Cobb sparks Ridley Area to second District 19 title
Cobb’s slam sparks Ridley Area Little League’s rally to district title >>
RIDLEY TWP. » T.C. Cobb wasn’t in the Ridley Area starting lineup for the District 19 Little League Majors championship finale against AstonMiddletown Tuesday night.
Maybe that was a good thing for RALL. Maybe coach John Scanlan and his staff were waiting for the right opportunity to call upon Cobb to stroll to the plate and get a big hit.
Ridley Area found itself in that situation relatively early in the game. Trailing by three runs, less than 24 hours after its bats were silenced against formidable Aston-Middletown pitching, RALL needed to jumpstart its offense in a hurry.
Jaxon Kehoe and Irv Fisher had back-to-back singles to lead off the third inning. Jack Sharer reached on an error, then Austin Cannon worked a bases-loaded walk to get Ridley Area on the board. But the team still trailed by two runs and and in search of that one swing that would change everything.
Cobb was called on to pinch hit with two outs and the bases juiced. And, boy, was he ready ...
“I’m just trying to get on base to help my team out,” Cobb said. “I felt like I was the man when coach called me up, that it was my time to shine. Coach sent me up for a reason.”
Cobb swung and connected. The ball traveled far over the fence at Ridley Area Little League, a no-doubtabout-it grand slam to give his team the lead. The hit spurred Ridley Area Little League to a 13-7 victory.
The decision to use Cobb in that spot paid dividends in a huge way … and made the coaching staff look pretty smart, too.
“We have feelings for our guys in big spots, big moments,” Scanlan said. “We just felt that was the right moment that we needed a big hit. T.C. shows us every day in practice that he can do exactly what he did. That’s the tough part about Little League baseball. You bat nine guys and you have four guys on the bench, you have to pick your spots and hope they come through. And we had all the confidence in the world that he would get a big hit. We have all the confidence in the world in all of our guys. At some point somebody’s got to come out of the lineup and somebody else has to go in. We expect every one of them to come through.
“They make us look good and we just put them in the best spots to succeed.”
Tuesday was Ridley Area Little League’s first District 19 Majors championship since 2013. For this group, it’s their third straight district crown. Last year they captured states after winning East Regionals as 10-year-olds. This summer the boys have their sights set on Williamsport.
“I just thought we were trying to do too much in the beginning,” said center fielder Irv Fisher, who cracked two home runs and was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs. “Then we started to get singles and that led to some home runs.”
“I think we all started waking up,” Kehoe added. “Once I got the first single, everyone started rolling and we all started to relax a little.”
When RALL took a 5-3 lead on Cobb’s slam, Aston-Middletown was rattled, but far from defeated.
“We played the second-best team in the state,” Scanlan said in a postgame ceremony.
It was true. A-M didn’t back down, even when it found itself down seven runs with six outs to go. They continued to fight. Fisher’s two-run homer in the fourth made it 7-3, then Cobb and Conner Scanlan smacked RBI doubles to increase RALL’s advantage to seven runs. But it was far from over.
In the sixth inning, A-M put a four spot on the scoreboard to cut its deficit to 10-7. Dylan Hall, who pitched a complete game with 13 strikeouts Monday night, belted a three-run homer. Will Newnom, who homered earlier, chipped in with an RBI single.
The pressure was on RALL and starting pitcher Michael Floriendo, who battled for 4 1/3 innings. His pitching line wasn’t pretty, but he struck out six and gave Ridley Area every last drop of energy. When A-M threatened in the sixth inning, Kehoe was called on to get the final two outs and secure the win for Floriendo.
“I like closing better,” Kehoe said. “I like to get the final outs.”
Oh, he made sure of it. Kehoe struck out Sam Dinitz (2-for-4, RBI single) with the bases loaded for the second out. Gavin Wray then hit a hard comebacker to the mound. Instead of flipping the ball to catcher Jake Shaak, Kehoe sprinted from the mound and stomped on home plate for the final out. And the celebration was on. “I’ve done that a couple times,” Kehoe said. “A couple years ago in Regionals there was a ground ball to me and I just ran it over to the base to end the game.” Hey, whatever works… “He’s had that dreamed up in his head for a while,” Scanlan said.
RALL pounded out 13 hits on the night. Kehoe (2-for-4, two runs), Fisher (3-for-4, 3 RBis), Sharer (2for-4, three runs), Cannon (1-for-2, two runs), Cobb (2-for-3, five RBIs, two runs), Carter Williams (1-for3, RBI) and Scanlan (2-for-4, two RBIs) supplied plenty of firepower.
Now it’s on to the Section 8 tournament at Upper Providence Little League. Ridley Area will play the District 22 winner at 1 p.m.
“There are communities that follow teams, but the community that showed up for us in the last two days,” assistant coach R.C. Kehoe said, “they were all bleeding green and were a huge part of us getting through this. That means a lot to everyone on the team.”
District 19 11U
The McTear brothers tore it up to lead Newtown Edgmont Little League to the title with a 6-1 triumph over Ridley Area Little League.
Harrison McTear led the offense with two hits including a double, two run scored and one RBI. Grady McTear pitched five scoreless innings to get the win. He allowed two hits, one walk and fanned six. Kevin Hodlofski and Brady Abate added two hits each, and Jack Maholick chipped in with one hit and two RBIs.