Middleboro rallies fall short
Middleboro needed a win on a warm Williamsport, Pa., night to stay alive in the Little League World Series, but a big fourth inning from Pennsylvania propelled the Mid-Atlantic representatives to a 7-5 victory on Saturday evening at Howard J. Lamade stadium.
“Obviously everybody’s proud of these kids,” coach Chad Gillpatrick said. “I think they all learned a ton and they worked hard as a team and they were all very coachable kids. They’re a great group.”
The Hollidaysburg, Pa., offense was quiet early, but woke up late with seven runs between the fourth and fifth innings, all off Gavin Gillpatrick, who went 4‚ innings, punching out three and giving up eight hits and two walks.
“Gavin was pitching great early, we were making some good plays in the field,” Chad Gillpatrick said. “[The fourth] inning got a little bit away from us.”
Jayden Murphy led the way for Middleboro with two hits and three RBIs, but Massachusetts’ nine hits were not enough.
After winning the New England regional tournament, Middleboro drew Southeast region representative Tennessee in the first round of the World Series on Wednesday and fell, 5-3, leading to Friday’s elimination matchup with Pennsylvania.
Ayden Morris drove in the first run of the game, lacing a double into the left-field gap in the first inning.
Pennsylvania catcher Chase Link took a 1-0 fastball deep to centerfield in the fourth, tying the game at 1-1.
The Mid-Atlantic champions pushed across two more thanks to a few defensive miscues and some timely hitting to lead, 4-1, after four.
In the fifth, Middleboro struck back as Murphy roped a triple down the left-field line to plate Jacob Landers. Mike Marzelli drove in Murphy with a single through the left side to get Massachusetts within 4-3.
Pennsylvania added three insurance runs in the fifth to make it a 7-3 game.
Middleboro wasn’t done, however. Chad Gillpatrick gave some words of encouragement to his team before the final frame.
“We just said we’re not giving up, you know, it’s baseball,” he said. “Anything can happen, you know. Our bats are magical and we’ll try to get something going. It was pretty much one guy, one pitch, and one batter at a time.”
Luke Bolduc doubled to left to set up runners on second and third with just one out in the sixth.
Murphy delivered a single to center that got by the Pennsylvania outfielder and scored two runs, leaving him on third with the tying run at the plate.
In the end, however, Massachusetts couldn’t muster one more clutch hit, and was soon shaking hands with its opponent for the final time in Williamsport.
Pennsylvania moves onto the next round to face Metro region champion New York on Sunday at 2 p.m.