Souderton falls short
Spring City wins first state championship since 2010
The ball ripped off the end of David Gulibon’s bat up the third base gap, only for a diving Jake Skrocki, parallel with the ground, to snare it mid-air.
It was a sterling defensive play in the seventh inning of the PA Legion state championship and probably the perfect play to describe the day for both Souderton and Spring City. Nearly every time Souderton hit the ball hard, like Gulibon did, it was right at a fielder or ended in a web gem. Nearly everything Spring City did, like that Skrocki full-extension grab, went as well as it could
have.
Behind a great outing from Brad Clemens, Spring City topped Souderton 6-1 on Wednesday to win its first state title since 2010. Souderton was upset at the outcome, but still understood it was an accomplishment to take pride in.
“I tried to tell the kids that if I would have told them we’d be 285, finish second in the state and going to Mid-Atlantic (Region-
als) they would have been thrilled to death,” Souderton manager Paul Meara said. “They won’t feel that today, but tomorrow they will be.”
Both teams found themselves at their limit in terms of pitching, which is just the nature of a five-day tournament with no off days built in. Souderton wanted to try and eat up a few innings before turning the ball over to Nolan Bolton and called upon rising sophomore Jacob Horton to do it.
Horton, who pitched Connie Mack ball most of the summer, threw well, giving up a first inning run but also stranding the bases loaded and went into the fourth inning. Bolton struggled in the fourth inning
“We’ve been hit ting the ball hard the last two days, but it’s been at people. We felt it was going to fall eventually but we just got unlucky, it was one of those days,” Bolton said. “I thought I was going to come in later. I guess they thought I could come in, throw hard and get it past guys but (Spring City) hit it into gaps and hit the ball hard.”
On the other side of the diamond, the Red Sox asked Clemens to give them whatever he could. Normally an infielder, the right-hander gave Spring City more than it could have hoped for, yielding just one run on five hits. Coupled with his 7-for20 performance at the plate in the tournament, Clemens earned Tournament MVP honors after the game.
Wednesday’s game was the second meeting for the two teams in the state tournament, with Souderton winning 2-1 on Sunday.
“I was confident in my strike zone and I knew I could mix in a couple curve balls and changeups and they were all working,” Clemens said. “(Ryan) Harvey called a great game. Our confidence came in us hitting the ball. We started hitting the ball earlier in the tournament and that was our confidence going into this one.”
Spring City broke the game open with a fiverun fourth inning. Bolton’s curve ball wasn’t on early like it had been for most of the postseason and the Red Sox also got a big two-run double from Nick Price to break open a 1-1 tie. Price hit three doubles in the game for Spring City, while Clemens singled and scored in the fourth frame.
Souderton had tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first when Moses Clemens’ two-out single scored Bolton, who had launched a two-out double to right the batter before.
Post 234 had a chance in the sixth when David Gulibon walked, Luke Barnum doubled and Spring City intentionally walked Bolton to load the bags with two outs. Brad Clemens got out of it by getting Moses Clemens to fly out to center on the first pitch.
“It’s good to know we’re keeping our bats hot and rolling but it’s never fun hitting line drives right at them,” Barnum said. “Our second baseman Luke Shank, he’s had a great week swinging the bat and making contact, but he’s hitting right at people. You can see the frustration, but I’m still confident in our team’s ability to hit.”
Barnum had a solid tournament, hitting four doubles over five games but credited Brad Clemens for his effort on Wednesday.
“They probably came out more hungry than us, they knew they were going to make it to (Mid-Atlantics) too but they wanted to win,” Barnum said. “They knew they had a chance because we didn’t kill them in the last game, it was 2-1 and we won in the last inning. They’re a great team, they deserved to win and I hope we get a chance to see them in the regional tournament.”
Souderton’s Dan Knechel earned the Pitching Award for the state tournament while Spring City’s Coy Walter won the Batting Award and Kasey Caras earned the Sportsmanship Award along with MVP Clemens.
With the Mid-Atlantic Regional not starting until August 8, Barnum said it’ll give Souderton a chance to rest up, recover and get their pitching back in order. It’s been a long season, and a myriad of weather delays in the Bux-Mont and Region 2 tournaments certainly didn’t help.
No Souderton team had ever made states, so this group getting there, winning three games and getting to the national regional round is still an accomplishment that can’t be ignored.
“I’m happy with anything we do as a team,” Barnum said. “I was happy to get to states, I would have been happy with just that outcome but to make it to regionals is amazing. I think we’re going to keep rolling. I’m going to be happy to be at regionals and hopefully, I’ll be happy to be in Shelby, North Carolina (for the World Series).”
Spring City 6, Souderton 1
SPRING CITY 100 500 0 – 6 11 0
SOUDERTON 100 000 0 – 1 5 1
2B: SC – Nick Price 3; S – Luke Barnum, Nolan Bolton. Multiple hits: SC – Nick Price 3-3, Kasey Caras 2-4, Coy Walters 2-2; S – Luke Barnum 2-4, Moses Clemens 2-3, Joe Santone 2-3