It had been five years since any team not named Fort Washington was able to call itself the Lower Montco American Legion Baseball League champions. But after Tuesday night’s game between the Morelanders and Huntingdon Valley, a team other than the Generals has finally captured the title.
Thanks to a walk-off RBI by Mike Cavanaugh in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Morelanders were able to sneak by with a 7-6 win over Valley at Masons Mill Park, giving the Morelanders their first championship in five years.
After allowing No. 1 seed Valley to score four runs in the top of the seventh to keep the game going, the Morelanders loaded the bases and won on a groundball by Cavanaugh to score Charlie Hooker and give the Morelanders the win.
“It’s great,” Morelanders manager Ken Irwin said. “These kids are with us in the high school program and a summer team last year and they really did well. They were starting to believe they could win early this year and I’ve never seen a team win so many games in their last at-bat that these kids have won this year.”
In the win, the Morelanders (16-8-0) got contributions from everyone.
In the bottom of the first, after Valley (14-9-2) got an RBI single from Brian Buckley to score Ryan Killion, Colton Hooker and Kyle Walder both recorded RBI to put the Morelanders up 2-1. In the bottom of the second, Cavanaugh and Colton Hooker scored on a two-run single to right field.
In the fourth, Charlie Hooker hit a two-run double to score Colton Hooker and Robert Knox and put the Morelanders up 6-1.
But Valley had an answer, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh, highlighted by an RBI double by Killion and bases loaded walks by Lewis Palmer and Paul Buckley.
“As you saw, we don’t quit,” Valley manager Evan Horn said. “The seniors on the team who are graduating are our main reason for that and they led the way the whole season.”
Valley, which finished with the best overall record in the league in team history this season, was playing in its first championship game since 1992. The team was led by Buckley, who went 1-for-2 with two walks, one run and two RBI. Pocrass went 2-for-2, while Lance Goodman drove in a run. Callan Palmer went 1-for-4 with a run scored and team captain Rafael Fernandez walked twice and also scored once.
Mark Rushton started and took the loss, while Ross Goodman finished the game with a strong showing on the mound.
“To be honest, the last few pitchers we’ve used in the playoffs were really good pitchers, but we didn’t use them a lot this year,” said Horn, whose team played five games in four days to make up for several postponed games from the regular season. “I asked them to pitch today and they both gave me everything. I’m going to miss them, as they’re both seniors and great ballplayers.”
The Morelanders were led by Charlie Hooker, who went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Walder finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Colton Hooker went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Knox went 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, two runs and one RBI. Matthew Kohn stole two bases and scored one run.
Cavanaugh scored one run to go along with his game-winning at-bat.
“It felt good to get that last hit,” he said. “I just sat back on a curveball and waited and put it in play. Good things happen when you do that. This win feels great and I love playing with this team.”
Edward Decker pitched the final inning, walking one batter while not allowing any hits or runs while earning the win for the Morelanders, who will now begin play in the Region 3 tournament this weekend.
“This group of kids is just to winning,” Irwin said. “Nothing ever fazes them and it’s a tribute to these guys.”
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