in the championship, LV would have to beat Metro and it needed all of the seven innings to take home the victory.

Nate Kitchell (Pocono Mountain East) and Jeremy Lovera (Lincoln Leadership) pitched in the contest, with Kitchell going the first five scoreless innings and setting the stage for victory.

Jose Pena (Whitehall) started the seventh with a walk. Misail Sanchez (LVA) was sent in to pinch run and ended up crossing home for the game's only run.

Austin Mueller (Parkland) followed with a bunt single to put runners at first and second. Pinch hitter Kyle Friebolin (Parkland) then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, which forced Metro's pitcher for a wide throw to third, allowing Sanchez to score and send the Lehigh Valley to the final.

The LV was overmatched in the championship game against an undefeated West team, but it was progress for the squad after a long hiatus without grabbing a medal at the games.

"Greg Candelmo (Scolastic Head Coach) and I have been involved with running the LV franchise since 2004 and we were not only thrilled with the turnout but feel we have now solidified both coaching staffs," said Plessl. "We are looking forward to more involvement at tryouts in 2014 because of the solid coaching staffs and the fact that LV won the junior silver and a scholastic bronze."