MERIDIAN — Retiring the side on three pitches. Turning a bunt into a double play. Throwing out a runner trying to reach third on a wild pitch.

Butler Youth Baseball seemingly had an answer for everything defensively Friday in posting a 6-1 victory over Franklin in the District 25 winner’s bracket title game at the Meridian complex.

“That’s a solid team,” Franklin coach Dan Martstetter said.

Torin Bell delivered a two-run double in the first inning to put Butler in front. The team added three more runs in the third for a 5-0 advantage that proved to be insurmountable.

Winning pitcher Kayne Scott pitched four innings, allowing an unearned run on a pair of throwing errors. He effectively pitched to contact, throwing only 55 pitches in those four frames. He needed only three pitches to get through the second inning.

“You rarely see that, if you ever see it,” Butler coach Walt Neubauer said of the three-pitch inning. “That’s particularly big at this level because of pitch count. Kayne was never in trouble. Their pitcher threw 38 pitches in the first inning.”

In that second frame, Luke Marstetter popped out to shortstop Nate Gilkey, Carter Barrett grounded out to shortstop and Korbyn Sires grounded out to third baseman Hunter Knapik.

“That inning was amazing,” Kayne said. “But our defense is amazing. We keep making plays.”

They weren’t too bad at the plate, either.

Cooper Hilliard greeted Franklin’s second pitcher with a towering home run to center leading off the third inning. Colin Neubauer followed with a single to center and Drew Cuny blooped a double down the right field line. Scott then lined a two-run single to left for the 5-0 lead.

“We made a mistake in strategy,” Martstetter said. “They were really on our second pitcher. By the time we made another (pitching) change, it was too late.”

Franklin’s Lucas McCool reached on a two-base error and scored his team’s lone run on an errant throw to third. Franklin had two more runners in scoring position with one out when Damian Cassano laid down a bunt.

Kayne came off the mound to field the ball, checked the runner (Jake Saragian) at third and threw to first for the out. When Jake broke for the plate, first baseman Sam Vicari fired a strike to catcher Torin Bell for the out and an inning-ending double play.

“Huge play. It kept the momentum on our side,” Coach Neubauer said.

Sam added a two-out run-scoring single to right in the fifth inning to give Butler a 6-1 lead. Hunter pitched the final two innings, aided when Carter Barrett was thrown out by Torin trying to advance to third on a wild pitch for the second out of the final inning.

“I like the way we closed this game down,” Neubauer said,.

Cooper had two singles to go with his sixth home run of the season. Drew doubled and singled and Kayne had a pair of singles as Butler banged out 11 hits against four Franklin pitchers.

Franklin will try to stave off elimination Monday when it plays Cranberry. The winner faces Butler Wednesday and would have to win twice to claim the District 25 crown in the double-elimination tournament.

Franklin won its first two tourney games by scores of 14-0 over Oil City and 4-1 over Titusville.

Butler gets a few days off now.

“It’s awesome we get to play for the championship,” Cooper said.

“Our three, four and five batters can all hit the ball out of the park,” Neubauer said. “I knew, if we played ball like we’re capable, this could hasppen for these kids. We’re coming together at the right time.”

Butler203010 — 6112

Franklin 001000 — 141

W: Kayne Scott 4IP (1K, 2BB). L: Damian Cassano 2IP (2K, 5BB)

Butler: Nate Gilkey 1B, Sam Vicari 1B RBI, Torin Bell 2B 2-RBI, Cooper Hilliard HR 2-1B, Colin Neubauer 1B, Drew Cuny 2B 1B, Kayne Scott 2-1B 2-RBI

Franklin: Damian Cassano 1B RBI, Justin Arment 2B, Carter Barret 1B, Korbyn Sires 1B

Wednesday: District 25 championship-Butler vs. Cranberry-Franklin winner, site and time TBA