Welcome back to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of Delco summer ball.

At this point, everything going forward (except for the Phillies) will be playoff baseball as the long Delco League regular season has come to an end.

Make sure to tune into our Delco League Playoff Preview episode coming out on YouTube tonight at 8:00 PM where we will joined by a player or coach from all four teams playing in the first round of the playoffs.

In today’s edition we also have some legion updates, Cal Ripken, Mid-County playoffs, and a disappointing series finale from the Phillies.

As always, we appreciate anyone who subscribes to get this delivered every day:

Delco League:

As mentioned above, we will have more of a preview on our show tonight that will air on YouTube and streaming platforms at 8:00 PM tonight.

Barring any last second changes, we will have Aston Valley outfielder Vinny Proietto, Drexel Hill Head Coach Sean Mohollen, Springfield Head Coach Steve Trainor, and Chester catcher Ben Ettien to talk about their squads.

Upper Darby and Wayne have a bye, so we will hear from one of their players/coaches in our next episode.

Note: For anyone that wants to go out and watch, Springfield plays their games at Church Road Park, not Halderman Field. Aston Valley plays at Sun Valley HS, Chester plays at Chester HS, and Drexel Hill plays at Bonner HS.

All first round games will be 5:45 PM start time.

Mid-County:

Along with the MSBL, the Mid-County (formerly EDCO) league gives players another opportunity to play in a little less intense and talented setting than the Delco League.

Now that the Broomall Gators dynasty (five titles in six years) no longer exists, a new champion will be crowned this year. It looked like it would be Garnet Valley, but they were stunned in the first round. The Top Lumber Expos switched from MSBL to EDCO this year and are now two wins away from the finals.

Aston Valley will host Games 1 and 3 at Sun Valley on Monday and Thursday, Game 2 will be Tuesday at Penncrest.

Clifton and the Expos will actually be playing under the lights, with an 8:00 start Monday night at Dermond. Game 2 will be Wednesday at O’Hara with the if necessary Game 3 on Thursday at Dermond at 8:00 PM again.

Senior Legion:

Narberth’s Brian Heck threw six shutout innings on Friday morning, and his twin brother, Justin, had to outdo him with a complete game shutout over Upper Darby.

Justin allowed just two hits and a walk against Upper Darby, a brilliant performance. Lower Merion is going to be tough to beat once again with Justin and Brian at the top of the rotation next year.

It is a bit of a bizarre bracket format that legion chooses to do, but if Narberth wins, they will either be in the championship or playing to get in the championship. One way or another, they will need to win the next three games to win the title and advance to states.

Prep Legion:

Narberth came out of the gates red hot with a 14-0 win in their first game, but they were brought back down to earth with a 9-3 loss to Norchester.

They are still very much alive in this tournament, but the margin of error is much more slim now as they can not afford to lose another game.

Should they win against Berwick on Monday, they will again play at 11:00 AM on Tuesday.

Cal Ripken:

That wraps up our Cal Ripken coverage for the summer as the Nether-Swarthmore 9U squad was our last team standing.

As someone who grew up playing Little League for Media, I really did not have much knowledge on how the Cal Ripken system works, but I’m glad we were able to expand in that area this summer. Thank you to everyone who reached out to help us with our coverage.

We had two Southeast PA State Tournaments held in Delco, and we also had two champions (Nether-Swarthmore 9U and 12U) and will continue to expand on that next year.

Little League:

We typically don’t have the time our resources to cover any little league action that is not at the district level, but this group certainly deserves some love.

Ridley’s 8U team went undefeated, which is a really incredible accomplishment at any age and at any level. These guys still have two more years until districts (unless some play up next year), but this group looks like they can be special.

MLB:

That was bad.

It looked like the Phillies had the momentum after Saturday night’s thriller, but the Angels beat up on Ranger Suarez today and the offense did not really help out much.

The Phillies just announced that they have signed David Robertson for his third stint in Philadelphia. He may be getting up there age wise, but he had a fantastic season with the Rangers last year and his arm is fresh.

If this is the last move that Dave Dombrowski makes for the bullpen then that is an issue. But if he is just another piece of the puzzle, I think that is a very smart signing.

Welcome in to a Sunday edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we keep you up to date on everything going on in the summer baseball world.

Sunday will be the final day of the Delco League regular season, so make sure to tune into our newest podcast episode that will be released on Monday as we preview the postseason.

