The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Souderton drops Mid-Atlantic opener
Post 234 falls to New Jersey’s Broad Street Park, faces Spring City in elimination game
In contest that appeared destined to become a slugfest, the Broad Street Park bullpen changed the entire tone.
Judge Judy should restore order in her court as effectively as Adam Chiacchio and Nick Diaz restored order for New Jersey champ Broad Street Park Wednesday, as their stellar relief effort helped Post 313 to a 7-3 victory over Souderton in an American Legion Mid-Atlantic Regional first-round game in Purcellville, Va.
After rallying from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2, BSP (26-5) takes on Vienna Va. — a 7-6 winner over Spring City — on Thursday approximately between 3 and 4 p.m.
Souderton faces Spring City in an elimination game at 9:30 a.m. Thursday The teams split a pair of games at the Pennsylvania State Tournament in Boyertown — Souderton winning 2-1 in the first meeting July 29 while Spring City topped Post 234 6-1 to claim the state title Aug. 1.
Asked if his team’s 11-day layoff between states and regionals led to the early deficit, BSP manager Mike Petrowski laughed and said, “I wouldn’t say it was that, as much as they were hitting missiles. It didn’t have anything to do with us, They were one of the best hitting teams I’ve seen all year. They were hitting balls off the fence, but we didn’t panic at all.”
Four of Souderton’s five hits — all in the first three innings — were for extra bases.
Chiacchio allowed just two walks and no runs in 2 2/3 innings. Diaz, the team’s closer, entered in the seventh after Chiacchio allowed a leadoff walk, and retired three straight. Ace Tim Sharpley, who hadn’t thrown in two weeks, allowed three runs (two earned) in 3 1/3 innings and was removed to preserve his pitch count.
“He didn’t have his best stuff,” Petrowski said. “So I figured let’s go with a new guy and on top of that it’s a win; we kept him under 60 pitches and he can come back in two days. It was a long layoff, he had to get some life on his ball, and when you take that long off your control struggles a little.”
Trailing 3-2 entering the top of the fourth, Broad Street tallied four runs to take a 6-3 advantage it would not relinquish.
Sean Elefant opened the frame with a single, stole second and was sacrificed to third by Connor Luckie. Kiefer Goss reached on an error that scored Elefant, Darius Land singled and consecutive walks to Brien Cardona and Kyle Harrington forced in the goahead run. Jose Rodriguez followed with a two-run single to cap the uprising.
“That inning took the wind out of their sails,” Petrowski said. “They weren’t the same team after that. If you can score more runs in one inning than they do the whole game, you’re in good shape.”
After allowing a one-out single in the bottom of the fourth, Sharpley was removed and Chiacchio entered to get two quick outs and preserve the shutdown inning.
Post 313 added an insurance run in the seventh when Justin Wiltsey singled and eventually scored on Elefant’s bunt.
Souderton jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Nolan Bolton’s RBI double and an infield error that scored the second run. Never one to let a deficit affect it, Broad Street scored single runs in the second and third on RBI singles from Goss and Wiltsey.
The Montgomery County squad retook the lead in the bottom of the third on Luke Barnum’s solo home run, but BSP’s relief corps took it from there.
“It worked out perfect,” Petrowski said. “Sharp didn’t have his great stuff, but in the end if you were to tell me we would get him out before 60 pitches and win the game, I’d take it. He can come back in two days, we kept Chock under 45 pitches, he only needs one day and Diaz doesn’t need any. To win a game like that and your max guy only needs two days, it’s perfect.”
Wiltsey and Diaz each had two of BSP’s seven hits.
“We were able to do some things we were comfortable with and we executed well,” Petrowski said. “I didn’t think we hit the ball great. Jose had a big day, we drew some big walks on 3-2 counts to get on. We did what we’ve been doing all year — timely hitting, make the routine plays, throw strikes.”