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ASTON – The play was one they’d made a million times before.
Greg McCuch fielded the grounder to short and fired a strike to first baseman Corey Develin for the final out in Tuesday’s District One Class AAA title game against Kennett, and in that one moment – so ordinary yet so special, the Upper Merion baseball team sealed its spot in the history books.
“I saw it go into his glove, watched his throw into the first baseman’s glove and just went crazy,” said Ben Dworecki, who had a close-up view from the mound. “I was just hoping it was an out. It’s amazing.”The Vikings, thanks to their dramatic 7-5 come-from-behind win over Kennett, had captured the District One Class AAA crown.
The celebration was about to begin.
As the throng of giddy Viking fans pressed against the fence that surrounds Jim Buggy Memorial Park, the players threw their gloves in the air, leaped into each other’s arms and then disappeared in a massive pile-on between the pitcher’s mound and first base.
“After that last play at first base, my heart skipped a beat,” Joel Paradis said. “It was so exciting. I felt all the blood go to my face. I was definitely blushing. It’s truly amazing.”
“You don’t know what to do – you’re so happy,” teammate Matt Shannon said. “You just run around. You’re like a wild man. It’s indescribable. You don’t know what to do.”
Adding to the drama was yet another heroic comeback by the Vikings, who rallied from a pair of four-run deficits.
“We like to keep things kind of interesting,” Viking coach Jason Darnell said. “We did this in our last game – we got ourselves in a 4-0 hole. We like to work the pitchers. We like to knock them out. We like to score runs.”
They also like to keep the fans on the edge of their seats.
The Vikings barely had a pulse through the first three innings, not so much as managing a hit in that span while falling behind 2-0. The Blue Demons made it 4-0 when they scored a pair of runs in the fourth, sparked by singles from Jay Singer, Mike Griffin, Bobby Hertzman and Will Flores (2 RBIs).
In the bottom of the inning, the Vikings finally got on the scoreboard. Kevin Neufer lined a one-out single to center and moved up to second on a wild pitch. He advanced to third on Ryan Dolga’s groundout, and Neufer raced home when Shannon – the offensive hero of the day – collected an infield single in the third base hole.
The Blue Demons got that run back in the fifth, thanks to a Ryan Beirne RBI single, but Paradis gave the Vikings new life when he led off the bottom of the inning and turned on a three-two Mike Kelly delivery, roping a solo home run over the left center field fence to make it a 5-2 game.
“We have been down the last two games,” Paradis said. “As the leadoff hitter in any inning when you’re down, you’re just looking to get on base.
“The count ran full, so I was looking for a fastball. I just tried to keep my bat in the zone, and fortunately, it went a long way. That was like a sparkplug.”
Shannon, who had a team-high four RBIs, echoed that sentiment.
“When Joel led off that inning with a home run – as soon as he hit it, we knew it was gone, and it got us so pumped up,” he said. “We were all fired up. He led the team today. We all fed off of him. He brought the energy to the team.”
Immediately after Paradis’ blast, mound ace Chris Baker was hit by a pitch, and he was replaced by courtesy runner Drew Santangelo, who immediately stole second. It appeared he would be stranded there when Kelly retired the next two batters he faced on a strikeout and fly ball to left field.
Then came a throwing error on McCuch’s grounder to short that not only plated Santangelo but also opened the flood gates. “The error that opened it up is the kind of door we’ve gotten all year, and we walk through them,” Darnell said. “We don’t slam it on our fingers. We walk through that door.”
The Vikings actually ran through the door.
Neufer was the recipient of a five-pitch walk, and Ryan Dolga drew a walk to load the bases
That brought Shannon to the plate, and the world changed on one pitch.
The Vikings’ number nine hitter - the offensive hero in Upper Merion’s win over Upper Perk in the quarterfinals – drove a one-one pitch to the deepest part of center field for a double that emptied the bases and put the Vikings on top 6-5.
“Matt Shannon comes through once again,” Paradis said. “He’s been the most clutch player the whole playoff season.”
Shannon got the fastball he was looking for from Kelly, and he didn’t waste it.
