Despite losing early in the Berks County Youth Legion playoffs, the Lower Mac Rangers were still able to rally and bring home yet another championship to its program.
Head coach Shawn Betz’s squad did it the hard way as they battled there way through the losers’ bracket winning four straight games and capturing their second championship in the last three years as they defeated Perk Valley 10-5 on Monday night at Church Lane Park.
Lower Mac (24-3) had lost to Perk Valley just one week earlier in the tournament 16-7, but got revenge the second time around.
On their way to the championship, the Rangers opened up the tournament with a win over Norchester (12-8) before defeating Boyertown Bear Cubs (6-5), Daniel Boone (9-1) and Upper Perk (4-0) in the elimination round.
In the championship game, the Rangers had jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before Perk Valley had made it a one-run game with a four-run third inning. Lower Mac picked up a big insurance run in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-4 and then put the game away with a four-run fifth inning.
Zach Heller (2-for-4, 2 RBI), Connor Horwath (2-4, 2 RS) and Robbie Barnes (2-3) led the offense. Barnes was also the winning pitcher going 2 1/3 innings before giving way to Heller and Jaden Betz, who closed out the victory.
Up next for Lower Mac will be the regional tournament which gets underway on Friday at Berwick. The Rangers will be in action with an early 9 a.m. start taking on Mountain Post, the Wyoming Valley runner-up.
The other matchups tomorrow will feature Sunbury/Northumberland vs Boyertown Bear Cubs (11:30 a.m.), Lower Southampton vs Pittston (2 p.m.) and Jonestown vs Berwick (5 p.m.). The winner of the eight-team, double elimination tournament will advance to the Pa. Youth Legion State Championship, which will also be held in Berwick.
More information on the tournament will be posted on Emmaussports.com and select games will be broadcasted on The Eastern Pa. Sports Network.