MT. OLIVE, N.J. >> Pine Forge had blanked Mt. Olive (N.J.) 8-0 Saturday to make the championship round of the 16-18 Babe Ruth Mid-Atlantic Regional, sending the hosts to the loser’s bracket final.
But it appeared Sunday that Pine Forge, after failing to clinch the title in the noon game against Mt. Olive, would lose twice in one day to the Marauders. And with it, the coveted regional title and trip to nationals in Washington would slip from the Indians’ grasp.
In their last chance in the bottom of the seventh, however, the Indians got a grip.
Got a firm grip on their bats, which had been fairly silent. Got a firm grip on who they are – winners, several of them from Boyertown’s 2016 Class AAAA state championship team.
“This was our last hurrah. We didn’t want it to end here,” said Jordan Shustack. “We’re not used to losing.”
Through six innings, the Indians managed only four hits against Greg Hemlinger, who seemed to be sailing to a complete-game victory. Pine Forge trailed by three runs, 6-3, entering the seventh.
And then the Indians made a cross-country magic carpet ride to the Babe Ruth national finals happen. They staged a remarkable comeback, scoring four in the seventh for an incredible 7-6 victory. Shustack’s two-out, bases-loaded, full-count at bat resulted in his two-run single and a wild walk-off triumph. Seth Endy scored the tying run, Mitch Pinder the game-winner as Pine Forge’s large and vocal following roared into the North Jersey woods and the Indians mobbed each other.
Pine Forge manager Rich Zuber has been coaching baseball 43 years. This was his first Babe Ruth Mid-Atlantic title after some near-misses. He knew this group, many of whom have been playing together since they were 9 years old, was special.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Zuber, who’s also Shustack’s uncle. “This was the year. They show what you have to do to be a winner. Everything played out right. It’s all a testimony to good kids.”
After a walk and an error to open the Indians’ seventh, they got to Hemlinger. Consecutive singles by Endy and Pinder, followed by Ryan Jacobs’ RBI ground-out, made it a one-run game. Following an intentional walk to cleanup man Ben Longacre to load the bases for a possible force out, the stage was set for Shustack. He took a 3-0 count to 3-2, barely fouling one off to stay alive.
It can be hard to be patient in dire circumstances, but that was just another way the Indians showed their championship mettle.
“We wanted to see some pitches; he was getting up there in his pitch count,” Shustack said. “I said, another fastball’s coming.”
And it ended up like a laser shot picking a sweet spot in center field.
“In the last inning, it was about the whole team baring down,” Longacre said.
“We’re comfortable down in the count,” Pinder said. “That’s how we were taught. We play small-ball. That’s how we won a high school state championship, and that’s how we won the Mid-Atlantic championship.”
The Indians got off to a decent offensive start before a lull in the middle. In the bottom of the first, after a Pinder walk and Jacobs single, Longacre stroked an RBI single – giving him 5 RBI in his last three at bats. The Marauders couldn’t complete a double play as Shustack hustled down the line, and Jacobs scored to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.
Pine Forge starter Emer Rosario walked four batters in the second as the Marauders tied it up. Rosario’s pitch count was pushing 70 in the third, but with two runners aboard, he recorded a big strikeout to keep it tied.
Mt. Olive’s four-run fourth seemed pivotal given the way Hemlinger was dealing. Rosario gave way to John DeMartino four batters into the fourth. DeMartino, facing two men aboard and one out, struck out leadoff hitter Alex Tucker, but with two outs things went awry for the Indians. After a walk to Chris Neuhaus loaded the bases, Michael Ferranti beat out a high-chopper to first base. Zack Richardson scored from third on the play to give the Marauders the lead, 3-2.
Then Brandon Boyle delivered a two-run double, and Joe McNally a run-scoring single to make it 6-2 after four.
Meanwhile, the Indians couldn’t get much offense going against Hemlinger. Finally in the fifth, Hemlinger walked DeMartino and Pinder drove him in with a single to make it 6-3.
And in the end, the Indians grasped the big, golden trophy, emblematic of taking a firm grip when it seemed to be slipping away.
“They had it in their hands,” said Pine Forge pitcher Nate Kline, who was excellent in this tournament, “and we took it.”
“It’s unbelievable,” added outfielder Jacobs. “We grew up in Boyertown, looking up to all the legends who played before us. We carried over the tradition, and now we go to Washington. Unbelievable.”
Mt. Olive 9, Pine Forge 4
The Pine Forge Indians had hoped to put away Mt. Olive in Sunday’s first game – just as the Indians had Saturday – and take the Babe Ruth 16-18 Mid-Atlantic Regional without too much of a sweat.
But the Indians ran into trouble early, spotting the Marauders a 4-0 first-inning lead, and were pushed to a second game in Sunday’s championship round.
The Indians, who blanked the Marauders 8-0 Saturday to send them to the loser’s bracket final, struggled on the mound and at the plate in the first few innings. Starting pitcher Jonathan Wack got tagged for three hits and four runs in the first inning. He also hit two batters.
Mt. Olive starter Michael Ferranti cruised through his five-inning stint, pitching scoreless ball without a strikeout while inducing eight outs in the air. He retired seven of eight in one stretch after Ben Longacre’s first-inning single – Pine Forge’s lone basehit over the first three frames.
Longacre broke that quiet streak and ended up going a sizzling 4-for-4 while knocking in all four Indians runs.
David Terry did a nice job for the better part of his five-inning relief stint for the Indians, not allowing a run until a four-run seventh. The first of Longacre’s two two-run hits trimmed the margin to 5-2 in the sixth. Then Terry, facing full bases in the seventh with one out, yielded a two-run double to Greg Hemlinger to make it 7-2.
The Marauders added two more that inning on Zach Fike’s single. A single in the bottom of the seventh by Seth Endy and two walks set up Longacre’s two-run single.
