Spring Fever
Pitching contagious as Spring City rallies into championship game
BOYERTOWN » Many youth baseball managers hope to have enough pitching to get through a tournament.
Spring City’s American Legion baseball team proved it has enough pitching to get through a doubleheader ... a doubleheader it didn’t know it would be playing until four hours before the second game.
The Red Sox, playing for their postseason lives in the Pa. State Tournament Tuesday, rode their pitching to a resurgence in the tourney at Boyertown’s Bear Stadium. With one loss on their record, they eliminated Swoyersville in the championship-qualifier round, 8-3. They then came back in the evening to knock Ephrata out of the competition, 4-2, and set up a championshipgame rematch with Souderton Wednesday.
And the arms played a key role in that comeback. The first game saw Chris Sparacino go the distance; the second saw the Sox prevail after getting six
innings of three-hit shutout work from Cole Webb.
“Obviously, we went in the (Ephrata) game knowing we needed to get a win, no doubt about it,” SC manager Mike Gancasz said. “We want to win a state title for the players, the coaches and the organization.”
By reaching the title game, Spring City qualified for the Mid-Atlantic Regional along with Souderton, Pennsylvania getting two berths in the tournament. A state title, its first since the 2010 season, is an even more coveted prize.
After dispatching Swoyersville, the Red Sox were told tournament officials wanted to get the first championship-round game in. With forecasts of inclement weather for Wednesday, the idea was to have to squeeze only one game in for the day.
Spring City bunched three of its hits in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead on Ephrata.
Ryan Harvey singled with two out, Nick Price drew a walk and Tyler Horgan singled to score Harvey for the Sox’ first run. Kasey Caras followed with a runscoring double to left, and a wild pitch enabled Tyler Horgan to come in with SC’s third run.
Spring City got a fourth run in the sixth, Price (walk) moving to second off Horgan’s sacrifice bunt and a Caras double.
It proved enough to dispatch Ephrata, though Post 429 made it close in the seventh with Kyle Rhoads drawing a bases-loaded walk and Tyler Keppley driving in another off a groundout to second. But Kevin Hynes, relieving Horgan with one out, ended the threat with a game-ending strikeout of Andrew Thomas.
“We had all kinds of sweat with a four-run lead,” Gancasz said. “But now we have the opportunity to win states.”
In the first game, Swoyersville started out strong against the Sox, building 2-1 and 3-2 leads through the first three innings. But SC rode the momentum wave the rest of the way, taking a 4-3 lead in the fifth before striking for three runs in the sixth.
“Most teams are like that. They know we’re good, so they come out hot,” Thomas Hughes said.
The Red Sox went the sacrifice-fly route, three of their first four runs scored in that fashion. Hughes drove Pat Jucker home in the second with a fly to right field, then J.C. Reed and Harvey followed suit in the fifth to plate Brad Clemens and Coy Walters, respectively.
Those plays, and Spring City scoring in the third when Walters (2-for-4) came home on the second of two wild pitches by Tyler O’Kane, ultimately finished Swoyersville’s starting pitcher. He was replaced by Aaron Gutierrez with one out in the sixth after reaching the 100-pitch mark. The Sox took advantage of the switch to go up 7-3, Jucker walking to load the bases before Reed drew a full-count walk and Hughes plated one.
“We got to them a bit,” Hughes said. “The fifth and sixth innings were huge for us.”
The Sox added insurance in the seventh, Price scoring off a Caras sac-fly. It complemented Chris Sparacino’s complete-game pitching for Spring City, the right-hander scattering five hits and two walks while racking up five strikeouts.
“Sparacino did a great job,” Sox manager Mike Gancasz said. NOTES » The Mid-Atlantic Regional will be staged Aug. 8-12 at Fireman’s Field in Purcellville, Va. Leesburg (Va.) will serve as host team for the prelude to the 2018 World Series Aug. 16-21 in Shelby, N.C . ... Spring City last won a Pa. State Tournament in 2010. It was the tourney’s host back in 2007, Boyertown winning the title in the midst of a fouryear run prior to the Sox’ 2010 championship.