Norchester Smacks Down Spring City 17-6, Big Dawgz Drop Extra To Sox

The Norchester bats that went into a late season slumber broke out of hibernation in a big way. The playoffs are under way this week.

After struggling last weekend to put together a multi-run inning, the Bulldogs unleashed the hounds Sunday at Ram Stadium and pounded defending state champion Spring City into a mercy rule shortened submission 17-6.

In a battle of the Chester County league’s best two heavy weight contenders, the Bulldogs scored in each of their first six at bats with the knockout punch coming in the fifth inning. 

Tim Ponto kept the Red Sox off the board long enough for the offense to assume control of the game. Ponto also crushed a solo home run and drove in two more runs with a single in the sixth inning.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Norchester

1

3

3

1

4

5

0

X

X

17

16

1

Spring City

0

1

2

0

0

2

1

X

X

6

9

1

Robbie Patete (two runs, three RBI) and David Vining  (two runs, four RBI) had multiple-hit games. 

“It’s the playoffs,” said Robbie Patete, who had been battling a leg injury. “We just had to get the bats going and have flipped the switch, it’s as simple as that. The adrenaline of the game situation ... the double headers we were playing earlier in the year are helping us now.”

With the win, Norchester guaranteed themselves a spot in the championship game on Tuesday. The Bulldogs will play Caln on Monday at Rams Stadium in a win or go home situation for the Seabees, who lost Saturday to the Red Sox.

Norchester beat Spring City by a combined score of 33-6 in the last six days at Rams Stadium, avenging their loss last season in the Chester County League playoffs. 

The Big Dawgz fell to the Red Sox in eight innings 10-9 in the Twin County League American junior legion playoffs. Norchester took a 4-3 lead in the fourth and carried a 7-4 lead until Spring City scored five runs in the top of the seventh to take a 9-7 edge.

After tying the game in the home seventh and stranding the winning run 90 feet away, the Dawgz allowed Spring City to post a run in the top of the eighth, before stranding the game winning run in scoring position as Spring-Ford sophomore Connor Murphy shut the door on the Dawgz comeback.

“We just blew a game today,” said Norchester manager Ken Long. “We won it twice and lost it twice, that’s how it feels anyway. 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.” 

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