Red Sox Win in Losers' Bracket, Drop Championship Game

The Scoop

Entering Monday’s losers' bracket finale, with the winner all but guaranteed a spot in next week’s Region Three Tournament, depending on the out come of the NorChester/Caln match up, Spring City Post 602 and the Athletics were in the same boat as both squads had pushed their pitching needs to the limits.

In what was a slugfest, with coach Jack Sturgeon’s squad having the early momentum, the Red Sox outlasted Phoenixville by a score of 16-7 to advance to the final day of the Chester County league playoffs.

Spring City, which appeared to be sleepwalking through the sweltering heat in the early innings, was awakened by the thunder of Phoenixville sophomore Ryan Yenchick’s bat. The young slugger crushed a three -run home run, which landed far beyond the wall in left center field at Rams Stadium.

It marked the last time an A’s player would cross the plate, as the Red Sox, fueled by a six-run fourth inning, in which they sent eleven men to the plate, recorded three hits. That caused Spring City to regain the momentum, scoring 12 unanswered runs and ending Phoenixville’s season one game short of a regional berth.

Louis Vining, who was called on in the fourth inning following Yenchick’s blast, pitched five innings of quality relief as he regained control of the game by keeping the A’s batters off balance.

With strikeouts few and far between as can be expected when utilizing players that don’t pitch regularly, the defense was called on to shut down the Phoenixville bats.

Player of the Game

In a 16 run out burst, it is hard to single out one player as every Red Sox starter reached base in the tilt and every player scored at least one run. Shortstop Ricky Gorrell drove in three runs, as well as Cody Clarke, who continued his hot bat with four RBIs to compliment leadoff man Pat Medley. Medley reached base five times and crushed a triple off the wall in dead centerfield, driving in two runs.

Box Score

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Phoenixville

2

0

2

3

0

0

0

0

0

7

9

2

Spring City

1

3

0

6

3

0

2

1

X

16

13

2

Other Key Performers

In a game dictated by offense, it were two defensive plays that made the difference and were instrumental in extending the Red Sox season.

With Phoenixville leading 7-4 and the bases loaded, Kenny Pierson tracked down a shot off the bat of Collin Ammon all the way to the wall, making an over the shoulder catch for the third out of the inning.

Inside the Lines

"We have had a good run and wanted to go as far as we could," said Phoenixville senior Jack Ashburn. "We have the triple A batteries going into next year: Allen, Ammon and Ashburn. It has been an interesting season. There is a reason that [Spring City] are champions. They find a way to win these games. We can learn a lot from this year for next season in high school and legion ball."

Say What?

Following Sunday’s loss to NorChester, Red Sox head coach Janie Scheck was very candid in his gameplan for Monday’s battle with Phoenixville.

"We need to be playing Tuesday," said Scheck. "To do that, we need to go all out. We need to attack the ball, as they will be as short on pitching as we are. It may be a 22-20 game, but as long as we have more than they do, it will be successful for us."

Mission accomplished, as the Spring City win coupled with a 16-15 ousting of Caln by NorChester, guaranteed that the Red Sox will not only battle the Bulldogs for the championship, but also have qualified for the Region Three slated to start Saturday at Owen J. Roberts, with the Dogs acting as the host team.

Extra Innings

With Monday’s victory, Spring City is now 13-1 in the past two seasons when they are facing elimination from a tournament and have advanced to the final day of the Chester County playoffs for the third season in a row.

Tuesday afternoon’s game was scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. at Rams Stadium with NorChester. It marked the third consecutive year that the two squads battled in the title game.

The Results

NorChester routed Spring City in its fourth championship win in the past six years with a final score of 22-6.