Thrice is nice for Abate and Newtown-Edgmont
NEWTOWN TWP. >> Brady Abate wears the No. 3 on his NewtownEdgmont baseball uniform.
He will tell you it’s not because he’s a fan of Bryce Harper.
“No, I’ve been wearing the number for a while,” Abate said.
After Saturday, one might say Abate is the top baseball player in the area currently sporting the No. 3.
Abate blasted three home runs in NELL’s 15-10 victory over Fairless Hills in the Little League Section 8 tournament. NELL will play in the winner’s bracket Sunday.
A left-hitting shortstop and catcher, Abate was 4-for-4 with a pair of three-run homers, a grand slam and 10 RBIs. Ten! Oh, before the three homers, he hit a double the opposite way ...
Bryce who?
In the stands, fans were buzzing. They were in awe of his majestic home-run blasts. By the time he came up for the fourth time, after going yard twice already, Abate had grown a pretty sizable fan base of kids around his age. Some placed friendly wagers among themselves.
“I bet you he hits a car,” said one. “He’s going to hit it way, way out. Over all the cars,” said another. Abate put on an excellent show. “He sets the tone for us,” said Chase McMahon, who pitched 1.2 innings, allowing only two hits with two strikeouts. At the plate McMahon was 2-for-2 with three runs scored. “But he had 10 RBIs because of us, too. We were getting on base a lot.”
NELL had ducks on the pond in three of Abate’s four plate appearances. Let’s start with the first atbat. In the first inning, Abate unloaded the first of his four rockets; shockingly, this one didn’t go over the fence and nearly take out a car window. Instead, Abate settled for a two-out double and was left stranded.
He was just starting to heat up. NELL had its hitting shoes in the third inning. Trailing 3-1, the squad needed a rally. In the first two innings, NELL appeared a little too anxious. Coming off a District 19 championship and hosting the Section 8 tournament, who could blame the guys for being a tad jumpy at the start?
“These guys never feel like they’re out of a baseball game, no matter what the score is,” said coach Brian McTeer, the dad of Harrison and Grady. Mike Abate – Brady’s dad – is also a coach.
“They have a really strong history of getting down early – which, obviously, we try not to do – but they’ve got a lot of fight in them. They don’t worry about getting down early because they know if they perform well, get on base and have good at-bats, we’ll put up some big numbers.”
Hello, 10-run third inning. Abate smoked a line drive, three-run homer to give NELL a 4-3 lead after Grady McTeer, Brendan Till and Ryan Stoddard all reached base to lead off the inning.
Fairless Hills was on its third pitcher of the inning when Abate strolled to the box again, this time with the bases juiced. He didn’t disappoint, launching a grand slam over the fence in right-center field to break the game wide open.
Everyone contributed to NELL’s fun Saturday. Till, the team’s leadoff hitter, tripled and scored three runs. Stoddard walked three times and scored thrice. McMahon went 2-for-3 with two singles, a walk and three runs. Kevin Hodlofski and Roman Notero each had a single. Danny Reick singled twice and scored a run, while Caleb Jamison chipped in with a sac fly. The McTeer bros each scored a run. Jack Maholick notched two strikeouts on the mound and played well at first base.
NELL plays Great Valley, a 5-2 winner over Oreland-Wyndmoor, Sunday afternoon (2 o’clock). Fairless Hills takes on the OrelandWyndmoor at 4 p.m.