We also have some legion updates, the MSBl playoffs beginning, some Cal Ripken, and the Phillies rallying for a big win over the Angels.

As always, please subscribe if you have not yet to get updates delivered to you every day:

Senior Legion:

Narberth and UDHL decided not to play the Main Line League Championship last week because it was too close to regionals as a result of the rain.

This game is basically the league championship here as one team will head home, and the other will live to fight another day.

Prep Legion 13U:

Another Narberth team is deep into the legion postseason with the prep team in the State Tournament in Boyertown.

We just found out there is another Heck brother (or cousin?) that threw three shutout innings in this win.

Hard to ask for a much better performance to announce your presence at a tournament than what these guys did today.

Delco League:

The first round matchups have been decided in the Delco League playoffs, but where those games will be played is not quite set.

#6 Aston Valley will play #3 Springfield, we do know that. Chester and Drexel Hill will play, but where that game is will depend on Sunday afternoon’s game. If Chester beats Springfield, they will be the #4 seed and host Games 1 and 3. If they lose, Games 1 and 3 would be at Bonner.

The Wild Card round will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the semifinals starting next Saturday and Sunday.

Upper Darby as the #1 seed will play whoever the worst team remaining is. Wayne as the #2 seed will play the best team remaining.

MSBL:

I believe this is our first mention of the MSBL League this summer.

I play in this league for the Drexel Hill Phillies and the reality is that no one cares about the regular season in this league so it’s really not worth covering. It’s our first season in the league after the MSBL and the DABL merged this offseason, so I’m excited to see how the playoffs go.

Hopefully I get to write about myself in the third person.

The Collingdale Colts will face the Springfield Cardinals in one semifinal next weekend, while my Phillies will face the Glen Mills Rays.

The series is supposed to be two games Saturday and an if necessary game Sunday, but we were told a ton of Rays players will be going to one of their teammates weddings on Saturday so we may play Thursday/Friday/Sunday instead.

We are also looking to add more EDCO playoff coverage, but a lot of teams do not use GameChanger there. If anyone ever wants to send updates, please feel free to send them to delcobaseballnow@gmail.com.

I do know that in EDCO #8 Media upset #1 Garnet Valley and will play #4 Aston Valley in the semifinals. #2 Clifton will take on the #6 Expos in the other semifinals. Both start on Monday.

Cal Ripken:

I don’t have too much more to add here besides what was already said.

I’m not sure how many teams make the World Series out of this regional, but I would guess just the champion. Nether-Swarthmore is just three wins away from making that happen.

If anyone missed a previous update, the Nether-Swarthmore 12U team opted out of regionals for a previously scheduled trip to play at Cooperstown. Hard to argue with that.

MLB:

The Phillies need to pay Kyle Schwarber whatever he wants.

I tweeted it on our Delco Baseball Now account yesterday but the reality is that while Bryce Harper is the best player on the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber is the team leader. Bryce isn’t a natural leader in terms of being vocal, he just leads by example.

Winning on Sunday would be huge after this series looked like it was heading south after another meh Taijuan Walker start.

Happy Saturday Delaware County and welcome back to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we keep you up to speed on everything going on in the world of summer baseball.

Today’s edition has a lot of legion coverage, which warms my heart because legion looked like it was on its way out with travel baseball becoming more and more popular.

I’ll never tell kids not to do what is best for them and their futures, but I do like seeing kids play with their friends and represent their local area for as long as possible. Shoutout to my 2014 Legion State Championship Nether Providence squad, still one of my best baseball memories.

As always, please feel free to reach out on anything that should be covered and make sure to subscribe for daily updates:

Senior Legion:

Lower Merion’s Brian Heck was a First Team All-Delco pitcher for us this year, and he showed why in Narberth’s opening round win.

The rising senior struck out ten over six shutout innings. It sure must be nice as a coach that when your ace is done after six innings, you can just put his identical twin brother in relief to close out the win.

A win on Saturday afternoon would put Narberth in the winner’s bracket championship. UDHL on the other hand has a bit more work to do after dropping a close opening game.

Prep Legion:

We are a little late to the party in the lower legion levels, but it looks like we got here at the right time as the state tournament begins for Narberth on Saturday.

You are probably reading this as this game is happening, so hopefully these guys start off with a win just like their senior legion team.

Delco League:

I don’t have a vote for Delco League MVP or Cy Young, but if I did, Kevin McGovern would win both.

