YOAST WITH THE MOST
Rosyln edges Fort in LML playoffs
UPPER DUBLIN >>
Michael Yoast knew he didn’t have to be perfect, but he did have to be really good Friday night.
The Roslyn right-hander drew a tough matchup in Fort Washington righty Sean Curran as their teams clashed in the winner’s bracket game of the Lower Montco Legion playoffs. Neither team’s season would end with a loss, but a valuable bye day and a berth to the championship awaited the winner.
As expected, the two pitchers were terrific but Yoast had just a little more as top-seeded Roslyn edged Fort Washington 2-1 at Upper Dublin High School.
“I was just hitting my spots really well actually,” Yoast said. “I kept getting them to chase when it was low, or mix it up and have it start in then go right down the middle and they weren’t expecting it.”
During the LML regular season, Roslyn topped the Generals all three times they played and Yoast was responsible for pitching the Blue Hawks’ win Roslyn centerfielder Cam Marrow (6) leads the game off for the Blue Hawks against Fort Washington Generals in Legion playoff action Friday night.
“I was just hitting my spots really well actually. I kept getting them to chase when it was low, or mix it up and have it start in then go right down the middle and they weren’t expecting it.”
– Roslyn pitcher Michael Yoast.
on July 4. While the game was contested at Fort Washington’s home field, the second seed Generals batted first with Yoast going 1-2-3 to open the game.
Neither pitcher gave up much, with both righthanders allowing just three hits so the outcome would come down to whichever side caught more breaks. Yoast said he was expecting a tight game, especially matching up with Curran so getting the lead first was a huge help.
Yoast kept his stuff mixed well and the Roslyn hurler did a good job of jamming the Fort Washington batters up when they did swing. The righty induced eight fly ball outs, with left fielder Jordan Grimaldi, center fielder Cam Marrow and right fielder George Jacob all making at least one nice catch defensively.
It was the kind of game where Yoast was able to overcome not having his best stuff by keeping Fort Washington off the scoreboard for six innings.
“He was missing some spots and it seemed like his fastball was a few clicks slower than I’m used to seeing it,” Roslyn manager Mark Troyer said. “He’s a guy that gets stronger as a the game goes on and by the third inning, it seemed like he started to locate his pitches a lot better, he found his groove and the fastball started to pick up a lot more.”
Roslyn got all the offense it needed in the second inning. Steve Vogl worked a one-out walk and Griffin Wittenberg followed with a single to put two runners on. Mark Macione followed with a cracked-bat base hit that took a rough hop and eluded an outfielder’s glove, allowing Vogl to score and the other runners to take an extra base.
That allowed Grimaldi to come through with a sac fly that scored Wittenberg for the eventual game-winning RBI.
It was a hard-luck loss for Curran, who made his first start against Roslyn this season.
“He pounded the strike zone for the most part and made them swing the bats,” Fort manager Gary Bonitatibus said. “They had the one broken-bat hit that got past us a little bit but they made more things happen than we did.”
Curran tried to get a rally going in the seventh when he led off with a double to right-center field. The pitcher did come around to score on an RBI groundout by Gabe Franczyk but Yoast induced a fly ball to center for the third out to end the game.
Yoast’s biggest spot in the game came in the fourth inning when the Generals loaded the bases behind him with two outs. On a 3-2 count against Franczyk, Yoast threw a fastball high and got the Fort Washington catcher to chase for the inning-ending strikeout.
“He’s not going to overpower you but he pounds the strike zone,” Bonitatibus said of Yoast. “We only had one hit off him on the Fourth of July so we just didn’t make solid contact or hit enough balls hard to get solid threats going.”
Fort will play an elimination game at 4:30 p,m. Saturday against Mt. Airy while Roslyn will have a bye day to Sunday’s championship. An if-needed title game would be contested on Monday.
While the bye is an asset, it’s not a guarantee. Two years ago, Fort Washington came out of the loser’s bracket to beat Roslyn twice and reach the Region 3 tournament.
“It doesn’t mean we can’t do it, we just have to win one game at a time,” Bonitatibus said.
Troyer said his message after the game was the job hasn’t been finished yet and his team still needs one more win to get back to the regional tournament. Having not made it past the league tournament the last two years, the Blue Hawks are plenty driven to end that streak this weekend.
“This is our motivation right now,” Yoast said. “I think we’re going to come out really strong on Sunday, play strong and keep it going.”