Untracked late, Bristol gets past Lower Southampton
BucksLocalSports Editor
– After taking a lead late in the game against No. 3 seed Yardley-Morrisville, fourthseeded Bristol lost its playoff opener to the Riversharks July 14 on catcher Jack Seibert’s walkoff double. Now, here they were the same afternoon at Kopper Kettle ballfield facing a late, albeit narrow, deficit to sixth-seeded Lower Southampton.
Marlins starter Reed Cook was doing a nice job keeping the Bristol batters at bay, limiting the two-time defending Lower Bucks American Legion League Champions to a lone run in the bottom of the fourth.
LoSo (1-17) had gone ahead with a pair of runs when DH Sean Lowney launched a sacrifice fly that scored second baseman Chris Babst and catcher Matt Tyler slapped an RBI single that scored shortstop John Garry in the top of the third.
Finally, Bristol (9-10-1) got things going in the home seventh after Dylan Evert and Zach Schwartz drew a pair of two-out walks and catcher Dan Sullivan brought the game-tying run in with an RBI single.
Post 382 continued to pour it on in the eighth, with A.J. Slezoski and Gage Marshall launching backto-back one-out singles that drove the game-winning run across when LoSo’s throw home from the outfield scampered past the plate.
An ensuing RBI single by Devon Bowker that saw the throw sail past first base scored a fourth run for Post 382. After a wild pitch and a pair of walks drawn by Matt Shea and Evert, a fifth run scored when Schwartz launched a sacrifice fly to centerfield that plated Marshall.
“You have to survive. You gotta find a way to win,” said Bristol head coach Tim Monaghan. “You have to scrape together your pitching and you gotta keep swinging the bat and you gotta keep scoring the runs.”
While Bristol pitcher Gino Cefalone, a recent graduate of Bristol High School, registered the win, it was Conwell-Egan Catholic sophomore Jarrett Patman who deserved most of the credit for Post 382’s comeback effort.
In seven innings on the hill, Patman limited the Marlins to just two runs on five hits, while walking three and striking out two.
“What you saw today is pretty much what he’s done all year,” stated Monaghan. “He has really stepped up for us this year and grabbed a hold of one of the spots in the rotation.”
“He makes pitches, he throws strikes, he attacks the strike zone and he keeps hitters off-balance
“For a young kid who is only 15 years old, he has a bright future and he did a great job today.
Despite the youth of his pitcher, Monaghan was confident coming into the contest that Patman would do well.
“He pitched against them early in the regular season