Too little, too late
Pottstown can’t complete comeback in season- ending loss to Nor- Gwyn
POTTSTOWN » Tuesday all but told the tale of Pottstown’s Legion baseball season. A slow start. A late push. Just too little, too late. The Steelers overcame an eight- run deficit against Nor- Gwyn to eventually end their season with a 12- 10 loss at Bobby Shantz Field on Tuesday evening.
“We got off to a slow start today, a lot like we did to start the season,” said Pottstown head coach Todd Endy. “The second half of the game was pretty much how we finished the year — playing pretty good baseball.”
After an 0- 7 start to the season, Pottstown’s run comes to a finish at 7- 13 as the Steelers just missed the Bux- Mont playoff cut.
After the top of the third inning, the Steelers found themselves down 8- 0 before answering with a tworun bottom of third followed by a six- run bottom of the fourth to even it up.
Nor- Gwyn then answered back with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and seventh innings to close it out.
With the win, Nor- Gwyn improves to 11- 8 with only a tilt against Lansdale remaining on the schedule before the playoffs.
“It wasn’t the prettiest win by any means,” said Nor- Gwyn skipper Kevin Harris, “but we got the job done when we needed to.”
Tied at 10- 10 in the top of the seventh, Nolan Dougherty delivered a basesloaded sacrifice fly to deep left field to score Ryan Ungurean from third. Two batters later, Shane McCarthy knocked a hard- hit, infield single to short to bring Kyle Diseroad home to make it the eventual final score of 12- 10.
Fresh Start
When Jordan Mullen stepped into the batter’s box during the bottom of the sixth inning, he knew it would potentially be his last time hitting at Bobby Shantz Field.
“Therewas a lot going on in my mind at that point,” said Mullen, who walked in the sixth to cap a two- hit, three- RBI day. “I’ve had a lot of good times here both in high school and in summer baseball.”
Along with Mullen, Nick Irvin and Max Stump also saw their legion baseball careers come to a finish Tuesday.
“All three of those guys are going to be tough to replace,” said Endy. “They’ve meant a lot to our team over the past few seasons.
“We’ll have 12 core guys coming back next season and hopefully we an pick up a couple other solid players to fill out the roster.”
Glorified Bullpen
Harris described starting pitcher Mason Blankenburg’s outing as a bullpen session, as the team gears up to make a BuxMont playoff run later in the week.
“Just an extended bullpen, prettymuch,” said Harris of his starting pitcher. “We’ve got playoffs coming up, and we know we’re going to need him. So we wanted to use this game as a chance for him to throw some pitches, work on some things and see what the rest of our guys can do.”
The lefty held Pottstown hitless and gave way to two unearned runs before being pulled in the third inning before he could record an out.
Treasure Bunt
Thirteen Nor- Gwyn batters squared around to lay down a bunt. Only five of the 13 hitters were able to put it in play, with four landing for a hit including Drew Chiappa, Ungurean and Darren Drolsbaugh going back- to- back- to- back during the top of the second inning.
Fan the Flames
In the top of the sixth inning, Owen Morton caught Connor Mikulski looking at strike three for the first strikeout of the game by either side.
Morton came on in relief for starter Aidan Owens, who struggled early on.
“Whether I start or come out of the bullpen, I always try to bring the same approach,” said Morton. “I was setting up my curve with my fastball... trying to keep them guessing.”
The right- hander delivered five full innings of eight- hit relief where he gave way to four runs ( three earned) on five walks and two strikeouts.
NOTES » Pottstown only connected for five hits on the day. ... Nor- Gwyn combined for six stolen bases, with Sam Plaugher swiping three bags.