(cover photo of Ryan McGhee courtesy of Nathan Witzel/Delco Baseball Now)
SPRINGFIELD, PA — Garnet Valley went on the road Monday to face an upset-minded Springfield team.
The Cougar bats could not do much against GV ace, Ryan McGhee. Some timely offense, including a two-run bomb from Joe Anzalone, led them to a 6-1 win.
McGhee pitched the whole game, only surrendering one earned run on six hits. He also had six strikeouts.
Garnet’s offense got going early. Cole Lombardo doubled with one out in the first and Harrison Maull brought him in. His two-out single to left opened the scoring.
They added a second run in the top of the third. Cole Hoffacker led off with a walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a ground ball.
With one out, Lombardo hit a ground ball to third. Springfield third baseman Shane McCaffery made a nice play to field the ball and look Hoffacker back to third, but his throw to first got away, allowing Hoffacker to score and push the GV lead to 2-0.
Springfield showed some life in the bottom of the fourth. McCaffery came through with a huge, two-out, double to get the Cougars on the board. They were close to tying the game the next batter, but Garnet was able to get McCaffery at home to end the threat.
Garnet Valley added more insurance in the fifth. Nolan Carroll led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a flyout. McGhee helped himself out, getting a safety squeeze down. Springfield couldn’t get Carroll at home and the Jaguars led 3-1.
Pinch runner Garrett Hosterman advanced on a pickoff attempt that was thrown away. He eventually scored on a sac fly from Maull.
Joe Anzalone put the exclamation mark on this win for Garnet Valley. He took big swings all day and got a hold of one in the sixth, hitting an absolute moonshot to left for a two-run home run.
McGhee took care of the rest and closed out Garnet Valley’s seventh win of the year. They’re 7-4 in the Central League and 7-7 overall, sitting in a good spot to make the 6A playoffs.
This is a big win for Garnet Valley considering that they were missing their #3 and #4 hitters in the order in Chris Schaller and Brady Thompson.
Garnet has a big game ahead of them next as they host Jimmy Boyle and undefeated Haverford on Wednesday.
The loss bumps Springfield to 1-10 in the Central League. They’ve been competitive this year but just haven’t been able to make some of those game winning plays. That will happen sometimes with a young roster like the one the Cougars have.
Springfield is back in action on Wednesday. They host Marple Newtown (5-6 in Central League).