Members of the Naamans Senior Little League from Wilmington, Delaware pose with the East Regional Title banner after defeating Pennsylvania 9-8 on Wednesday afternoon at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor. Photo by Chris Lessner (click to enlarge)
BANGOR, Me- After a rough first inning on Wednesday afternoon, the Naamans Senior Little League All Stars from Wilmington, Delaware rallied for a 9-8 eight inning win over Pennsylvania in the 2019 Senior Little League East Regional Final at Mansfield Stadium. The win gives Delaware a perfect 5-0 regional record and a return trip for a second straight season to the Senior Little League World Series that begins this weekend in Easley, South Carolina.
Elk-McKean Johnsonburg Senior Little League from Pennsylvania fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first when Delaware got an RBI single from Johnny Pfander, but exploded in the bottom of the first to take a big early lead. The first five guys reached base, four via a hit, and RBI hits from Carson Whiteman, Kaden Dennis, Domenic Allegretto, and Camron Marciniak gave them a 7-1 lead. The half inning also saw PA bat around with 12 men coming to the plate, and also used two stolen bases and two passed balls by Delaware catcher Pfander to help the big rally.
Delaware got 3.1 innings from Cruser, and then a combined 4.2 innings from Luke Gabrysh and Pfander and shut down Elk-McKean after that first inning. Delaware got a sacrifice fly RBI from Connor Campbell in the second, and then three runs in the third inning on RBI hits from Danny Storm, Andrew Spychaiski, and Kenyon Motley to cut it to 7-5. A wild pitch scored Justin Ford in the fourth to make it a one run game. The score remained 7-6 into the final at bat for Delaware in the seventh inning. Ford popped out to shortstop, but then Aidan Lambert reached on an error by the PA third baseman Whiteman. Storm struck out looking, but Spychaiski tied it with a double into left field. Pennsylvania went in order in the bottom of the seventh, setting the stage for extra innings into the eighth and the third straight extra inning contest for PA. The first two Delaware batters reached on errors in that top of the eighth, another one by the third baseman Whiteman, and one by shortstop Aiden Zimmerman. After a flyout by Gabrysh, a passed ball by PA catcher Harley Morris moved runners to second and third. Pfander then grounded a single into left to score both Duece Rzucidlo and Campbell that turned out to be the game winner to make it 9-7. Pfander was thrown out at second trying to extend it to a double. A one out walk in the bottom of the eighth for Pennsylvania by Ethan Wells led to a stolen base and then a two out RBI single by Marciniak to make it a one run game again. But Pfander got Zimmerman to ground out to shortstop to end the threat and end the regionals.
Pennsylvania ends their regional run this week with a 5-2 record, losing their first game of play but then rallying through the losers bracket to reach the championship round including an eight inning win and 10 inning win on Tuesday. Marciniak went 4-5 in the game, with four hits and two RBI. A. Zimmerman also added two hits. The team committed six errors to help Delaware back into the game, and eventually to the win. Dalton Stahli pitched the eighth inning and took the loss allowing two runs (one earned) on one hit. Ethan Wells started the game and went the first 1.1 innings allowing two runs on two hits, with one walk and two strikeouts. Luke Zimmerman pitched the bulk of the action going 5.2 innings and allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits, with three walks and two strikeouts. Pfander led the offense and got the pitching win for the back to back East Regional champions from Delaware. Pfander had two hits and three RBI, including the game winning two run single in the eighth. He pitched 2.1 innings allowing just one run on one hit, with one walk. Spychaiski also had two hits and two RBI, while Motley added two hits and had one driven in. Cruser had a final pitching line of 3.1 innings allowing seven runs (four earned) on six hits, with three walks and one strikeout. Gabrysh stepped up big on the mound as well at a good time and also pitched 2.1 innings and allowed no runs on two hits, with two strikeouts.
Naamans Senior Little League All Stars begins play this weekend in the Senior Little League World Series in South Carolina. Last year they won the United States title by defeating the defending US champion Coral Springs, Florida. Delaware went on to play Pariba Little League from Willemstad, Curacao (Latin America) in the World Title game and took an early 2-0 lead, before falling 7-2. Naamans will try to repeat as the US Champs when they play their first game on Saturday. The World Series runs from Saturday, July 27 until the World Title game which is set to be played on Saturday, August 3. All games are at JB Owens Sports Complex in Easley, South Carolina.
DE 1 1 3 1 0 0 1 2- 9 9 2
PA 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1- 8 9 6
WP- Pfander LP- Stahli
Left on base- Delaware 7, Pennsylvania 6
Time of game- 2 hours 15 minutes
