Staff photo / Dan Hiner. The Canfield Intermediate baseball team poses for photos after winning the District 2 championship against Austintown on Saturday at McCune Park in Canfield.

CANFIELD — Calvin Zunic was efficient on Saturday.

The Canfield righty pitched a five-inning complete game in a 12-2 win over Austintown in the Little League District 2 Intermediate championship at McCune Field in Canfield. He allowed two runs while only needing 55 pitches in the outing.

“The defense played very well behind him, which allowed him to be very efficient,” Canfield head coach Andrew Zunic said.

Calvin Zunic set the tone, and the rest of the team went to work soon after. After giving up an early run, he held Austintown scoreless while the bats came alive in the middle innings.

“The whole lineup was hitting, getting on base with walks. Defensively, they got to the right spots and made the routine plays,” Andrew Zunic said. “It was just a crisp game, which you don’t always get with kids, but they played their best ball today.”

Canfield fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, but base running allowed it to take the lead. Canfield got a couple runners on base in the home half of the first, and Angelo Crisucci and Gavin Janosko both scored on wild pitches to take a 2-1 advantage.

Rocco Turk singled to lead off the bottom of the second for Canfield. A dropped liner allowed Noah Oles to reach with two outs, but Austintown starter Mason Haynie got a groundball to work out of the jam.

Canfield loaded the bases in the third for another scoring opportunity. A runner scored on a throwing error, and another crossed on a wild pitch. But Anthony DiRenzo broke the game open when he pulled a three-run home run to the right-field corner, putting Canfield up 7-1.

“Obviously the score was pretty big, and without (the runs in the third), we wouldn’t have won that big,” DiRenzo said. “There were still two more innings left to play, so it was huge that we had that inning.”

Austintown got a run back after Steve Williams was hit by a pitch to start the top of the fourth. He stole second, and while attempting to steal third, the throw went into left field. Williams scored when the ball slipped out of the catcher’s mitt on the tag.

The bases were loaded again for Canfield in the home half of the fourth. Louis Coleman drove in a run on an RBI grounder, and Eli Tokarski plated two with a single to center. Cooper Walters pushed the Canfield lead to 12-2 with a two-RBI double to the right-center gap.

“We have a great team. A lot of these kids have been together for eight years, playing baseball together,” Austintown head coach Shane Haynie said. “Gave it all we had today. Balls didn’t fall our way.”

Now Canfield moves on to Wheelersburg. Its season will continue in the regional round on July 5.

“It’s something to be proud of,” Andrew Zunic said. “Their banner will be hanging up in our facilities for years to come. They’ve joined a long list of successful Canfield teams that have come before us. I’m just happy for the boys. They get to enjoy this and keep moving on.”