Spring City sent out in Va.
Red Sox eliminated by Pa. rival Souderton
It was an abrupt end to a season full of championship achievement.
Spring City’s American Legion baseball team bowed out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament Thursday with its second loss in as many days. The Red Sox suffered a walkoff 7-6 loss to Vienna, Va. Wednesday; and in Thursday’s 9:30 a.m. rematch with Souderton, they fell 13-1 to depart the double-elimination competition at Fireman’s Field in Purcellville, Va.
Spring City (39-6) came into the national regional off a Pa. State Championship, handling the Souderton club 6-1 in the title game. It also won the Chester County League’s regular-season and playoff titles, then swept through Pa. Region 3 play en route to its first state title since 2010.
“It was a fantastic run,” SC manager Mike Gancasz said. “Unfortunately, it came to an end. You sometimes need the ball to bounce your way, and the ball didn’t bounce.”
Souderton, Pennsylvania’s second seed, padded its early 2-0 lead by going on a six-run tear in the fourth. It added another pair of runs in the sixth, and three in the seventh, with help from a 15-hit offense keyed by Kyle Lennon’s early run production.
Lennon drew a walk and eventually scored on a ground ball to put Souderton in front 1-0 in the first. Post 234 doubled its lead to 2-0 in the third on an RBI single by Lennon.
Spring City was held to three hits, spread evenly between Kasey Caras, Nick Price and Pat Jucker. Jucker drove in Price in the fourth for the Sox’ lone run.
“I think it’s tougher to play a team twice in a week,” Gancasz said, referencing the teams’ three meetings in a 12-day span. “But it was a great season. We enjoyed the trip down here.”
Thomas Hughes, who started the game on the mound for Spring City, took the loss after being tagged for five runs and five hits in 3-1/3 innings. Cole Webb and Chris Sparacino came on in relief down the stretch; Webb was touched for five runs and four hits in 1-2/3 innings, and Sparacino for three runs and six hits over the final two.
“The boys battled,” Gancasz said, “but they had a tough loss in the first game, then they had to get up early today.”
The Red Sox previously played in the Mid-Atlantic during the 2010 and 2012 seasons. In 2012, a loss to Brooklawn, N.J. in the championship game was all that stood between them and a trip to the American Legion World Series.
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The Red Sox found themselves done in by Vienna, Va. scoring a walkoff 7-6 victory at Fireman’s Field in the tourney’s third opening-round game. The Pa. champions had rallied from a 6-2 deficit by scoring four times in the top of the sixth, but Virginia’s state titlist singled in the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh.
That outcome came after Souderton, in the tourney’s lid-lifting game, fell to Hamilton, N.J. 7-3. Spring City, having lost a close 2-1 game to Souderton on the second day of the Pennsylvania tournament, posted a 6-1 victory in the championship game for its first state championship since 2010.
Coy Walters had the most consistent bat for Spring City (39-5), going 3-for-3. Kasey Caras homered for the biggest of the Sox’ seven hits, and Pat Jucker drove in two runs.
Brad Clemens and Nick Price drove in other SC runs, both players also hitting safely.
Grant Calvarese started on the mound for the Red Sox, going 4-1/3 innings and touched for 11 of Vienna’s 12 hits and all but one of its runs. Kevin Hynes, however, was assessed the loss for his 2-1/3 innings’ relief at the end.