Night haunts Wolf Pack
at Cal Ripken Regional opener
By James D’Arcangelo
For BucksLocalSports.com
A full moon rising.
Rolling thick fog banks blanketing the night time ball field while enabling players to see their breath in August. A night of eerie, odd happenstances was the norm as South Jersey champion, Washington Township, snatched an other-worldly 6-5 win over Warrington to open the Cal Ripken Regional Championships Aug. 6 in Shamong, NJ.
Especially chilling for Warrington, South Jersey won and scored six runs despite only getting only one base hit out of the infield.
The game started as one would expect a deep summer tournament game should. The two sides’ pitchers, T.J. Anthony, for Warrington, and Alex Krug, for South Jersey, sent down the sides 1-2-3 in the first innings, and Krug managed to do the same to Warrington again in inning two. But then things started to turn not quite so ordinary.
A single to left field by Krug started off the bottom of the second for South Jersey, and he promptly stole second. A perfectly executed bunt and run (what would normally be a sacrifice had it not been executed so well) by Phil Cresthul scored Krug from second on the accurate-but-too-late throw to first. Cresthul stole both second and third, and then scored on a dribbler to second.
Warrington came back in the top of the third as Jared Conroy drove a ball through the third baseman for a single and then stole second. Next batter J.M. Clauss drilled the same type of line drive through the second baseman and Conroy scored on the play. Jake Fitts came in to pinch run for Clauss and promptly stole second. A fake bunt by Tommy Funk pulled in the third baseman, allowing Fitts to steal the open third base, a small play which mattered a lot when Fitts scored easily on a Funk single to center two pitches later.
Tied 2-2, the game would appear perhaps ready to settle down, but that was not to be. After two strong plays on hard hit balls to second and short respectively by Ray Maletz and Ky Rossi, the tufty dense fog came into play a bit as a South Jersey drive to center dropped in unexpectedly. Two steals, a walk, another steal, and an infield hit later, South Jersey had scored two runs to go up 4-2 after three.
As the fog thickened and made for a late October-like play-off baseball atmosphere rather than early August, South Jersey scored another atypical-for-Warrington-to-allow run in the bottom of the fourth on four walks. “Big Z” Zach Dennis then came in to close out the inning, with a big helping hand from Brendan Parker as he snagged a line drive to third, and followed with a heads-up, doubling-up of the runner who tried to late to get back to the bag.
Down 5-2 going into fifth inning, things seemed to be setting up perfectly for Warrington which had grabbed late wins in most of their PA State championship tournament games. When Jared Conroy lead off with a walk, the comeback appeared to be on. J.M.Clauss reached on a force at second of Conroy. Clauss stole second, and took third on a single to right center by Brendan Parker. In a perfectly executed play, Parker got himself caught between first and second, and drew the run down. Waiting until the second baseman focused on and closed in on Parker, Clauss took off for home and scored, drawing the throw home instead of Parker being tagged out in the rundown. The late throw home allowed Parker to take second and Warrington’s brand of smart small-ball was amping up.
Tommy Funk followed with a bunt single, while Parker grabbed third. As Funk stole second, Parker drew a throw from the catcher that hit Parker on the helmet – as a result Parker scored and Funk took third. A Connor Moffat sacrifice bunt scored Funk and just like that it was a 5-5 game, momentum clearly Warrington’s.
But on this strange night, the best hit ball of the night ended up as merely the best defensive play of the night. With South Jersey flummoxed and flailing, Ky Rossi followed Moffat with a slicing rocket down the right field line, a seeming sure-shot double or triple.
But destiny chuckled at the irony of it all as South Jersey’s Michael McKeever sprinted and laid out horizontal to snag the liner for the third out. The likely game saver was his. As McKeever got up and limped back to the dug out sore and slow with the wind knocked out of him, Rossi waited in sportsmanship to high five him on the breath-taking play.
Still though, Warrington would seem to be in control of this tied game. But that was not to be. A strong play by Ky Rossi to keep a Krug shot to short in the infield became a tough luck, just-miss chance as Krug barely beat out the throw to first.
Krug’s steal of second, followed by a Cresthul perfect bunt single down the third baseline, moved Krug to third. A fielder’s choice scored Krug. And just like that, with one base hit to the outfield, South Jersey had won the game.
So South Jersey gets off to a good start in the pool play tournament, having split the six innings between their two best pitchers.
Warrington, meanwhile, can take some solace in that their overall game was far more than competitive against South Jersey. That and the fact that another set of circumstances this odd and eerie are unlikely to align and conspire against them in these regional championships.
