First off, I’d like to have a word with whoever made the first game of the day in the Babe Ruth 13U Tournament at 9:00 AM on a Monday morning. I would have liked to sleep in a bit, but we’re up bright and early to get this newsletter out.
At least there was a ton of action to make things worthwhile including Little League, Babe Ruth, Delco League, and the Phillies. We also have some new additions coming this week with the beginning of playoffs in Mid-County or “EDCO” as well as MSBL.
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Little League 12U:
It’s not too late to get on the Radnor-Wayne bandwagon.
While most of our focus early on in the Little League District Tournaments is on District 19 because all eight teams are from Delco, Radnor-Wayne has ripped off seven wins in a row and is one win away from the State Tournament.
We were told by Delco Sports historian Dave Burman that this would be Radnor-Wayne’s first trip to the 12U State Tournament. He wasn’t 100% sure but I tend to trust him when it comes to historical information. The State Tournament will be held at Fairchance Little League, just south of Pittsburgh.
Tuesday night at 7:00 PM Radnor-Wayne will either play Morrisville or Plymouth, who they have already beaten, and will have to lose twice to be knocked out.
As for Newtown-Edgmont, their pitching was excellent in the Section 8 Tournament but they only scored one run across two games.
Any time you win a district championship it is a successful summer, but it definitely is a disappointment for them to go home early after winning the Section 8 Tournament last year.
Long live the Sock Puppets.
Little League 10U:
Ridley vs Upper Providence has turned into a funny but random rivalry between two teams who aren’t exactly right around the corner from each other.
They played each other three times in the 11U Section 8 Tournament this year with Upper Providence taking two and winning that bracket. This time the 10U squad got a bit of revenge and put themselves in the driver’s seat to advance to the state tournament.
The State Championship at this level will be held by Valley East Little League in Drums, PA. It looks about an hour and a half away from Delco just north of Hazleton.
Babe Ruth 13U:
I don’t believe that I had time to mention it, but UDHL went 0-2 in pool play and did not advance to the knockout stage.
I believe the reason the games got moved up in the day on Monday as to try and avoid some rain coming in Monday afternoon/night, so the semifinal games will be at 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM with the title presumably coming up right after.
Among the four teams still left, Broomall-Newtown and Ridley are the top two seeds in the elimination stage. Both teams have scored 20+ runs over their first two games, and it feels like a great chance we get at least one if not both of them in the championship game later on Monday.
All games are at Thomas Field in Broomall.
Delco League:
This was a bit of a confusing day for the Delco League as Narberth and Drexel Hill both played doubleheaders, but not just against each other.
Narberth played Drexel Hill and Upper Darby, Drexel Hill played Narberth and Upper Darby. With the regular season winding down, teams have to find a way to get all of their makeup games in as the league goes by points for the playoff race, not just straight up record. Three points for a win, one for a tie.
All season long, Wayne and Upper Darby seemed locked in for a top two seed and a bye. That is probably still the case, but the hot streak from Springfield has them still in the running should one of those teams slip up.
For now, Springfield seems like they will be no lower than third. Drexel Hill, Chester, and Aston Valley will likely round out the field, but Ridley isn’t quite out of it yet. Narberth probably needs to win out and have some luck.
They have shown great strides this year after two tough first seasons in the league and have held their own much better. Their 5-18-1 record doesn’t show it, but they have been in a ton of tight games and have beaten some great teams.
Mid-County:
Long live the Broomall Gators.
I played for this team from 2020-2023, and we won this league in ’20, ’21, and ’23. I take no accountability for 2022 as I had a broken ankle and missed the whole summer. The team also won in ’19 and ’24, but no longer exists.
Things are going to be a lot more interesting in the Mid-County playoffs this year as a new team will have a chance to take the throne. Garnet Valley was always really good, they had a ton of solid arms.
All three rounds of the playoffs are a best-of-three series. You can check out the whole bracket below:
https://mnrecreation.myrec.com/documents/mid_county_2025_senior_playoff_schedule.xlsx
The MSBL league, a 25+ league, will begin their playoffs next weekend.
My Drexel Hill Phillies are currently 16-1 and headed for a bye week, that league takes the top six out of ten teams and does a similar playoff format to the Delco League just with a three game series every round instead of five.
Phillies:
Similar to the Giants series, the Phillies lost two frustrating games to begin the series but at least were able to come through with one win to avoid the sweep.
Cristopher Sanchez, who easily should have been an All-Star and will start the second game of a Phillies playoff series in October, was stellar once again. Everyone knows that this team has some flaws in the outfield and back end of the bullpen, but they still are in first place after missing Harper and Suarez for a lot of the season, as well as Aaron Nola.
They are absolutely World Series contenders as long as Dave Dombrowski can address those needs. Their starting pitching alone makes it so.