There hasn’t really been any hitter who has numbers close enough to what McGovern has done on the mound, and he’s a big part of why this Upper Darby team is the #1 seed in the playoffs. They are the heavy favorites in the unofficial Delco Baseball Now sportsbook.

As for Ridley, they didn’t hear a bell yet. They will have to beat a Wayne team who doesn’t have anything to play for as they’ve already wrapped up the #2 seed. They will also need Aston Valley to lose all three games or lose two and tie.

Easy enough, right?

Cal Ripken:

It was unlikely that Nether-Swarthmore would go undefeated and win a World Series title, but it is still odd seeing them lose a baseball game after starting their tournament phase 7-0.

Whitpain was the team they defeated in the Southeast State Championship, so you know that team was going to bring their A game.

In a format where three out of the top five teams advance out of the group stage, you’d think a win today having NS be 2-2 should be more than enough to advance. 1-3 may be pushing it.

MLB:

I know that it’s not the result that any Phillies fan wants to see in terms of the score, but seeing Bryce Harper look like that may be more important.

That week off for the All-Star break certainly helped, and if he can look anything like his old self down the stretch, the offense is completely revitalized.

I wouldn’t count on making plans around watching Taijuan Walker pitch tonight, though.

Welcome back to the Delco Baseball Now Newsletter, where we keep you up to date on everything going on in the Delco Baseball summer ball world.

As the summer runs on, we have fewer and fewer teams still competing, but the level of competition continues to grow as those teams go further.

The Delco League playoffs will begin next week, and we highly recommend getting out to a game. Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll see Delco Baseball Now Vice President Ben Thorpe pitching for the Upper Darby Blue Sox as they look to go back-to-back.

As always, please subscribe if you have not yet to get this newsletter delivered to you daily:

Delco League:

All season long, it appeared as if Wayne as going to be run away with the top seed.

They were undefeated across their first 14 games, but have struggled a bit down the stretch. That allowed the door to be open for Upper Darby to steal home field advantage, and they pounced.

I still run the website for Wayne, but I really don’t have a true dog in the fight here. I was on the 2021 Upper Darby team that won their first ever title so I have love for both teams.

We will be streaming the Delco League Finals on our YouTube channel, so I am just rooting for good baseball. We will have championship merch to give out on the field after the finals are over like we did for the Little League District 19 championship.

The last day of the regular season will be Sunday. I don’t know when exactly the playoffs will start, but they should give the teams a few days off at least to reset.

EDIT: Aston Valley’s GameChanger had originally said that Charlie Oschell went 4/4 for Drexel Hill, but it was Evan McCoach.

Senior Legion:

It was an unfortunate but understandable decision for UDHL and Narberth to not play the Senior Legion championship as teams didn’t want to burn all their pitching before the regional tournament.

We’ll see if that decision pays off as both teams are fully rested heading into the Region 3 Tournament at the best high school baseball field in Pennsylvania at Spring-Ford.

Stadium seats, lights, press box, it’s got it all. Both teams will get started today and the tournament will run through Tuesday.

Cal Ripken:

Nether-Swarthmore stayed hot from their Southeast State Championship run as they began regionals with a win over Allentown. The top three out of five teams advance to the knockout stage, so you’d think a win today would have them in that top three. They will play two more pool play games on Sunday.

The top seed from each pool gets a bye, so that would be lovely.

The championship game would be Monday at 11:30 AM.

MLB:

I don’t know how the MLB schedule makers landed on this, but the Phillies next seven series will be against American League teams.

Not the worst thing ever as if they lose, it’s not like the teams they are playing are gaining ground on them even more.

It feels pretty on brand that the Angels have no clue who is starting any of their three games this series yet. This is what you signed up for, Mike Trout!

Welcome back for another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we check in on everything going on the Delco Baseball summer ball world.

All things considered, we are definitely slowing down a bit as teams start to get eliminated from their respective levels, but as one postseason ends, another begins.

We officially have zero little league teams left, we won’t have a representative at a PA State Tournament for little league this year. We still have some Cal Ripken, Legion, and Babe Ruth teams, though.

As always, make sure to subscribe below to get daily updated on all the happenings:

Cal Ripken 9U:

The Nether-Swarthmore 9U’s won the Southeast PA State Championship and will now look at add a Mid-Atlantic title to that list.

