Langhorne captures District III Championship

Cal Ripken 11-year-olds
go undefeated,
head to states

By James D’Arcangelo
For BucksLocalSport.com

Langhorne’s performance in the Cal Ripken District III Championship simply extended what it had done all week in the tournament - they just won, baby.
The 11-year-olds from Langhorne went undefeated, capping the tourney off with a 9-4 championship win over Doylestown July 12 at the Upper Makefield Youth Baseball Complex.
And though Doylestown repeatedly threatened, they were, perhaps, a little too fatigued to fully capitalize on all of the many opportunities they created in the game. In the end, like every other team Langhorne played, Doylestown could not stop the eventual champions' hitting-pitching freight train.
For the tournament, Langhorne showed that it could play long ball when it wanted to, pitch extremely well when it had to, and win when it needed to.
In the title tilt, Langhorne racked up its nine runs in rhythmic fashion, tallying three runs every other inning starting with the first. The winners hit three doubles into the outfield alleys (two by Danny Bishop and one by Joel Thibodeau), but it was Tyler Galazin’s slam to the 207-foot sign in left-centerfield (a very long single) that broke open a close game, turning a 4-2 tug of war (Doylestown had just scored two in the second, having loaded the bases twice that at bat) into a 6-2 slippery slope for the opponents.
Nolan Jones pitched another complete game, getting timely tough outs to contain Doylestown’s many chances. Doylestown had bases loaded on four different occasions, but rang up only two runs in those situations as Jones and his defense tightened up at critical times.
The best example of this was when Doylestown loaded the bases with no one out in the fifth, poised to come back yet again, only to have the would-be rally snuffed out by an unofficial triple play, hitting into a pitcher to home, home to first double play, followed by a first to short stop tag out of a straying runner at second.
Doylestown, for its part, looked like it had used all it had in the tank (and the auxiliary tank for that matter) in running through three top River League teams (Tri-Township, Upper Makefield, and Warrington) in the span of less than 24 hours, after having played Warrington and Pennsbury earlier in the week …only to then face Langhorne in the championship.
Langhorne’s unofficial triple play in the fifth was a soul-crushing blow for a team which had cruised the tournament with terminator-like determination and focus. On this day however, Doylestown fought, they put men on base, they played aggressively, but they just couldn’t pull off another comeback win.
A team that seemed to understand just how good it was, the Langhorne crew recorded the last out and, though overjoyed, had a business-like demeanor as they left the field, perhaps knowing a state championship is their next, bigger goal. Gracious winners, the champions went straight to the Doylestown dugout to shake hands with the opponents and see how Anthony Russo’s twisted ankle was feeling before accepting their championship trophies from Cal Ripken regional head Dave Tressler.
Langhorne takes a well-earned, quiet swagger and a lot of momentum into the upcoming Cal Ripken Pennsylvania State Championships. The competition had better get rested and ready.