Sports News: 1 for 2

Congrats to the boys baseball team on their 7-3 win off of Matt Miller's grand slam in the eighth, but also condolences as the Lady Bulldog softball team closes out the season with a loss to Christopher Dock 4-1.

DISTRICT ONE CLASS A BASEBALL: MORRISVILLE 7, DELCO CHRISTIAN 3 (8 INNINGS)
Bulldogs feel grand, make final
Matt Miller’s dramatic grand slam added to the magic of Morrisville’s season.
By KEVIN COONEY

COLLEGEVILLE — There wasn’t any Carlton Fisk wave coming from Matt Miller as he sprinted down the first base line Tuesday.

But there was this prevailing thought running through his brain a million miles a minute with every step:

“Please stay fair, please stay fair, please stay fair….”

“I saw the ball tailing towards the foul pole and I was hoping that it would just stay in play,” said Miller, a senior pitcher/shortstop for the Bulldogs. “When I got near the bag, I started wondering if it had enough to get over the fence.”

The ball cleared the 320-foot sign down the left field line to give Morrisville’s incredible season another memorable moment.

Miller’s grand slam with one out in the top of the eighth inning proved to be the defining moment of the Bulldogs’ 7-3 win over Delco Christian Tuesday in the PIAA District One Class A baseball semifinals at Perkiomen Valley High School.

The Bulldogs will play either Christopher Dock or Devon Prep in the District One championship game on Thursday afternoon at a site and time to be determined. (Morrisville officials are hoping that District One will allow for an early start on Thursday so Miller can attend the 10 th annual Courier-Kiwanis Scholar Athlete Banquet Thursday night at St. Mary Medical Center.)

“I’m thrilled, because we kept battling as a team,” said Miller, who tossed five innings of shutout ball in relief of starter Andrew Fletcher. “The games that we didn’t win earlier in the year, we’re finding a way to get it done now.”

Time after time Tuesday, it looked as though the breaks that the Bulldogs received on Thursday against Bristol were going to go against them this time. Hard hit balls that should have been singles found a way into Delco gloves.

When pitcher Mike Connelly hit a wind-driven three-run homer in the third to give Delco Christian the lead, the Bulldogs appeared to be in deep trouble.

“The best part about our guys is the fact that they don’t quit,” Morrisville coach Dave Vaccaro said. “We kept telling our guys that we were only one play away from being back tied or in the lead. I didn’t want one guy to beat us.”

Connelly was strong, but Morrisville would draw even in the sixth on George Souyack’s RBI single to right. The game would drift into extra innings.

That’s where Connelly appeared to run out of steam on his fastball, unable to locate it over the plate. Three walks set the stage for Miller, who jerked a 3-2 curveball down the line and over the fence for the slam to send the Bulldogs thirdbase dugout into euphoria.

“Honestly, I didn’t know if it would stay fair or not,” second baseman Kyle Schnee said. “But when it did, I can’t tell you how excited everyone got.”

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DISTRICT ONE CLASS A SOFTBALL: CHRISTOPHER DOCK 4, MORRISVILLE 1
Hickey lifts Dock to final
By AL THOMPSON

Hickey said she had her off-speed pitches working early, plus she could feel the excitement of trying to defeat a team that dominated Dock during the regular season. The Bulldogs crushed the Pioneers, 11-1, earlier this year.

“I was very excited, I had a lot of energy,” Hickey said. “My screwball was doing good as well as my curveball. I was just keeping them in and out.”

Dock coach Wayne Benner said his team was motivated against Morrisville because of the lopsided loss that stung him personally.

“We never gave up,” Colon said. “That’s just not our style.”

Colon loses four starters to graduation and has many new solid players coming, plus he gets his ace pitcher back for another year. Kaylee White, the Constitution Division MVP, pitched well, limiting the Pioneers to four hits while striking out 11. Two of Dock’s runs were a result of a wild pitch in the third and a fielder’s choice groundout in the fifth.

“We wouldn’t have come this far without her,” Colon said of his hurler. “She played very well.”

In addition to Hickey, Dock was led by Kelby Bolton, who collected two hits, including a two-run triple. She also scored a run.

The Bulldogs ended their season with a 14-5 record overall and a division-winning Bicentennial Athletic League record of 12-1.

Coach Ivan Colon said although Hickey was dominant, his team only had itself to blame for the loss.

“The biggest thing was we left too many people on base,” Colon said. “We struck out looking a few times at the beginning, then we started battling. I like the way we battled.”

Colon was referring to the sixth and seventh innings, when Morrisville sent 11 batters to the plate but was only able to push one run across when Kristen Jopko’s single knocked in Jamie Schlosser from second. Overall, the Bulldogs left seven runners stranded.