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Although many of his team's games against Division III opponents this season were close, Montgomery College-Germantown baseball coach Dan Rascher felt his Gryphons could win a fifth straight Region XX crown if they simply "played to their capabilities."

Germantown (31-21) did that and more in winning yet another regional crown last weekend in Pennsylvania. They outscored their three opponents by a combined score of 31-2, including a 13-2 victory against host Westmoreland County Community College (Pa.) during Sunday's final, to earn another ticket to the NJCAA Division III World Series, May 22-28 in Tyler, Texas. The Gryphons finished second at last year's World Series.

"The kids played great defense and our pitching was excellent," Rascher said. "If we can play some defense, we're going to be in games and that's kind of what we've been doing the last couple of weeks. ... I think our schedule really gets us ready. We've played Division I and II teams all year long."

During Sunday's final, the Gryphons jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, added one run in the third, two in the fourth, one in the sixth and than five in the eighth to put the game away. The first runs scored against them in the tournament came on single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Seneca Valley graduate Tyler Klitsch (8-3) recorded the win, allowing one run on seven hits with four strikeouts in seven innings of work. At the plate, Matt Civetti (Clarksburg) went 4 for 4 with three runs batted in, five runs and three triples, to give him seven for the season. His other hit was a double.

John Wagner (Sherwood), the tournament's Most Valuable Player, had three hits, two runs and an RBI. Peter Barrett (Wootton) had two hits and three RBIs and Ben Silverman (Richard Montgomery) went 3 for 4 with two RBIs.

Germantown started the three-day, four-team tournament with an 8-0 win against the Community College of Allegheny County-Boyce (Pa.) on Friday. Travis Hart (Paint Branch) worked seven shutout innings with five strikeouts. Matt Miller (Magruder) and Kenny Beyer (Richard Montgomery) knocked in two runs apiece.

The Gryphons followed that with a 10-0 five-inning victory Saturday against CCAC-South (Pa.). Brian Brusoe (Magruder) struck out six and allowed two hits in his five innings of work. His squad exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the ninth to put the game away.

Sam Bender (Wootton), Taylor Schallhorn (Blake) and Wagner drove in two runs apiece. Wagner had a double and a triple. Bender also had a triple.