Motivated Springfield deals Upper Darby its first loss
MARPLE » The plaque on the right field fence at Cardinal O’Hara means a lot to Upper Darby coach Dave Jerdon, for it denotes the Blue Sox’s one and only Delco Baseball League championship.
Defending that title, on the other hand, is going to be another adventure, judging by the Springfield Colonials’ 7-2 win over the Blue Sox Thursday.
“Twenty-eight years of doing this, this is the first year that we’ve had the bull’s eye on us,” Jerdon said. “That’s nice. But it’s just another game. This is our sixth game of the season, and we play 24. We’ll be alright.”
The Colonials still haven’t forgotten how Upper Darby eliminated them, 3-0, in the semifinals last year. It was no coincidence the Colonials jumped all over the previously unbeaten Sox Thursday. Like basketball’s Doc Rivers, Colonials coach Steve Trainor always will remember the painful playoff exit.
“We had a couple pitchers shut down by their coaches and we had a couple of injuries pop up so we kind of had to make a patchwork staff,” Trainor said. “We blew the first game and after that we were kind of dead. So, I’m trying to avoid that this year.
We brought in a bunch of new arms. Both the guys who threw today, that was their first day with us.”
David Shoemaker got the start and collected the win as he scattered five hits and allowed just one run while striking out six in four innings. Matt Rowles gave up the other run and just two hits, striking out four in three innings. The Colonials (5-3) gave up only two walks.
It’s early but Colonials third baseman Gerard Sweeney, who went 3-for-5 with a double, one RBI and two runs scored to spark the offense, sees solid improvement in the squad.
“It was definitely a big win tonight,” said Sweeney, the native of Havertown who plays at Lehigh University. “We have a pretty good team this year. We’re just going to pile up wins until the end of the season and put it together in the playoffs. We’re solid in the field, we’ve got a lot of pitching, guys that fill up the zone and throw strikes. It’s easy to play defense behind them when you’re not walking guys around. And we’ve got the West Chester guys, the Cantwells joining us. I think we’ll be pretty good come playoff time.”
Sweeney drove in the first run of the game in the first inning and scored on the first of two doubles by Sean Phelan, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
It was 3-0 in the second inning after Will Kelley (2-for-3, two RBIs) doubled in a run and Gabe Encarnacion plated another.
The Blue Sox got a run back on an RBI single in the second inning by the ageless Lenny Montano. But that was as close as they would get, the Colonials scoring two runs in the third inning and two in the fifth.
“They were ready to play today, and they outplayed us,” Jerdon said. “They had some big hits. A couple bad pitches by our pitchers here and there but all in all, it’s early in the season. We play them again on Monday.”
Before exiting the ball field, Trainor reminded his players of the upcoming schedule and what was expected of them. He expects a lot of himself, as well, for he wants badly to get another shot at a title.
“They’re good, they’re young and we’ve filled some pieces in this year,” Trainor said of his team. “We’re just trying to build on this and keep taking it day by day. We’ve been kind of shorthanded at the start of the year. Once we get it going, that’s when we’re going to hit our stride. I’m not really worried about right now. I want to be ready to roll by July and August.”
Elsewhere in the Delco League:
CHESTER 6, MARPLE NEWTOWN 3 » Marc Gervasi hit a walk-off grand slam with one out in the seventh to give Chester its second win of the season.
Gervasi drove in a total of five runs. He blasted the first pitch he saw to center field to erase a 3-2 deficit. Pat Warrington went 4-for-4 with two runs scored.