Despite lingering hip issue, Salvey still swinging
UPPER DARBY » Two years ago Chris Salvey was playing in the independent Atlantic League in New York.
The Cardinal O’Hara graduate and Folcroft native remained hopeful that, at 24, he would play well enough and, who knows, maybe catch the eye of a pro scout or two. And then the injury happened. “I tore both of my labrums in my hips and had surgery,” Salvey said. “I stole second base, popped up. … and I knew I was done.”
After a lengthy rehabilitation, he gave independent ball another whirl in 2022, but as he noted, “my body was not working.” Thus he made a welcome return to the Delco League, where he hadn’t played on a full-time basis since 2019.
Drexel Hill Ducks manager Steve DeBarberie was happy to bring Salvey on board. The franchise rebranded from the Narberth Mudcats to the Ducks this season.
“It’s fun to see how far he can hit some baseballs, that’s for sure,” DeBarberie said
Salvey is a right-handed masher and displayed his power stroke in the Ducks’ 7-1 victory over the Springfield Colonials Wednesday, obliterating a pitch and sending it over the left-field fence at Bonner & Prendergast.
Salvey is a threat to hit a bomb every time he steps to the plate.
“It’s all a mental thing with me,” said Salvey, who finished with three RBIs. “My body is not feeling the way I want it to, but mentally I know I want to keep playing. It was a long recovery, very tough, and I’m still not 100 percent. But it’s still there.”
The Ducks (9-2-1) maintained their third-place standing in the Delco League behind frontrunner Wayne and second-place Upper Darby.
Veteran righty Marty McKeone allowed only one hit and struck out two in three scoreless innings to get the win.
The Ducks struck for three runs in the third inning against Springfield starter Matt Long, who battled through command issues in the early going. Zack Tropiano was hit by
a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on a wild pitch. Dillon Can walked and scored on a wild pitch. An error enabled Salvey, who walked, to score Drexel’s third run in the opening frame.
Christian Rush laced an RBI double in the second to put the Ducks in front, 4-0. Salvey grounded out to shortstop to drive in Can in the fourth inning.
Salvey’s homer was a two-run shot off Mike Smith in the sixth inning.
Can went 1-for-2 with two walks and four runs scored. Will Ferris added a double and Drew Kennedy and Nate Rimel both singled for the Ducks. Joe Nestel, Gavin Grande, Brian Dino and Can combined for four innings of one-run, no-hit relief pitching.
“We have a lot of relievers and we’re trying to figure out our rotation going into playoffs,” DeBarberie
said. “We have a lot of college relievers who can go one or two innings and who we are trying to extend a little bit. We’ve got good veterans like (Chris) Huyette and Marty who we know can give us three or four innings. Pat Toal has pitched well for us. Our offense is there, for sure. I think we have the best offense in the league … and we are deep. Even when our whole starting lineup isn’t here, we are very solid and we have guys who can step in.”
Cardinal O’Hara’s Brendan Till had the only hit — a two-out single in the third — for Springfield.
Springfield manager Steve Trainor showed he can still swing the bat a little when he hit a line drive back to the mound in the seventh inning. Can, who pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, snared the liner and outraced his former high school coach to first base for the final out of the game.