"The bats came alive with the crowd!," Coach Don Villanova wrote last night, as the 8-year-old Pottsgrove Instructional League Baseball team won 8-7 over East Norriton in a seven-inning contest.
NORRISTOWN PA – They’ve done it again.
The 8-year-olds of Pottsgrove Instructional League Baseball “pulled another miracle win out of the hat,” according to Coach Don Villanova, Tuesday night (June 30, 2009) on the field of Cole Manor Elementary School in Norristown, beating East Norriton 8-7 in a seven-inning semi-final game of the 2009 Neal S. Cohen Memorial Baseball Tournament.
An aggresive East Norriton squad kept a close eye on Pottsgrove baserunners throughout the evening.
Pottsgrove advances to the finals, and its chance at the Cohen championship, against Oreland-Wyndmoor tonight (Wednesday, July 1, 2009) at 6:30 at the school, 2350 Springview Rd. “These boys will be ready to play,” coaches Villanova and Greg Biagini promised of the team in an e-mail distributed late Tuesday evening, and added they hoped “to see another big crowd.”
The size of the Pottsgrove crowd surprised East Norriton parents.
Both the players’ efforts, and the strength of their support, surprised their East Norriton opponents. Several parents on the host team commented favorably on the dozens of Pottsgove fans who made the 22-mile trek to Norristown to cheer on the team.
Here are slightly edited excerpts from Villanova’s personal recap of the action:
Arms got a good workout too.
“We started the game off by winning the coin toss for the fifth straight time, and took the home field advantage away … by electing to be the home team. We fell behind early in the game, 1-0, on some good hitting and poor defensive play by our outfield, which struggled all game long. But these resilient boys never get rattled. (They) came right back in the bottom half of the first inning, and scored two runs … to take a 2-1 lead.
“We increased that lead to 5-1 in the second inning with more good hitting and base running. Defensive problems just haunted us … and we found ourselves in a 5-3 game with good hitting from those boys from (East Norriton). Credit should be given to those boys in orange: they played well, hitting the ball very hard and running the bases very aggressively.
“We picked up a run in the fifth inning to make it a 6-3 game, but again defensive issues allowed the EN team to tie the game in the sixth … and push us into extra innings.
Villanova strongly praised the opponents. "They played well," he said, "hitting the ball very hard."
“In the bottom of the sixth inning we were held off … the score board. EN, having all the momentum, came in and took the lead and threatened to score more, but our infield held its ground. … We retired the side, trailing by only one run.
“Going into the bottom of the seventh, our lead-off hitter hit a slow grounder to the pitcher, who promptly retired the runner at first base. Our next batter reached base on a single; we had one on, and one out. Our next batter struck out, and we were again down to our last batter. But, as this team (earlier) did against Whitpain, so we did against East Norriton.
Ready for action, and another hit.
“(Pottsgrove) bats came alive with the crowd! We loaded the bases with two singles when our power hitter, Andy Blum, came to the plate and hit one deep over the center fielder’s extended glove. The bases emptied (in) another walk-off victory for this team of boys who just keep finding ways to win games.”
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Related (to Pottsgrove Little League Baseball):
- Pottsgrove “8s” Finish 2nd of 18 In Cohen Tourney
- Pottsgrove “8s” Headed Into Tourney Final
- Pottsgrove “8s” Tourney Play Tonight
- Anticipation Builds At The Ball Fields
- Caps Were All The Rage
- Pottsgrove Little League At Practice
The happy victors celebrate after the game, in this photo by League President Tim Brown. Next up: the championship finals tonight
Favinger Photography also has photos from the Pottsgrove Little League 9yo District 27 game. Pottstown v Pottsgrove (9yo All-Star) 06-19-2009 8PM – Visit our site to see photos!