The Lehigh Valley Youth Legion baseball league has reached the midway point of its season, and as expected, local entry Lower Macungie has once again proven to be the team to beat.
Head coach Shawn Betz’s team has won seven of its first eight games (7-1) with its only loss of the season coming last Sunday to rival North Parkland 3-2, in a game in which the team was missing a few key starters.
Lower Mac opened the season at 6-0, defeating South Parkland (11-1), Bankos twice (9-3 and 11-7), South Parkland again (4-2), and winning consecutive shutouts over Hellertown (13-0) and Palmer (21-0). Following the one-run loss to North Parkland, the Rangers bounced back on Monday and rolled over Hellertown for the second time this season (22-6).
With the season starting late due to the high school team in the PIAA state playoffs plus rain forcing postponements, the team will now be forced to play seven games in the next eight days.
The grueling stretch will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday as the team travels to Palmer. The two teams will then hook up again on Monday at 6 p.m. at Church Lane Park.
Lower Mac will also have a doubleheader on Sunday against Nazareth with the first game starting at 2 p.m., followed by Game 2 at 5 p.m.
The Rangers will then have a chance to avenge for their only loss of the season at 6 p.m. at home on Wednesday against North Parkland. The two rivals will then face each other again on Thursday at Orefield Middle School at the same time. Lower Mac will close out the week on Friday at 6 p.m. traveling to Bankos.
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Results:
Lower Mac 11, South Parkland 1 (Played Sun., June 2 @ Church Lane Pk)
SP – 000 010 0 – 1-4-0
LM – 243 011 x – 11-10-3
LM – Evan Amey 2-for-3, 3 R; Jeremy Haefeli 2-2, 2 R; Dominick Chiego 2-3, 2 RBI; Andrew O’Brien WP (4 IP, 2 H, 3 K)
Lower Mac 9, Bankos 3 (Played Fri., June 7 @ Church Lane Pk)
Bankos – 100 002 0 – 3-4-0
LM – 100 305 0 – 9-9-4
LM – Anthony Viola 2-3, Evan Amey 1-3, 2 RBI; Andrew O’Brien 1-1, 2R; Tyler LePage 1-2, RBI
Lower Mac 11, Bankos 7 (Played Sun., June 9 @ Church Lane Pk)
Bankos – 230 200 0 – 7-5-4
LM – 214 031 0 – 11-7-2
LM – Tyler Seidel 2-3, Dominick Chiego 1-2, 2 RBI; Tyler Geist 1-2, 2 RBI; Sam Dietz 1-2, 2R; Connor Shriver 3R, WP
Lower Mac 4, South Parkland 2 (Played Tue., June 11 @ So. Park)
LM – 101 011 0 – 4-10-1
SP – 000 000 2 – 2-4-0
LM – Jake Fotta 2-4, Andrew O’Brien 2-3, RBI, WP (5 IP, 3 H, 4K), Tyler Seidel 1-2, RBI
Lower Mac 13, Hellertown 0 (Played Weds., June 12 @ Church Lane Pk)
Hell – 000 000 0 – 0-1-0
LM – 011 (11)0 – 13-14-1
LM – Dominick Chiego 2-3, 4 RBI; Evan Amey 2-4, 3 RBI; Andrew O’Brien 2-3, 2 RBI; Anthony Viola 2-2, 2RBI, 2 R; Jack Ivankovitz 2-2, 2 RBI, WP (3 1/3 IP, 1 H, 5 K)
Lower Mac 21, Palmer 0 (Played Fri., June 14 @ Church Lane Pk)
Pal – 000 0 – 0-1-2
LM – (11)0(10) – 21-16-0
LM – Jake Fotta 2-3, 2 RBI, 3 R; Tyler LePage 1-2, 3 RBI; Anthony Viola 1-3, 2 RBI, 2 R; Jack Ivankovitz 2-3, 2 RBI, 2R; Dylan Witkowski WP (4 IP, 1 H, 8 K)
North Parkland 3, Lower Mac 2 (Played Sun., June 16 @ North Parkland)
LM – 000 000 2 – 2-7-2
NP – 100 200 0 – 3-2-1
LM – Sam Dietz 2-3, R; Dominick Chiego 2-3, RBI; Andrew O’Brien & Jeremy Haefeli 1-3; O’Brien (6 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 9 K)
Lower Mac 22, Hellertown 6 (Played Mon., June 17 @ Hellertown)
LM – 073 030 9 – 22-19-0
Hell – 400 200 0 – 6-3-6
LM – Andrew O’Brien 5-for-5, 6 RBI; Dominick Chiego 2-3, 4 RBI, 3 R; Tyler Geist 2-3, 3 RBI, 5 R; Evan Amey 3-5, 2 RBI, 2R; Anthony Viola 2-4, 2R