Scott Huff recaps Upper Moreland’s 3-0 loss to Radnor in Wednesday’s District One Class AAA title game. To view Keith Clemens’ game action photos, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Scott Huff
Glen Mills – OMG – LOB!!!
Oh My Gosh – Upper Moreland Left On Base an astounding 10 runners in a 3-0 PIAA District One Class AAA championship game against Radnor.
“All we needed was to get one big hit, and we didn’t get it,” said Upper Moreland head coach Ken Irwin. “Like I told the players, you can’t win a game in the first inning, but you can lose one.”
And the Golden Bears did just that in that fateful first inning.
Radnor – the No. 5 seed in the tournament that upset No. 1 seed Holy Ghost Prep 11-9 in the semifinals – scored three unearned runs in the first inning against Upper Moreland ace Joe Bates. The Raiders took advantage of two costly Golden Bear errors, a walk, and a single to piece together a three-run inning.
“Sometimes things just happen,” said Bates, who would finish the game with nine strikeouts in a terrific complete game effort. “I don’t think we were nervous, we felt good and were excited to play the game.”
“Joe pitched an awesome game for us,” said Irwin. “But we couldn’t find a way to score any runs and get back into the game.”
Perhaps the best chance to Bears had to claw back into the game came in the bottom of the first inning. Randy Meehl led off the game with a single – one of what proved to be only three hits for Upper Moreland on the day. Connor Casey followed with a walk to put runners on first and second with one out. The walk to Casey was one of eight walks that the Bears would coax during the game.
Then came the rally killer for Upper Moreland. Jon Searles hit a hot grounder toward the second baseman and the runner on first collided with the fielder. The umpire ruled interference on the runner – and instead of the bases being loaded with no outs – the situation resulted in runners on first and second with one out.
“The fielder has to make an effort to field the ball,” said Irwin. “The umpire said he was making that effort, and in his opinion he made the right call
“But we had plenty of opportunities later in the game to score runs,” added Irwin. “We needed to take advantage of those chances.”
Upper Moreland left two runners on in the first inning, left two runners on base in the second inning, left two runners on base in the fourth inning, left two runners on base in the fifth inning, left one runner on base in the sixth inning, and left the tying run on base in the seventh inning.
The loss culminated a season that saw Upper Moreland one step away from a Suburban One League American Conference championship behind Upper Dublin – and a step away from a PIAA Class AAA District One title behind Radnor.
“This senior class has been incredible and has helped establish this program,” said Irwin. “They have set the bar high for the juniors and sophomores.”
“This has been a great group of players to play with,” said Bates, who might attempt to walk-on at St. Joseph University next season. “To be able to get to where we are today, with these teammates, has been what I will remember most.
“We have won a lot of games together,” added Bates. “It would have been better if we could have won just one more.”
Radnor Raiders 3-0-0-0-0-0-0 * 3 4 1
Upper Moreland 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 * 0 3 3
Radnor
Connor Wilson cf 4 1 1 0
Andrew Austen lf-p 2 1 0 0
Matt Schaefer 2b 3 1 2 1
Will Hoysgard p-lf 3 0 0 0
Jack Deshan c 3 0 0 0
Martin Conner 1b 3 0 0 0
Pat McDermott 3b 2 0 1 0
Sean Mullarkey ss 3 0 0 0
Pat Scheri rf 3 0 0 0
Totals 26 3 4 1
Upper Moreland
Randy Meehl cf 4 0 1 0
Connor Casey ss 2 0 1 0
Jon Searles 1b 4 0 0 0
Nick DeLucas lf 3 0 0 0
Brandon Kohn dh 3 0 0 0
Paul Ciampoli 2b 3 0 0 0
Christian Leighton 3b 2 0 1 0
Ryan Lowry c 0 0 0 0
Nick Pagano 2 0 0 0
Totals 23 0 3 0
Radnor
Will Hoysgard (WP) 6.0 2 0 0 6 8
Andrew Austen (save) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0
Upper Moreland
Joe Bates (LP) 7.0 4 3 0 9 3
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