LEGION:Bats rule Yardley series

By Steve Sherman
Sports Editor

While Yardley-Morrisville made it into the Lower Bucks American Legion League (LBALL) playoffs, it may have emptied its tank getting there.
An eight-game late season losing streak marked by injuries and sloppy play put Morrisville's back to the wall and forced the team into a must-win situation. To its credit, the team that calls Philly Biblical College home won its final three games.
A twin killing of Newtown Post 440 July 3 gave the team new hope of making the playoffs. Y-M sealed the deal, using a 9-5 comeback win on Tuesday, July 7--in addition to a third tiebreaker that fell in its favor--in order to grab the fourth and final Lower Bucks Legion playoff berth.
In its 9-5 comeback win over third place Bristol Post 382 on the last day of the season, Y-M starter Dave Schilling (6-4) tossed six innings to record his sixth win and reliever Matt Godart came on in the seventh and picked his fifth save.
The next night when it came time to open its best of three series with regular season champion Yardley Post 317, Western had its ace. Morrisville did not.
Post 317 went with Neshaminy senior Kevin Ballester, who entered the game with a 7-1 record. The soon-to-be 12th-grader gave Western exactly what it needed, blanking Y-M through the first five innings while his offense was busy mounting a 9-0 edge.
Morrisville was forced to go with Sam Truelove, a University of Pittsburgh freshman, who finished 4-3 on the season including a win he picked up in the nightcap against Newtown.
After getting out of the first inning unscathed, Truelove got rocked for six runs in the second and three in the fifth before finally giving way after putting the first two runners on base with no outs in the home sixth.
While Morrisville did manage to rally with six runs of its own in the top of the inning, Western got all of those runs back off reliever Matt Godart and went on to a 15-7 triumph and a 1-0 playoff series lead last July 8 at Conwell-Egan Catholic’s Vince Carosella Field.
The series moves to Philly Biblical tonight at 5 p.m. It’s a must-win situation for Morrisville.
While Ballester got rocked for six runs in the sixth, to his credit, he hung in there and finally pitched out of the jam inducing a doubleplay ball slapped to second base by Y-M first baseman John Nisula.
“It’s a four team league now and you lose two games and you’re out,” stated Post 317 coach Dave Vaccaro. “You don’t want to your decision to come back and bite you just because you’re trying to save a kid and get him out of there early.”
While Kevin gave way on the hill to Chris King in the seventh, he managed to find a way to help his team in the inning after coming in as a defensive replacement for Y-W third baseman Kelsey Koellner.
King had put a pair of runners on base, surrendering a single and a walk respectively to Eddie Budnick and Chris Hunter. On a ball tapped to him at the hot corner by Phil Herring, Ballester recorded a doubleplay putout of his own, tagging Budnick before he got to third and knocking down Herring before he reached first.
Contrary to common baseball mantras, Vaccaro says the team with the biggest bats will advance in this tournament. Pitching resources throughout the league were decimated by a grueling late season schedule caused by early season rains and a latecomer to the party in Newtown. *
“You’re only going to go as far as your offense takes you,” stated Vaccaro. “We’re coming off a situation where everybody needed their arms right to the end including us.
“There’s nobody sitting on four or five days rest.”
While Western shortstop Rick Brebner (3-for-4, RBI) and outfielder Justin Pilchman (2-for-4, RBI) came through for Post 317 at the top of the order, it was second baseman and No. 9 hitter Bill Bresnahan who stood out most. The Neshaminy alum and Holy Family freshman helped his team with a pair of bases-loaded doubles, driving in 5 runs for the game.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” said Bresnahan. “Usually, when you just try to do that, good things happen.
“Today it did.”
The middle of the Western lineup fared nearly as well as Bresnahan. With outfielder John Burns and DH Cote Stover, 5- and 6-hitters respectively for Post 317, each hitting 2-for-3 for the game. Stover also drove in a pair of runs for Western.
Slapping multiple hits for Morrisville were rightfielder Ken McCormick, who went 3-for-4, including a pair of doubles and 2 RBIs, leftfielder Eddie Los (2-for-4) and second baseman Ed Budnick (2-for-4, double). Ryan Donovan also slapped a double and drove in a pair of runs.
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UPDATE: In game two, Morrisville jumped all over Western starter Rick Brebner with five runs in the first July 8 at Philly Biblical College. Post 317 rallied, taking a 1-run edge with 6 runs of its own in the sixth. The teams traded 2-spots in the seventh and the sides stayed locked at 8-all until the home ninth.
That’s when Y-M centerfielder Mike Decembrino came through with an RBI single with runners at second and third, scoring Herring with the winning run and sending the teams back to CEC tonight (game time: 5 p.m.) tied at a game apiece.
The winner will face Bristol in the championship, which knocked off Falls July 9 in the other semifinal.
“We started the season feeling that we were one of the top three or four teams in the league,” stated Coach Decembrino. “I still think we are.”
NOTES: After finishing at 11-13 in legion play, Morrisville had been tied with Northampton at 10-12-2. The sides split their four game series at two apiece. But Y-M beat Northampton by 3 runs collectively in its two wins; Northampton won by 2 runs combined in its two triumphs.
Newtown Post 440 entered legion play more than a week after the season started because many of its players were busy mounting a state playoff run for Council Rock North.
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Yardley Post 317 15, Yardley-Morrisville 7

Yardley-Morrisville 000 006 1 - 7 9 1
Yardley Post 317 060 036 x - 15 14 4
(July 8 at CEC)

WP: Kevin Ballester (1-0); LP: Sam Truelove (0-1)
Doubles: Y-M--Ken McCormick 2, Eddie Budnick, Ryan Donovan
Y- Bill Bresnahan 2
Triples: Y-W Rick Brebner
Multiple hits: Y-M--Ken McCormick 3-for-4, Eddie Los 2-for-4, Ed Budnick 2-for-4
Y-W Brebner 3-for-4, John Burns 2-for-3, Cote Stover 2-for-3, Justin Pilchman 2-for-4, Bill Bresnahan 2-for-4
RBIs: Y-M--Donovan 2, McCormick 2, Los

Yardley-Morrisville 9, Yardley 317 8
(July 9 at PBU)
Yardley Post 317 000 006 200 - 8 9 3
Yardley-Morrisville 500 001 201 - 9 12 1
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WP: Dave Schilling. LP: Dave Gaydula
Doubles: Y-M--Mike Decembrino
Triples: Y-W--Rick Brebner
RBIs: Y-W--John Burns 2, Kelsey Koellner 2, Kevin Ballester 2, Doug Fleming; Y-M-Decembrino 2, Shane Coleman 2, Pat Herring 2, Ken McCormick, Eddie Los, Eddie Budnick
Multiple hits: Y-W--Bill Bresnahan 2-for-4. YM-DeCembrino 5-for-5, Phil Herring 2-for-3