They will play once Thursday, once Friday, and twice Saturday in the pool play stage of this tournament. Should they finish in first in their pool, they would get a bye into the semifinal round. If they finish in second or third, they will play in the quarterfinals first and then go to the semis.

Quick note here about the Nether-Swarthmore 12’s. They also won the Southeast PA State Championship, but I was told that they declined the invite to the Mid-Atlantic regional. They apparently already put a lot of time and money into a trip to play at Cooperstown, and made the decision to go there instead at this time.

I’ve never been to Cooperstown, but from what I have heard, it seems like they are going to have an incredible time there instead.

Little League 12U:

Just an absolute gut punch for Radnor-Wayne as they had two chances to win the Section 8 Championship for the first time but fell both times to host Morrisville.

Obviously not the ending that these guys wanted, but what a run they had going back to districts where they lost early and ripped off six wins in a row.

It was certainly a great year for the Radnor area, who also saw their high school team win a Central League and District 1 title.

Little League 10U:

Round 2 of this Ridley vs Upper Providence battle also goes to Upper Providence.

Upper Providence clearly does not like Delco, as they took down both the Ridley 10’s and 11’s in the Section 8 Championship.

Another great run at this age level for the Ridley 10’s, the future of baseball in that area is extremely bright.

Delco League:

Upper Darby took a huge step into securing home field advantage throughout the Delco League playoffs when they took down Wayne 3-0 Wednesday night. Chris Rollins may have only had four strikeouts, but the 38 year old pitching coach from Rowan University kept the Wayne lineup off balanced and uncomfortable all day as he fired all seven innings in the win.

The Upper Darby pitching staff is very dangerous heading into the postseason as they look to win their third title in five year and cement their dynasty after the franchise began with almost 30 years without a title.

It looked like for a while that Springfield was locked into the #3 seed, but their recent hot streak paired with Wayne struggling late in the season makes these last few games intruiging.

Drexel Hill will finish somewhere in the 4-6 seed range, hoping to get 4 so they can be the home team in the first round. Them, Chester, and Aston Valley are all likely going to be that 4/5/6 after Aston Valley’s huge win over Ridley on Wednesday night.

The last day of scheduled games before the playoffs begin will be this Sunday when Springfield plays Aston Valley.

Welcome in for another editing of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we take a look at everything going on in the wonderful world of summer ball.

Today’s edition has a similar theme as yesterday’s with Radnor-Wayne and Ridley both having another chance to win their respective Section 8 Tournaments.

We also have some Senior Legion updates, Delco League, MLB Draft news, and the MLB All-Star game.

As always, we appreciate anyone who subscribes below to get this newsletter delivered daily:

Little League 12U:

The beauty of coming out of the winner’s bracket is that you give yourself some room for error.

Radnor-Wayne started the tournament 2-0, and gave themselves the opportunity to drop a game and still be able to advance to the state tournament for the first time in program history.

Mason Schill going the distance also helped, because Radnor-Wayne will have plenty of pitching ready, they just need to bring the bats out.

Their state tournament would be at Fairchance Little League, a little south of Pittsburgh.

Little League 10U:

Ridley is in the exact same boat as Radnor-Wayne, as they started Sectionals 2-0 and dropped a game.

They will look to rebound as well and advance to the state tournament in Drums, PA, about two hours away. They are developing quite the rivalry with Upper Providence Little League from Oaks, PA, as they now play them for the sixth time this summer across two tournaments.

Let’s hope Round 6 goes to Ridley.

Senior Legion:

It is unfortunate that we will not get to determine a Main Line Senior Legion Champion, but it does make sense given the circumstances.

With both teams already clinching a spot in regionals, it makes sense.

If you’re Narberth, you would have to beat UDHL on both Wednesday and Thursday to win the league title. Then you begin a multi-day tournament on Friday where you will need all of your pitchers to be ready.

Doesn’t seem worth it when instead, both teams can just prepare for the regional tournament.

Side note: If anyone reading this is going to the tournament and has not yet been to Spring-Ford High School, you are in for a treat. My cousin, Sean, played there and it is a legitimate stadium.

Stadium seats, lights, press box, PA system, it’s unbelievable.

Delco League:

What a bizarre night in the Delco League world.

A seven-run lead blown, another seven-run lead almost blown, another game with eight unanswered runs, and perennial powerhouse Wayne losing to the new kids on the block in Narberth for the first time ever.

