Wayne pitchers hold on to extend season

UWCHLAN » Chadwick’s had plenty of chances to extend its season.

The Greater Norristown American Legion Baseball champs left 11 runners on base in a Region 3 elimination game against Wayne Monday, a 6-5 win for Wayne at Lionville Middle School.

“We didn’t really capitalize on the opportunities that we had,” Chadwick’s third baseman Matt Ahmad said. “We left too many guys on. That’s just the story of it. We didn’t really have the timely hitting.”

In the top of the seventh inning, Chadwicks’ Kyle Wagner stole second with two outs as the tying run, and Tyler Pastella walked as the potential go-ahead run. Colt Narciso stepped in and fell behind 0-2 on pitches that the Chadwick’s bench and fans were not happy with. Two pitches later, Narciso struck out looking and the season was over.

Wayne got the scoring started in the bottom of the second. Luke Kanta scored on a wild pitch, and Darien Pass laid down a safety squeeze to bring home Grady Nance and give the home team a 2-0 edge.

Chadwick’s came right back and took the lead in the top of the third. Narciso singled, Dom Proietto got hit and Joe Sortino walked to load the bases. Ahmad singled home Narciso, and Jeremiah Levine brought home Proietto and Sortino with a single to right field to make it 3-2.

Wayne answered immediately with a four-run third. Avery Shepherd and Nick Holtz had RBI singles before Kanta brought home two with a base hit to make it 6-3 in favor of the Main Line champs.

Chadwick’s cut its deficit to 6-5 in the fourth as Sortino knocked in Wagner and Ahmad hit a sac fly to score Pastella.

Wayne used four pitchers. Jack Dougherty started and went three innings. He allowed five runs on three hits while striking out two batters and walking five.

Sam Chase, Evan Johnson and Shepherd pitched in relief, with Shepherd recording the save by striking out his only batter, Narciso.

Wayne advances to takes on Broomall-Newtown, the site and time depending on

BN’s result in the winner’s bracket final against Spring City Tuesday.

In the winners’ bracket: BROOMALL-NEWTOWN 7,

FALLS TOWNSHIP 4 » BN couldn’t hold a 4-1 lead going into the seventh inning, but Alden Mathes came in to limit the damage and just kept on pitching until his offense finally won the game in the 14th inning in a marathon lasting more than four hours.

Mathes also drove in the game-winning run, reaching on an error in the 14th to score Anthony Basciono. Luke Zimmerman followed with his second RBI single, and Luke Cantwell drove in his second run to set the final margin.

Mathes scored twice. Corey Woodcock was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, and Basciono doubled twice among three hits.

Woodcock allowed one hit in six-plus innings and struck out eight, but he hit his pitch limit after back-toback walks to start the seventh. Bob Steven allowed a bases-clearing double to tie the game, but Mathes got the last three outs … then the next 21 just for good measure. He struck out nine and allowed one hit.