Lower Mac didn’t need any luck on its side this time.
Instead, they just turned to what’s been their strength all season long: their pitching and defense.
And now, they can call themselves regional champions.
Led by a dominant performance on the mound by Game 1 starter Andrew O’Brien followed up by an almost equally-impressive effort by Tyler Seidel in Game 2, Lower Mac won the Pennsylvania Youth Legion Oley Regional championship Wednesday afternoon as they defeated previously-undefeated Spring Cove not once, but twice.
Head coach Shawn Betz’s team, who had lost to the same Spring Cove team 3-2 a day earlier in a game that they committed four errors, left little doubt who was the best of the eight teams competing in the five-day, double-elimination tournament in Berks County.
Lower Mac went 5-1 in and outscored their opponents by an incredible 52-9 margin, including blowing out the Dragons, the runners-up from the Central Penn League, in Game 1 16-0 in five innings and then winning a much-closer 4-1 contest in the winner-take-all Game 2.
With winning the regional championship, the Rangers now earn a trip to the final destination that all teams at this level dream of when the season begins back in late May –the Pennsylvania Youth Legion State Championship in Homer City in Indiana County.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” said Betz, whose led Lower Mac to three straight appearances in regionals. “All season long these guys have battled. We haven’t lost a game by more than one run, That’s how competitive these guys are. They’ve been fantastic and I can’t say how proud I am of them.”
A year ago, Lower Mac captured its second straight Lehigh Valley Championship and had all the makings of a team capable of making a run at a state championship. Unfortunately, the Rangers never got that chance as their season ended abruptly due to weather shortening play at the West Lawn Regional where they were competing.
O’Brien, a 16-year-old veteran on the team, remembers the game fondly and the disappointment he and his teammates felt.
“What happened to us last year fueled us a lot because in that game there was a play at the end of the game where the umpire called a ball foul and it was fair and most likely would have won the game for us,” said O’Brien. “I think that motivated us a lot this time to come out here and put teams away and not let the umpires decide the game. “
Lower Mac did just that to a young Spring Cove team made up of players that attend Central High School located out near Altoona.
In Game 1, the Rangers jumped on Spring Cove early scoring a pair of runs in their first-at bat and never looked back as they scored at least one run in every inning in rolling to a 16-0 win in game that was stopped after five innings due to the 10-run rule.
Catcher Sam Dietz went 2-for-3 with four RBI, O’Brien helped his own cause by driving in three runs and Seidel, along with third baseman Tyler LePage, also had two RBI for Lower Mac.
O’Brien picked up his second shutout win of the tournament as he scattered five hits and struck out four in improving to 6-2 on the season.
The momentum from the Game 1 victory carried over in the deciding winner-take-all second game as Lower Mac jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings and were never really challenged the rest of the way in completing the sweep of Spring Cove with a 4-1 victory.
Seidel went five strong innings and allowed just three hits to improve to 4-1 on the season before giving way to TJ Geist who pitched the final two innings to earn the save. Geist got opposing pitcher Des Boyles to fly out to Jake Fotta in center field for the final out, sending Lower Mac to Homer City.
“It was an impressive day,” said a proud Betz of his team. “It was a complete 180 from what we did yesterday. From 1-15 it was a great day for everybody.”
STATE PREVIEW
Lower Mac will be one of eight teams competing for this year’s state championship. They’ll open up play at 4 p.m on Saturday at First Commonwealth Field taking on Western Regional champion Uniontown.
The tournament kicks off at 10:15 a.m. with Boyertown Grizzlies (Berwick Regional champ) taking on Plum (West #2) followed by Northampton (Upper Perk Regional champ) facing Corry (West #3) at 1 p.m. with the nightcap featuring Boyertown Bear Cubs (Scranton Regional champ) against the host team, Homer City at 7 p.m.
Day 2 on Sunday will feature two winners’ bracket and two losers’ bracket games. The tournament will continue on Monday and Tuesday with the championship game set for Wednesday. West Lawn is the defending state champ but did not qualify for this year’s tournament.
Follow @Emmaussports.com on twitter, ‘like’ Emmaus baseball on facebook to keep up to date on Lower Mac and their pursuit of a championship.
Game 1 – Lower Mac 16, Spring Cove 0
LM – 235 42 – 16-11-0
SC – 000 00 – 0-5-3
Andrew O’Brien and Sam Dietz; T. Oakes, D. Metzger (3), Z. Oakes (4, P. Gregg (5) and H. Smith. WP – O’Brien (6-2), LP – T. Oakes
LM – Sam Dietz 2-3, 4 RBI; Andrew O’Brien 1-2, 3 RBI, 2 R; Tyler Seidel 2-2, 2 RBI; Dylan Witkowski 2-2, 2 R
Game 2 – Lower Mac 4, Spring Cove 1
SC – 000 010 0 – 1-4-1
LM – 120 001 0 – 4-6-0
D. Boyles, L. Palmer (5) and H. Smith; Tyler Seidel (5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 K, 5 BB), Tyler Geist (2 IP, 1 H, 1 K). WP – Seidel (4-1), LP – Boyles, S – Geist
LM – Jake Fotta 2-4, 2 RBI; Evan Amey 2-2, RBI; Tyler LePage 1-2, RBI