Here’s an updated look at the standings. Teams have a varying amount of games left, but all teams will play 28 games.

The Wild Card round is 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5 in a best-of-three series. Semifinals and Finals are best-of-five.

MLB Draft:

While Penn Charter alum Andrew Healy and Haverford School alum Ryan Reed heard their names called in the draft, these two guys had to wait a bit longer.

Haverford School alum Eric Genther, a Drexel Hill native, was gone very quickly once the undrafted free-agent signings were announced, getting picked up by the Yankees. Safe to say he will not be staying with the Drexel Hill Ducks for the Delco League playoff race.

Haverford College’s Harry Genth is not from the area originally, but spent the last four years playing in Delco so he certainly deserves a shoutout as well.

Both these guys should be heading down to the spring training sites of their new organizations to get the ball rolling.

MLB All-Star Game:

Kyle Schwarber may not have gotten a hit during the actual MLB All-Star game, but he made his presence felt in the first ever “swing off”.

Taking away our bias from the fact that a Phillie was the hero, I love this new format. No one wants to sit through extra innings of an All-Star game. This was a quick and easy way to determine a champ and the players seemed very into it as they were all outside the dugout.

The National League blew a 6-0 lead, but was able to win the swing off.

Now Dave Dombrowski, let’s wake up and sign Kyle Schwarber to an extension, please.

Welcome back to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we take a look at everything going in the world of Delco Baseball summer ball.

The rain put a damper on a lot of Monday night’s action, but we still have a good amount to talk about both in and out of the Delco area.

Leading the way first and foremost is a Delco team capturing a state championship in their own backyard.

Some other housekeeping notes here:

• Springfield Senior Legion trails Mt. Airy 5-0 in the third in an elimination game
• All four Mid-County League Playoff games were either postponed or suspended
• All other Delco League games were postponed

As always, make sure to subscribe to receive this newsletter in your mailbox every day:

Babe Ruth 13U:

Broomall-Newtown has become a powerhouse in the Babe Ruth world, and 2025 adds another trophy into their collection.

In the State Tournament, they won three out of their four games by 14 runs or more. These guys are legit and have a chance to do some real damage at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tourmanent.

That amount of offense is even more impressive when you factor in that this is probably the first year on the big field for most of these guys after playing in Little League last year.

As mentioned, Ridley as well will advance to the Regional Tournament, so we’ll have some more updates on that when it begins next Tuesday.

Little League 12U:

While Newtown-Edgmont has been eliminated, Radnor-Wayne is ready to roll in the Section 8 Championship on Tuesday night.

They had a well deserved day off and can come back fully recharged as they look to make history for their program. They have two shots to do so when they take on Morrisville, who is hosting the tournament.

The State Tournament would be a bit of a hike away in Southwest PA, but that feels like a good problem for these guys to have should they bring home another trophy.

Little League 10U:

Another Delco team is sitting pretty in the Section 8 Championship game as the Ridley 10’s will also need to be beaten twice.

A funny coincidence here as Ridley and Upper Providence have a little bit of a rivalry brewing here as the 11’s played three teams in their Section 8 tournament, and now the 10’s will look to avenge their 11’s by taking them down.

This would be the second consecutive Section 8 title for Ridley at the 10U level should they finish this thing off tonight or tomorrow. The weather *knocks on wood* looks a lot better for this one tonight.

Delco League:

Drexel Hill lost to Narberth on Sunday, but they got some revenge back as they took them down on Monday.

This game only went the required four innings due to rain, but at this time of the year, teams are rushing to get games in before the playoffs start.

The league operates on a points system, not just pure record. You get three points for a win and one for a tie, so the more games you play the better off you are.

Drexel Hill currently sits in fourth place, eight points back of Springfield for third place with four games to go.

MLB Draft:

I went 0/5 on MLB Draft predictions as I tweeted that I thought of the local guys that could be picked, it would be either Haverford College’s Harry Genth, Conestoga alum Jayce Tharnish, or Haverford School alum Eric Genther.

0/3 on that front there, and I also didn’t think Healy or Reed would get selected this year. Both guys are lefty pitchers pitching in the ACC. Healy had a really strong 2023 and 2024 season but struggled statistically in 2025. Later in the draft, the Brewers are just banking on the upside there.

As for Reed, he has gotten better every year he’s been at Pitt. I still thought he was one more season away from getting picked, but I am very happy to be wrong there.

