LILLY - For five innings Butler Township had an American Legion Region 7 baseball first-round tournament win within its sights.

Murphy's law then took effect.

Butler Township was forced to use four pitchers in the last four innings as Creps-United reeled off 11 runs on 12 hits in that span to defeat the Butler County League representative 16-8 Wednesday at Lilly War Memorial Field.

Butler Township was eliminated from the tournament early this morning with a 16-4 loss to Latrobe. The game didn't begin until 10:40 p.m., as rains forced alteration of the game schedule.

The team didn't arrive home until 3:30 a.m.

After five innings of play in the game against Creps-United, Butler Township was ahead 6-5.

"We knew our pitching wouldn't be too strong, but we were just hoping to outscore them in a high-scoring game," said Butler Township manager Gene Zawrotuk. "And we had the lead there. But then the roof caved in."

Zawrotuk watched his team fall behind 5-2 by the time his players picked up their bats in the bottom of the fifth, but they responded with four runs on four hits.

With one out, Joe Rekich scored on Matt McCune's fielder's choice.

Ryan Smith then drove in McCune with a double before Gary Gombos singled in Brandon Dunn-Setnar and Smith for the 6-5 advantage.

Josh Marchinoski, who relieved Butler Township starter Brian Bell in the fifth inning, was unable to hold the lead for long.

After an error by third baseman Josh Edwards allowed Creps-United's Dan Snyder to tie the game in the top of the sixth, Creps-United tacked on three more runs to take a 9-6 lead and would never trail again.

Chad Blystone picked up the win for Creps-United, despite a mediocre performance.

He struck out six, walked five and surrendered six runs on six hits in five innings of work.

"We had a few well-pitched games this year," said Creps-United manager John Fisanich. "But we won most of our games with offense. That's why we don't panic when we get behind early."

Chris Buchanan relieved Blystone and gave up just two runs on three hits in the last four innings.

At the same time, Creps-United was feasting on Butler Township's bullpen.

Edwards, Robbie Cochran and Mike Graham all came on between the sixth and eighth innings.

Creps-United had at least one hit in every inning and scored at least one run in six of the nine frames.

Eight of its starting nine players had at least two hits, and, as bad as the score appeared, it could have been worse because Creps-United stranded 15 runners on base.

Butler Township didn't help its own cause by committing five errors.

"Of all the games we played this year, I would say this was the most disappointing effort from the players that we've had," said Zawrotuk. "It almost seemed like they didn't come to play."

Gombos, Smith and Edwards each had two hits for Butler Township.

The team followed a similar trend in its second game. Latrobe and Butler Township were tied at 4 in the fifth inning when the latter's depleted pitching staff did it in.

"We just didn't have the pitching to compete in this tournament," Zawrotuk said.

Butler Township used six pitchers against Latrobe, which hit 10 doubles in the game.

"The score could have been worse," Zawrotuk said. "Their coaches started holding runners up and they left a lot of guys on base.

"It (the tournament) was a good experience for the kids. It's something they'll never forget."

Creps-United 100 134 340 - 16 20 3

Butler Twp. 000 240 020 - 8 9 5

WP:

Chad Blystone (5 IP) 6 strikeouts, 5 walks.

LP:

Josh Marchinoski (1

IP) 0 strikeouts, 1 walk

Creps-United (21-4):

Chad Blystone 2-1B 2RBI R, Dan Snyder 2-1B 2B RBI 3R, Chris Sadler 3-1B RBI 2R, Adam Woodrow 3-1B 3RBI

Butler Township:

Robbie Cochran R, Joe Rekich R, Josh Edwards 2-1B RBI, Matt McCune 1B RBI R, Brandon Dunn-Setnar 1B 2R, Ryan Smith 1B 2B RBI 2R, Travis Shingleton 1B, Gary Gombos 2-1B 2RBI R