“I knew it was still early in the count,” he said. “He (Kelly) likes to pitch ahead, and he has a very nice curveball, so when I saw it come out of his hand, I knew it was going to be right there.
“I just tried to put it in play. When I saw it going, I didn’t know if I had enough under it or if I got too far under it and he would get it, so I just ran it out.”
Baker, who was approaching 100 pitches on the day, walked the first two batters he faced in the sixth.
“I was getting tired,” he admitted. “Coach told me to go out – ‘Don’t worry about what happens.’
“That first batter I was squeezing the ball a little bit. I looked at him (Darnell), made good eye contact, and he said, ‘One more.’ That was that.”
Darnell turned the ball over to Dworecki, who already had a post-season save.
“You live and die by Chris Baker,” Darnell said of his ace. “When he’s on, he’s unhittable.
“He wasn’t on today, but he still was in control when he needed to be and getting ground balls. My plan was the sixth inning was his last inning. Ben’s my guy with runners on to throw strikes.”
A fielder’s choice erased the Kennett runner at second, and with runners on the corners and one out, Dworecki came up with a huge strikeout of Kennett’s cleanup hitter, allowing the Vikings to see their way out of the inning.
“It was a curveball,” Dworecki said. “Through my years of baseball, because I throw strikes, they tell me to come in when they’re in jams.
“I knew my job was to throw strikes and get outs, so that’s what I did.”
Rightfielder Paradis snared a line drive for the inning’s final out, and for good measure, the Vikings tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the inning, once again capitalizing on a Kennett miscue.
Paradis was safe on an error to lead off the frame, and he moved up to second on Baker’s groundout to the right side. Dworecki lofted an RBI double into the right field corner to put the Vikings on top 7-5. Only two of the Vikings’ seven runs were earned.
“We just take advantage of other people’s errors,” Shannon said. “If they make an error, we try to capitalize on it. A little thing like that can spark us.”
Dworecki retired the Blue Demons in order in the seventh – the first time all day either team went down in order, and a district title belonged to the Vikings.
“It felt so good,” Baker said. “Just coming off the season we had – not being as good as we have been in the playoffs – it feels amazing.
“This is fun. It can’t get any funner.”
At least not until the state tournament begins next week.
UPPER MERION 7, KENNETT 5
Kennett: Bobby Hertzman cf 2 2 2 0; Mike Kelly p,ss 2 1 1 1; Will Flores ss,p 4 0 1 0; Justin Phillips 1b 4 0 0 1; Luke Aliknavitch lf 3 0 1 0; Chris Edmonds rf 2 1 0 0; Greg Danchick ph 1 0 0 0; Jay Singer dh 3 1 0 0; Matt Catanio 3b 0 0 0 0; Ryan Beirne 2b 4 0 1 1; Mike Griffin c 3 0 1 2. TOTALS 28 5 9 5.
Upper Merion: James O’Toole c 4 0 0 0; Joel Paradis rf 3 2 1 1; Chris Baker p,3b 1 1 0 0; Drew Santangelo cf 0 1 0 0; Ben Dworecki 1b,p 3 0 1 1; Pat McCaughey dh 4 0 0 0; Greg McCuch ss 4 1 0 0; Kevin Neufer lf 1 2 1 0; Ryan Dolga 2b 2 1 0 0; Matt Shannon cf 3 0 2 4; Bill O’Donnell 3b 0 0 0 0; Corey Develin 1b 0 0 0 0. TOTALS 25 7 5 6.
Kennett 002 210 0-5
Upper Merion 000 151 x-7
E- UM 1, K 3. LOB-K 9, UM 8. 2B-Ben Dworecki, Matt Shannon. HR-Joel Paradis. SB-Drew Santangelo 2, Greg McCuch, SAC-Baker.
IP H R ER BB SO
Kennett
Kelly (L) 4 2/3 4 6 2 6 4
Flores 1 1/3 1 1 0 0 2
Upper Merion
Baker (W) 5 9 5 5 5 4
Dworecki 2 0 0 0 0 1
HBP-Baker 2 (Aliknavitch, Singer), Kelly 1 (Baker)
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