Extra sweet for Souderton, Sclafani
Delivers game-winning hit in 12th inning following rain delay
READING » After three and a half hours, 12 innings, four pitching changes and one rain delay, Blaise Sclafani decided enough was enough.
“I figured I wanted to be the guy to end it. I told coach (Paul Meara) that too. I said ‘I wanna end this ball game and get everyone home,’” said Souderton’s first baseman.
Sclafani’s bases-loaded, brokenbat single dropped into center field, allowing David Gulibon to race home for the winning run in a 6-5 Souderton victory over West Lawn at Muhlenberg High School Sunday.
“I really tried to fight off that pitch as best I could. I was really getting jammed all day. Just being able to cheer with my teammates on the field after that, that was awesome.” — Blaise Sclafani, Souderton Legion
Souderton, now 2-0 in Region 2 Tournament play, advances to a 6:30 p.m. game Monday.
“That was a great overall team win and we’re onto the next one now,” Sclafani said.
Souderton’s 12th began with Nolan Bolton being hit by a pitch, giving Post 234 a man on. Bolton, who hasn’t made a single out in the tournament thus far, was 3-for-3 on the day with a pair of walks and a hitby-pitch.
Moses Clemens and Gulibon hit into fielder’s choices, and Luke Shank reached on an error, giving Post 234 runners at the corners with two outs.
Dan Knechel was walked inten-
tionally, loading the bases, providing a moment of redemption for Sclafani (1-for6, RBI).
“I was 0-for-5 on the day coming into that, hitting balls right at guys — not the way I wanted it, but I just really wanted to do my job,” he said. “I took that first pitch, that fastball right down the middle. I got that little bloop single — that’s how baseball works sometimes.
“I really tried to fight off that pitch as best I could. I was really getting jammed all day. Just being able to cheer with my teammates on the field after that, that was awesome.”
BACK AND FORTH » The Owls, who would go on to play an elimination-game Sunday night, took a 1-0 lead off starter Luke Taylor
when Dalton Emerich walked and eventually scored on a groundout.
Souderton answered back against West Lawn starter Darrien Mogel, with Bolton’s RBI double to the gap in the first and an RBI single in the third by Clemens, making it 2-1.
West Lawn surged in front in the fourth, with a two-run single by Tucker Sanders making it 3-2 and then an RBI single by Jaden Himmelreich provided some cushion in the fifth, 4-2.
Little did the two teams know, they were just getting started.
Souderton tied it in the sixth with a sac fly by Gulibon and a towering double by Dan Knechel driving in runs, deadlocking it at four apiece. The Owls went up 5-4 in the seventh when Mogel drove in Connor Uhrig, only to have Post 234 tie it in the bottom half with another clutch hit by
Bolton (run, two RBI), who would also get the win on the mound. On they went to extras. “We hung in, kept battling,” Meara said. “We were getting runners every inning but we weren’t getting the runners across.”
COMING THROUGH » Souderton’s time would come in the 12th.
“Honestly, I think that was by far the longest game I’ve ever played, but that was awesome,” Sclafani said. “That’s some good baseball right there. That was a fantastic team we played against, some of the harder pitching we’ve faced all season.”
Region 2 Tournament Souderton 6, West Lawn 5 (12)