ALAPOCAS — When a baseball game goes nearly twice its scheduled length, it can be hard to pick just one hero. That’s certainly the case with St. Elizabeth, which needed 12 innings to capture a thrilling 8-6 road win over Wilmington Friends on March 27.
The Vikings trailed, 4-0, after the first inning and 6-4 after three. But St. E’s didn’t allow a single run over the final nine-plus innings, and they got some clutch hitting, first to send the game to extra innings, then to score the go-ahead runs in the 12th as the skies darkened over Alapocas.
After falling behind in the first, the Vikings scored three in the second on just one hit, a run-scoring triple by Jake Eckhardt, along with two hit batters, two walks and a fielder’s choice. Eckhardt also drove in St. Elizabeth’s run in the third, but the Quakers got that run back in the bottom half.
That was it for the Quakers as far as runs were concerned. They loaded the bases with two outs against Eckhardt in the fourth, and Nick Mancini (St. Joseph Parish, Aston, Pa.) came in to relieve him. Mancini struck out the next batter to retire the side, the start of a fantastic day on the mound for the senior.
He pitched into the bottom of the 11th inning before reaching the pitch limit with two outs. In his seven innings, Mancini allowed just four batters to reach base — two on errors, one on a hit by pitch and the other on a walk — and Friends did not have two players reach base in the same inning. Mancini also struck out 11, and during one stretch retired 14 out of 15 batters. Just one of his pitches left the infield, and that was caught in left field by Chris Butler.
That pitching gave the Vikings the opportunity to come back. In the sixth, Butler led off with a single to right field, and Anthony Cheyney (St. Elizabeth Parish) followed with a single. After a strikeout, Mancini knocked in Butler with a single. Two batters later, a throwing error allowed Cheyney to score the tying run. That was the last run for a while.
While Mancini was shutting down the Quakers, Friends pitcher Dylan Legum retired St. Elizabeth in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, and he got the first out of the 10th before Butler reached on an error. St. E’s loaded the bases with two outs, but Legum struck out the final batter he would face to keep the score tied.
Friends pitcher Dylan MacBride got the first two outs of the 12th, but Chase Consalo singled to left. Mancini followed with a single to right, putting runners at the corners. That brought Justin Bozzo (Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish) to the plate. He drove a single to right, scoring Consalo to put St. Elizabeth in the lead for the first time. Ryan MacCormac (St. Margaret of Scotland Parish) collected the Vikings’ fourth consecutive single, knocking in Mancini with an insurance run.
Jayden Gonzalez (St. Elizabeth Parish), who had relieved Mancini in the 11th, went out to try to close it out. He did just that, striking out the side to clinch the Vikings’ first win of the season.
Eight different players scored for St. Elizabeth. The pitching trio of Eckhardt, Mancini and Gonzalez combined for 18 strikeouts. The Vikings (1-1) take on Delaware Military on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Newark National Little League.
For the Quakers, Drew Kwoka had a pair of hits, scored one run and drove in two, and Ronny Berry had two hits, a run batted in and a run scored. Friends (0-1) hosts Polytech on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
