Black Sox overcome history to make playoffs

CHESTER » Bobby Harper saw the superball hop off the cuff of the infield grass at Chester Athletic Complex Saturday afternoon, and then his mind went blank.

As the centerfielder drifted in on the ball, he cleared his thoughts, mechanically scooped up the single off the bat of Alex Gattinelli, then crow-hopped and hoped.

“I just let it loose,” Harper said, “and fortunately got the chance to hose the final out and get us to the playoffs.”

For the first time in 15 seasons — across monikers from Havertown to Haverford to Marple and seven last-place campaigns — the Black Sox are in the Delco League playoffs, and it took a bottom of the seventh for the ages to tip all that history into oblivion.

Harper’s outfield assist to the plate followed Chase Standen gunning out a runner on the way home to seal a 3-2 victory in spectacular fashion.

“I’ve had walk-off hits but I’ve never actually hosed somebody at the end of the game like that,” Harper said. “It was awesome.”

Chester, the last-place team that trailed from the top of the first onward but never stopped battling, strung together a threat in the home half of the seventh against Marple reliever Vince Greco. An error and a passed ball moved Chester pitcher and cleanup hitter Bobby Williams into scoring position with one out. Up stepped Thomas Summers, who singled to right field. But Standen came up throwing, his rope up the third-base line allowing catcher Brian Reynolds to slap the tag on Williams’ leg before he could even start his slide.

A walk followed to move Sean Redding, Summers’ pinch-runner, to second. Gattinelli chopped a single up the middle, which in Harper’s words took a “ludicrously large hop” and bounded between the middle infielders. That’s when Harper took over and seized his star turn with a dart to the dish that caught Redding, stumbling into the start of his slide, dead to rights before he even got to the plate.

“Once that ball leaves your hand, you know the game’s not in your hands anymore,” Greco said. “It’s up to the seven guys behind you. You’ve got to trust them that they’re good enough to get the plays done. … I think with (Bobby) out there and his arm out there, we’ve always got a chance to get them. Great throw, and Brian picked it and put the tag on him, it was a great play.”

The peculiarity of the final inning managed to outstrip the oddness of the previous six. Marple, needing a win in either of its last two games this weekend to leapfrog Middletown into the sixth and final playoff spot, appeared poised to turn the game into a laugher early against a Chester side playing out the string. The Black Sox scored single runs in each of the first three innings, but they required 14 base-runners in that span, squandering far more opportunities than they cashed in.

Three times, they left the bases loaded. Twice they grounded into double plays. In all, they left 13 men on, nine in scoring position, and somehow let Williams wriggle off the hook repeatedly.

“It’s absolutely frustrating especially with the way we’ve been hitting the last few games,” Harper said. “… I think Chester’s starting pitcher having struggles early finding the zone made us a little complacent at the plate and then it became a little bit harder to try to pick it up from there.”

Williams walked 12 batters. He hit another four and added a pair of wild pitches for good measure. But the right-handed side-armer gutted his way out of jams, allowing just three hits. Harper drove home runs in the first two frames with a sac fly and a bases-loaded walk, and nine-hitter Ben Mutz added an RBI single in the third.

Williams eventually settled in, retiring nine straight batters and strengthening as the game wound on. He created trouble in the top of the seventh with a walk and a hit batsmen, but struck out Liam Bendo, his fifth punchout in the last four innings, with the sacks packed.

Marple starter Tyler Lashley glided through four innings but ran aground in the fifth, thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles by Mike Anone and Williams. A Summers single chased Lashley.

Enter Greco, who rallied from a 3-0 count to strike out Dante George and induced a fly out from Gattinelli to escape trouble against Chester, which rapped out 10 hits.

“Never really a fun situation to get in, but just strike one was the most important pitch,” Greco said. “It was getting ahead in counts the best I possibly could. That’s how I got hitters out.”

That set up the heroics of the bottom of the seventh provided by Harper and Standen. For a team that has waited since 2003 to get to its first Delco League playoff appearances, the thrilling finish did justice to the years of anticipation.

“I’ve had hits that have gotten teams in the past into the playoffs, but that’s at the plate,” Harper said. “Those are the moments you expect. Having a defensive play being that final play that gets us into the playoffs, I never expected that.”

Also in the Delco League: WAYNE 12, SPRINGFIELD 9 » Matt Schilling and Jim Vankoski supplied two hits each as Wayne posted a seven-run fifth to take control. Jimmer Kennedy was the survivor on the mound, working two frames to be the pitcher of record.

Tom Osenbach went 2-for-3 for Springfield.