Cannon blasts help Ridley rally, walk off
John Scanlan’s trip down memory lane had a purpose Monday afternoon.
The Ridley Area Little League coach shared with his charges a story from when he was a freshman defensive back at Lycoming College. His team trailed Widener 13-2 that day, with three minutes left to play — Scanlan may have told the Ridley players one minute, but a little exaggeration over 20 years is the going rate — and the ball at their oneyard line (that part checks out). A touchdown, a recovered onside kick and another score later, and the Warriors pulled off one of the unlikeliest victories you’ll ever see.
The nostalgia sought to teach the Ridley players that a game isn’t over until it’s over. Even if you’re down eight runs to Back Mountain National. Even if you’ve endured two rain delays. Even if you’re a favorite that has collected age-group trophies the last five years but are three outs from a two-anddone run at the state championships.
“You guys have done so much in five years, how are you going to quit now? How are you not going to pass the bat?,” assistant coach R.C. Kehoe said. “To the guys’ credit, they took what I said to them and what John said to them and they just ran with it.”
Ridley posted an eightspot in that sixth inning, punctuated by Austin Cannon’s three-run home run, then a Cannon two-run blast allowed them to walk off with a 12-10 win in eight innings.
The victory keeps alive Ridley’s championship hopes, despite facing deficits of 6-0 and 9-1 Monday. Thanks to the rain in Berwick, Ridley gets Tuesday off before another elimination game Wednesday against the loser of KAU Kennett Area and Keystone.
As if the 10-2 deficit going into the bottom of the sixth wasn’t enough, the bizarre day threw even more challenges Ridley’s way. There was a 70-minute rain delay in the top of the fifth, the second of the day. Then there was the mandatory play rule, which left Ridley two reserves to get at-bats in the bottom of the sixth.
Jake Shaak, one of the bench players, started the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Michael Floirendo and Connor Scanlan singled to load the bases. TC Cobb walked to force in a run, then Carter Williams clubbed a two-run double.
Zach Ladislaw, the second sub, followed with an RBI single punched through the left side of the infield, which ratcheted the belief in the dugout higher. It was his first hit in either districts or sections.
“He’s been an unbelievable teammate and unbelievable kid, and I got chills when he hit that ball through the infield,” Kehoe said.
Irv Fisher, who hit solo homers in the fourth and fifth that represented Ridley’s only offense to that point, singled to drive in a run and bring up the tying run in Cannon, who blasted a three-run bomb.
Williams, the fourth Ridley pitcher of the day, kept the Back Mountain bats quiet with three innings of one-run ball, including two extra-inning goose eggs.
That offered room for the deadly 2-3 combo of Fisher (three hits, four runs and three RBIs) and Cannon (three hits, five RBIs) to finish it. Fisher was hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth, and Cannon uncorked a liner to right-center that cleared the fence to walk off victorious.