7/17/19
True to form, Sean Betz and his Lower Macungie team backed up its words.
And now they can call themselves champions yet again.
Lower Mac captured its third straight Lehigh Valley Youth Legion League championship on their home field at Church Lane Park last week by sweeping rival North Parkland 2-0 in the best 2-out-of-3 series.
Lower Mac, which had suffered a pair of one-run losses to North Parkland during the regular-season, captured the the title last Friday as they rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to score a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to win 2-1 and defeat the Buffaloes in the finals.
“I felt and I know the players also felt that during the season we were the better team,” said Betz ,the team’s fourth-year manager after winning his third title in the last four years. “Even when we played them a couple of times and they beat us, we knew we were the better team.”
“What we did against them in the regular-season in our two losses is that we made a lot errors and gave them unearned runs. In both of these two games, they were the team making the errors and mistakes.”
And Lower Mac capitalized on that and took advantage.
The Rangers (18-3 overall) defeated North Parkland for the second consecutive year in the finals with last year’s deciding game also being a one-run margin, 4-3. Two years ago, the difference again was one run as Lower Mac defeated South Parkland 3-2 in a game that went nine innings.
“The championship game every year have been close. I guess it just means that the guys perform well under pressure,” said Betz.
A number of players stepped up under pressure situations for Lower Mac to bring home their third straight title.
Dylan Witkowski certainly did as he came off the bench and drew a one-out, bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth inning that forced in the game-winning run. Witkowski also picked up his second win of the season in relief as he threw two scoreless innings after starter Tyler Seidel pitched four strong innings of three-hit ball. Tyler LePage closed it out and earned the save by striking out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.
Connor Shriver also came off the bench and delivered the game-tying hit in the bottom of the sixth that knotted the game at 1-1 with an RBI single that scored Jack Ivankovitz.
Catcher Sam Dietz was the only player in the game with multiple hits going 2-for-3. Second baseman Anthony Viola went 1-for-3 with a run scored, left fielder Dominick Chiego was 1-for-2, while center fielder Jake Fotta and shortstop Evan Amey each had a hit for Lower Mac.
North Parkland managed just four hits in the game and was hurt with five errors.
In Game 1 of the finals last Wednesday at North Parkland, starter Andrew O’Brien and LePage combined on a two-hitter as Lower Mac rolled to an easy 8-1 win.
O’Brien allowed just two hits and struck out eight in five innings over work before giving way to LePage who threw two scoreless innings while striking out three.
Both O’Brien and LePage, along with Amey each had two hits in the win for Lower Mac which outhit North Parkland 9-2.
With their third straight league championship behind them, Lower Mac will not turn its attention towards its next goal — winning a regional title.
The journey begins on Saturday as the Rangers will compete in the Oley Regional. Lower Mac will face Phoenixville, the No. 3 team from the Twin County League, in its opener at 1 p.m.
“They celebrated after winning the league last week, but their mentality is that there’s more baseball ahead of us,” said Betz. “They are really looking to do something in regionals.”
Eight teams will compete in the double-elimination tournament at Oley with the winner advancing to the Pennsylvania State Championship the following week in Homer City (Indiana County).
The other first-round matchups include: Conord (Chester #1) vs Yardley-Morrisville (Bucks #2) at 10 a.m.; Fort Washington (Montco #1) taking on Norchester (Twin #2) at 11 a.m. and Central (Central Penn #2) taking on the host team, Oley. Two fields will be used for the tournament which runs from July 20-24.
The three other eastern regional sites are: Berwick, Upper Perk and Scranton.
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Game 2
No. Parkland – 100 000 0 – 1-4-5
Lower Mac – 000 002 0 – 2-6-1
NP – Gunkle, Long (6) and Atiyeh
LM – Tyler Seidel, Dylan Witkowski (5), Tyler LePage (7) and Sam Dietz, Dominick Chiego.
WP – Witkowski (2-0), LP – Long
Game 1
Lower Mac – 111 021 2 – 8-9-2
No. Parkland – 001 000 0 – 1-2-4
LM – Andrew O’Brien, Tyler LePage (6) and Sam Dietz, Dominick Chiego
NP – Tremba, Beers (5), Whittaker (7) and Atiyeh.
WP – O’Brien (5-2), LP – Tremba