Cannoneers’ rally falls short
North Penn edged by Delaware in Babe Ruth Mid-Atlantic Regional opener
LANSDALE » An uncommon ending denied the North Penn Cannoneers’ comeback bid in their Babe Ruth 16-18 Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament opener Wednesday night.
The Cannoneers rallied back from an 8-3 deficit to pull even in the top of the seventh inning on Aidan Hoy’s two-out, twostrike RBI double. But Delaware loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame and with one out a catcher’s interference call as Oscar Cotto grounded a ball down the first-base side gave the First State squad a 9-8 walk-off win at Weaver Field at Lansdale Memorial Park.
“I’ve never really seen that happen before,” NP Cannoneers coach Christian Berry said. “Of all the baseball I’ve played and coached, I’ve never seen it end on that. But kids played well, they battled.”
Hoy, who began the game courtesy running before taking over in left field, went 2-for-2 with three RBIs while Peter Saldutti was 2-for-3 with a run scored for tournament host Cannoneers, who jumped out to a 2-0 in the top of the first. Delaware, however, answered with five in its half of the inning — the first three coming on Shawn Herley’s home run to left.
A three-run third extended Delaware’s advantage to 8-3 before North Penn got its bats going late. And while they did come back to knot things at 8-8 in the seventh, the Cannoneers could not fully capitalize on a number of quality scoring chances in the contest — plating just two runs on five bases-loaded opportunities.
“We started fast in the first inning we scored two and they answered back with (five) of their own so we kind of got down our