For BucksLocalSports.com
A full moon rising.
Rolling thick fog banks blanketing the night time ball field while enabling players to see their breath in August. A night of eerie, odd happenstances was the norm as South Jersey champion, Washington Township, snatched an other-worldly 6-5 win over Warrington to open the Cal Ripken Regional Championships Aug. 6 in Shamong, NJ.
Especially chilling for Warrington, South Jersey won and scored six runs despite only getting only one base hit out of the infield.
The game started as one would expect a deep summer tournament game should. The two sides’ pitchers, T.J. Anthony, for Warrington, and Alex Krug, for South Jersey, sent down the sides 1-2-3 in the first innings, and Krug managed to do the same to Warrington again in inning two. But then things started to turn not quite so ordinary.
A single to left field by Krug started off the bottom of the second for South Jersey, and he promptly stole second. A perfectly executed bunt and run (what would normally be a sacrifice had it not been executed so well) by Phil Cresthul scored Krug from second on the accurate-but-too-late throw to first. Cresthul stole both second and third, and then scored on a dribbler to second.
Warrington came back in the top of the third as Jared Conroy drove a ball through the third baseman for a single and then stole second. Next batter J.M. Clauss drilled the same type of line drive through the second baseman and Conroy scored on the play. Jake Fitts came in to pinch run for Clauss and promptly stole second. A fake bunt by Tommy Funk pulled in the third baseman, allowing Fitts to steal the open third base, a small play which mattered a lot when Fitts scored easily on a Funk single to center two pitches later.
Tied 2-2, the game would appear perhaps ready to settle down, but that was not to be. After two strong plays on hard hit balls to second and short respectively by Ray Maletz and Ky Rossi, the tufty dense fog came into play a bit as a South Jersey drive to center dropped in unexpectedly. Two steals, a walk, another steal, and an infield hit later, South Jersey had scored two runs to go up 4-2 after three.
As the fog thickened and made for a late October-like play-off baseball atmosphere rather than early August, South Jersey scored another atypical-for-Warrington-to-allow run in the bottom of the fourth on four walks. “Big Z” Zach Dennis then came in to close out the inning, with a big helping hand from Brendan Parker as he snagged a line drive to third, and followed with a heads-up, doubling-up of the runner who tried to late to get back to the bag.
Down 5-2 going into fifth inning, things seemed to be setting up perfectly for Warrington which had grabbed late wins in most of their PA State championship tournament games. When Jared Conroy lead off with a walk, the comeback appeared to be on. J.M.Clauss reached on a force at second of Conroy. Clauss stole second, and took third on a single to right center by Brendan Parker. In a perfectly executed play, Parker got himself caught between first and second, and drew the run down. Waiting until the second baseman focused on and closed in on Parker, Clauss took off for home and scored, drawing the throw home instead of Parker being tagged out in the rundown. The late throw home allowed Parker to take second and Warrington’s brand of smart small-ball was amping up.
Tommy Funk followed with a bunt single, while Parker grabbed third. As Funk stole second, Parker drew a throw from the catcher that hit Parker on the helmet – as a result Parker scored and Funk took third. A Connor Moffat sacrifice bunt scored Funk and just like that it was a 5-5 game, momentum clearly Warrington’s.
But on this strange night, the best hit ball of the night ended up as merely the best defensive play of the night. With South Jersey flummoxed and flailing, Ky Rossi followed Moffat with a slicing rocket down the right field line, a seeming sure-shot double or triple.
But destiny chuckled at the irony of it all as South Jersey’s Michael McKeever sprinted and laid out horizontal to snag the liner for the third out. The likely game saver was his. As McKeever got up and limped back to the dug out sore and slow with the wind knocked out of him, Rossi waited in sportsmanship to high five him on the breath-taking play.
Still though, Warrington would seem to be in control of this tied game. But that was not to be. A strong play by Ky Rossi to keep a Krug shot to short in the infield became a tough luck, just-miss chance as Krug barely beat out the throw to first.
Krug’s steal of second, followed by a Cresthul perfect bunt single down the third baseline, moved Krug to third. A fielder’s choice scored Krug. And just like that, with one base hit to the outfield, South Jersey had won the game.
So South Jersey gets off to a good start in the pool play tournament, having split the six innings between their two best pitchers.
Warrington, meanwhile, can take some solace in that their overall game was far more than competitive against South Jersey. That and the fact that another set of circumstances this odd and eerie are unlikely to align and conspire against them in these regional championships.
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