By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
In the end, the pitching just ran out.
In coming within one victory of a trip to the Babe Ruth World Series, the Ewing-Hopewell 15-year-old All-Stars fell tantalizingly short after dropping a 7-3, eight-inning decision to West End, Pa., in Tuesday’s Mid-Atlantic Regional title game in Albany, N.Y.
In just its second year of existence and playing without manager Joe Gambino, who had to sit out due to illness, E-H won the SNJ State Tournament, went 3-1 in pool play in the Regionals and took two straight wins in bracket play to reach the finals.
Under the stellar leadership of coach-turned manager Al Kandell, E-H won a grueling 7-6 win over South Colonie, N.Y. in Monday night’s semifinals.
Running on fumes and short of pitching, Ewing-Hopewell did not go down without a fight against West End. Trailing 2-0, it tied the game with two runs in the fourth and took the lead with a run in the sixth. Facing its last at-bat, West End tied it in the bottom of the seventh and got a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to win it.
Jacob Storer and Ken Sullivan had RBI singles to tie it in the fourth and Dominick Gambino scored the go-ahead run on Sullivan’s fielder’s choice in the sixth. Sam Margulis and Storer each had two hits in the loss while Sullivan drove in two runs.
With Ewing-Hopewell drained of pitching due to the length of Monday’s game, Andy Blake stepped up and pitched outstanding, allowing just three runs in 6.2 innings to give E-H a shot.
The fact West End rallied to win it can’t take away from an incredible run by Ewing-Hopewell.
E-H reached the championship game with a gutsy, 7-6, 11-inning victory over South Colonie, NY on Monday. Trailing 6-5 in the top of the seventh, E-H forced extra innings when Jake Tobia walked and eventually scored on an error.
Gambino entered in the bottom of the seventh and pitched five scoreless innings, with E-H winning it in the top of the 11th when Sid Spencer reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on an error on a ball hit by Sam Margulis.
Tobia went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, while Nick Psomaras had two hits and two RBI and Storer added a hit and two RBI.
It was the second straight one-run win in the final at-bat for Kandell’s Kardiac Kids, who took an 8-7 walk-off victory over Paulino, NY on Monday morning. E-H rallied from a 5-0 deficit to take a 6-5 lead, fell behind 7-6, tied it 7-7 and won it in the bottom of the seventh when Gambino reached on an error, Storer walked and Gambino tallied on an error.
Psomaras had two hits and two RBI, Gambino had two walks and two runs, Storer had a hit, run and three RBI and Margulis had three hits.
E-H got off to a rough start in pool play, dropping a 5-2 decision to West End (in an unfortunate foreshadowing of things to come) on Friday. But the locals bounced back to beat Community Athletic League (Del.), 16-0 and Frederick County 9-8 on Saturday before advancing to bracket play with a 14-9 win over Niskayuna on Sunday.
Against Community, Gambino went 4-for-4, Margulis had two hits and two RBI, Tobia had a hit, three RBI and two runs and Adam Wijaya had two hits and two runs. Jack Kandell and Wijaya combined on a two-hitter.
In the win over Frederick, Kandell had two hits and four RBI while Psomaras had two RBI.
Against Niskayuna, Margulis had four hits, two RBI and two runs while Sullivan had three hits, an RBI and two runs. Collecting two hits each were Psomaras (run, RBI), Gambino (2 runs), Storer (3 runs) and Wijaya (3 RBI, 2 runs).