Looking ahead to next year, there’s a few guys who have the potential to get picked. At the High School level, Radnor’s Daniel Kellis and Austin Havertine both have the ability to get themselves to that level to get picked.

Bonner alum Michael Anderson should get a lot of playing time at Penn State and put himself in the mix. Kyle Lazer as well is at Penn State now. Jayce Tharnish is in the portal right now but should find a good home. Haverford School alum Mark Quatrani just transferred to Notre Dame and a big season in the ACC could do wonders.

MLB:

The MLB All-Star week in underway, and Monday night brought with it a pretty entertaining Home Run derby for the most part.

I still wish it wasn’t a timed event because I like when guys are able to admire the bombs that they are hitting, but if it wasn’t timed, it may be even longer than the three hours it took last night.

Seattle Mariners breakout star Cal Raleigh continued his power surge from the regular season as he took down Junior Caminero from Tampa Bay in the finals.

It’s pretty cool to see a guy have his Dad throw to him, and also have his brother behind the plate. They’ll be telling that story at Thanksgiving for years.

Looking ahead to next season, MLB’s All-Star weekend will take place in Philadelphia as part of the 250th year of the United States of America. Philadelphia will also have some World Cup games in what will be an epic summer here.

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.

As always, make sure to subscribe below to get this newsletter delivered daily:

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.

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.

Welcome back for an early morning (well, for me) Saturday edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we take a look at everything happening in the area with summer ball.

From Little League to Babe Ruth to Legion to Delco League, we have you covered on all the action and even mix in a little Phillies at the end.

As always, make sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet to get these updates delivered every day!

Little League 11U:

The Ridley 11’s had to battle out of the loser’s bracket to win the District 19 title, and they appear ready to do the same in the Section 8 Tournament.

After losing to Upper Providence a few days ago, they have battled back to force a winner-take-all game on Saturday at 11:00 AM.

Should they win, they would win their second straight section title and would advance to states. They fell in the title game last year to Hollidaysburg.

Little League 10/12U:

While the 11U Section 8 Tournament will end today, the 10 and 12 brackets will begin.

Ridley is our lone rep in the 10U bracket, but we have half of the four-team field at the 12U level with Newtown-Edgmont and Radnor-Wayne. I vote that if that ends up being the championship that the game be relocated to a neutral site in Delco like Media or Aston-Middletown. Kind of like how if Bonner and Strath Haven did meet in that 2023 State Championship game, it should have been played in Delco.

Babe Ruth 13U:

That’s a good way to get your home fans fired up early.

Broomall-Newtown, one of three Delco teams in this tournament, easily handled UDHL in Round 1. They will play their second pool play game Sunday, but with the top four out of six teams advancing into the knockout stage, they seem poised to at least get that far.

The semifinals and championship would be Monday, all games are at Thomas Field in Broomall.

Senior Legion:

As mentioned above, Pat Callahan has been absolutely filthy this summer, and Friday night was no different.

UDHL will advance to the Region 3 Tournament regardless, but they would certainly like to add a league championship along the way as well.

Springfield will have to beat Mt. Airy and then also beat Narberth to get into the championship game, where they would then have to beat Upper Darby twice.

We plan on streaming Monday’s legion title game on the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel.

Delco League:

Upper Darby and Wayne will play one more time this season, which really feels like a game that will decide who gets the #1 seed and home field advantage in the playoffs.

That could turn out costly, as the 2022 and 2023 finals were between these two teams and they went all five games, with Wayne winning both titles on their home field.

As for Aston Valley, they needed this win in a bad way as Ridley was starting to make a push for that last playoff spot. Aston Valley’s win helped give them a bit more margin for error.

MiLB:

A great week for Bonner’s Kevin McGonigle is about to get even better.

The Monsignor Bonner alum was recently called up to the Double-A Erie SeaWolves, and he will now represent the Detroit Tigers in the MLB Futures Game as a part of All-Star weekend.

MLB:

I need to stop staying up for these West Coast Phillies games. All I get out of them is anger and sleep deprivation.

The Phillies trailed 3-2 in the top of the eighth and had bases loaded and one out, but both Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler failed to get the job done. Manny Machado immediately homered to begin the ninth which really put the game away.

Another strong start wasted as Ranger Suarez threw a great game but didn’t get any help. Let’s hope Zack Wheeler can give us another superhuman effort after he nearly threw a perfect game on Sunday.