Junior Red Sox Rally To Beat Top-Seeded Dawgz

The Scoop

In a knock down, drag out battle, the Red Sox defeated number one seed and regular season champion NorChester, 10-9, in eight innings. They effectively knocked the Big Dawgz into to the losers' bracket in the Twin County League American junior legion playoffs Sunday night.

NorChester took a 4-3 lead in the fourth and carried a 7-4 lead until Spring City erupted for five runs in the top of the seventh, all with two outs, to take a 9-7 edge.

After the seeing the Dawgz tie the game in the seventh as a ball scooted away at second base, Spring-Ford sophomore Connor Murphy stranded the winning run ninety feet away, as he got Steve Muscovitch to ground out softly in the infield.

In first extra stanza, Cameron Simmons sent a two-out single after a single by Andy Lovre-Smith to keep the inning alive. He then raced home with the winning run on an RBI single that Billy Conroy drilled off the glove of the NorChester second baseman’s glove.

Following a leadoff double by catcher David Clay, Murphy was able to prevent the tying run from crossing the plate with the base loaded. He got Chase Line to tap it back to the mound, which Murphy fielded cleanly to secure the win and a date in the winners' bracket finale on Monday night.

Red Sox Player of the Game

Zack Zoller delivered the big blow in the seventh inning to complete the Red Sox comeback as he torched a bases loaded triple to the wall, scoring Murphy, Lovre-Smith and Conroy. Zoller ended the game 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs.

Box Score

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

R

H

E

Red Sox

0

3

0

0

1

0

5

1

10

12

1

Big Dawgz

0

4

0

3

0

0

2

0

9

9

1

Other Key Performers

Murphy, who closed out the game for Spring City, allowed no earned runs and two hits while striking out two in three innings of relief. Conroy, who worked a walk and scored the first run of the game also reached on an error, finished the tilt with a 2-for-4 day at the plate, scoring twice and driving in two runs, including the game winner. 

Inside the Lines

"I was nervous at first when I came into the game," said 15 year-old Murphy. "Once I got going, the adrenaline helped me settle. I really wanted to get the last out; this is such a huge win for us. I knew in the seventh that I had to get out Muscovitch with their catcher coming up, who hit the ball great all day. I just really focused and was able to get him to ground out."

Say What?

"Connor is a kid who wants the ball of the time," said Red Sox manager Mike Gancasz. "In a situation like that, you want a kid to say, 'I want the ball.' He did a great job and I could not be prouder of the way our guys never quit, even after they put up four right after we scored three. I was surprised they didn’t bunt when their leadoff hit a double there, but we had to be ready for it and make sure we executed."

Extra Innings

"We just blew a game today," said NorChester manager Ken Long. "We won it twice and lost it twice. That’s how it feels any way. We needed to get the runs home, when David [Clay] doubled to start the eighth inning, we thought about bunting him over, but I wanted to go for the win right there and all we needed was one more hit.” 

Next on the Schedule

With the win, the fourth seeded Red Sox traveled Monday night to number two Phoenixville to play the Phantoms, who defeated Pottstown 1-0 in nine innings. NorChester faced Pottstown in an elimination game.

Patch will have results as they are made available.