Vikings Sail Past Great Valley By 12-1 Final

With a strong wind blowing to centerfield at West Chester East's baseball stadium Monday afternoon, one didn't need to have a degree in meteorology to figure it was going to be a hitter's day. Just before the first pitch of the game between Great Valley and the host Vikings, Weatherbug.com pegged the sustained breeze at 23 mph with gusts to 27.

But it wasn't the wind or the WCE bats that were the problem for the Patriots, as they lost a 12-1 mercy-ruled final to the hottest team in the Ches-Mont League.

It was the glove.

Great Valley made enough mistakes in four innings in the field to last a season while going through three pitchers. Consider that the Patriots:

• dropped two easy fly-ball for errors to keep WCE innings going
• missed two foul popups that could have been turned into outs
• had a pop fly go as far as the mound and land among four fielders
• finished with three errors total

Against a team that is now 8-0 and considered the frontrunner to be in the league title chase, it's not a good idea to give them extra outs. Of the 12 runs that West Chester East scored, four came with two outs and five came with one out.

The Patriots got to Viking starter Derek Prucnal right out of the chute, pushing across a run in the top of the first. With one away, Kevin Falcone got an infield hit then scored when catcher Jack Meeker doubled to right-center for a 1-0 lead.

The problems began right away for Great Valley starter Aaron Daylida. After getting an out, the Vikings pieced together their first rally with a single, a triple, an error at short by Thomas Schwartz and a two-RBI double. With that, West Chester East had quickly reclaimed the lead, 3-1.

For the next two innings, the Patriots went quietly into the late afternoon. A 1-2-3 second was followed by only a walk to Falcone in the third around three quick outs.

It was clear that it wasn't the Patriots' day when the first WCE batter in the second lifted a pop up in the infield—and it fell untouched behind the mound as the GV infield watched. After an out, an error by rightfielder David Iacobucci, a fielder's choice and a walk ended Daylida's day on the mound.

On in relief came Jason Paik who allowed a a two-run hit to Bobby Atwell, two walks and a wild pitch before getting the third out, but the Vikings had upped the lead to 7-1.

West Chester East struck again in the third when, with two outs, they loaded the bases off Paik with a single and two walks. A run scored on a wild pitch (8-1) and after Chris Pendergast came on to pitch for the Patriots, two more runs scored on a double and a dropped fly by leftfielder Nick Evangelista, and the score was 11-1.

Great Valley kicked up a fuss in the fourth when Evangelista singled to right center, Chance Griffiths flew out to right and Jordan Vallinino sliced a single to center. But Vallinino was wiped out on a fielder's choice off the bat of Christian Barrett and Reggie Williams fouled out to end the threat.

The Vikings used three hits to add a run in the fourth to make it 12-1 and probably would have had more if not for a nice running catch by Williams in centerfield.

A single from Schwartz and a walk to Iacobucci gave the Pats two runners in the fifth, but a fielder's choice and two groundouts ended the game.

Overall, the Great Valley pitchers gave up nine hits, walked two and struck out three.