Welcome back to a Sunday morning installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we take a look at everything going in on the local baseball scene.
Today’s edition has a heavy little league presence with all three Section 8 Tournaments taking place, while also mixing in some Delco League and Babe Ruth as well.
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Little League 12U:
While District 19 rightfully gets the majority of our attention because all eight little leagues are in Delco, are friends over at Radnor-Wayne are on FIRE right now.
After losing their second game of the District 27 Tournament, which features mostly Chester County and Montgomery County teams, Radnor-Wayne ripped off six consecutive wins including beating Lower Perk twice to win the district title.
They picked up right where they left off with a nice win over Plymouth Little League to get their tournament started.
As for Newtown-Edgmont, Anthony “The Big Strut” Hill continued his ridiculous playoff run with his fifth home run, but that was the only run they scored. They will need to win to keep their season alive.
Little League 11U:
Unfortunately, Ridley’s quest to get back to the state championship came to an end, but they put up an incredible fight.
They escaped the loser’s bracket in the District 19 Tournament, and came one win away from doing the same thing in the Section 8 Tournament until Upper Providence took them down.
It’s safe to say that the future of Ridley Baseball is in good hands as the 10U and 11U team won the district and the 12U team made it to the championship game.
Little League 10U:
Speaking of those Ridley 10’s, they won the all important first game of their Section 8 Tournament against Morrisville.
They have a few players from the Ridley 10’s last year that were playing up, so they have some experience that will help them out big time.
A win Sunday will have them in the driver’s seat
Babe Ruth 13U:
While Broomall-Newtown took down UDHL for the first game of the Babe Ruth State Tournament on Friday, Ridley had to wait until Saturday to get started.
That didn’t affect their offense too much as they exploded for 15 runs. The schedule for Sunday’s pool play is as follows:
11:00 AM: West End vs UDHL
2:00 PM: Ridley vs Mifflin County
5:00: Broomall-Newtown vs Roxborough
The top four out of six teams will advance to Monday, where the final four will be at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM before the championship at 5:30 PM.
Delco League:
While the Delco League hasn’t seen a champion other than Wayne or Upper Darby since the 2018 Narberth Mudcats (now known as the Drexel Hill Ducks), Springfield has the offensive ability to change that.
The Blue Jays (formerly Colonials) have won nine out of ten and have been swinging the bat well as a team. Head Coach Steve Trainor may have some good problems trying to decide who his best nine is come playoffs, they look well on their way to hosting a first round series while still having an outside chance catching Upper Darby for a bye.
As for Drexel Hill, you are basically just watching every great Bonner player from the last five years all together. Add in the fact that they wear green and gold and play at Bonner, and it’s even better. Drexel Hill and Chester split this double header, and they are currently on track to face off in the Wild Card round in the 4/5 matchup.
Phillies
It really feels like the Padres have like five bullpen pitchers who would be the best reliever that the Phillies have.
The Phillies are obviously a great team and a World Series contender, but if they fail to address the back end of the bullpen and another outfield bat, it’s hard to see this playoff run ending any different than the last few.
Go out and get Steven Kwan and Emmanuel Clase from Cleveland, or if you’re really going to swing for the fences, Byron Buxton and Jhoan Duran from Minnesota.