SIBL Stars Finish Second in Region Tournament

The 11-year-old all-stars of the Swansea Independent Baseball League fell short Sunday in their quest for the North Region Tournament championship of the Bronco League-11 division of PONY Baseball when they bowed in the tourney final to the Averill Park Devil Cats of Averill Park, N.Y., 15-3, at the Nike Site Playing Complex in Swansea.

          Averill Park bolted to a 6-0 lead after two innings in the title contest and never looked back en route to their fourth tournament victory in five starts. Averill Park now advances to the East Zone Tournament to be played Friday through Monday in Cranbury Township, Penn.

          Nick Maggio climaxed a productive tournament appearance (he hit the only four home runs in the event) with three hits in Sunday’s finale, while pitcher Anthony Childrose effectively scattered seven hits in a route-going effort. Tyler Botelho, Clayton Harper, Chris Paquette, Peter Gloddy, Jared Koger, J.P. Nasiff and Alex Millar all collected hits in a losing cause and Marcus Moss and Botelho were defensive standouts.

          Swansea had forced a final match earlier Sunday when it defeated Averill Park, 7-3, in the title round. Nick Gerling pitched a gem for the victors, yielding just six hits and fanning four (including Maggio twice), while working out of jams in the final six frames.

          The SIBL squad took a 2-0 lead in the third stanza when Gerling singled home Botelho and later scored on an error, and extended its lead to 4-0 one inning later on run-scoring singles by Gerling and Logan Sherrat.  After Averill Park narrowed the gap to 4-3 in the sixth frame, Swansea broke it open with three scores in the bottom part of the same chapter on Gloddy’s run-producing single and a two-run single by Lucas Crook.

          Swansea had advanced to the title round Saturday night by ousting South End of New Bedford, 11-1, in the losers’ bracket final. Sherrat was the winning pitcher for the SIBL entry after sharing mound duties with Gloddy and Paquette.

          Gerling sparked the winners offensively with three hits, while Botelho and Casey Santerre both contributed two hits.

          In the winners’ bracket final, Averill Park trimmed Swansea, 14-3, despite Gloddy’s two-run single in the first inning and Sherrat’s run-producing single in the second frame. Earlier, the SIBL club topped the Capital District Braves of Bethlehem, N.Y., 13-3, thanks to the solid pitching of Sherrat, Paquette and Gerling and a 13-hit assault spearheaded by two-hit efforts from Gerling, Sherrat and Santerre. Gloddy, Crook and Nasiff all drove in two runs for the winners.