By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
KANE, PA – In their season finale, the Bradford Legion Post 108 baseball team fell to Kane 6-1 as their playoff chances were thrown into uncertainty.
While Bradford’s bats were cool to the touch out of the gates, Kane was ready to get to work. Initially capitalizing on a miscommunication in the infield, Kane avoided an early out to put a man on first with a lead-off single, a mistake that would come back to bite Post 108. After Bradford’s Drayden Norton fanned the next two sluggers, a deep single to left field broke the ice, scoring Brock Wensel.
After tallying his third K, Norton would attach two more to his stat sheet following a scoreless top of the second. Despite facing loaded bases, he would carry Post 108 to safety as he fielded the final out of the second with a play at first.
“(Norton’s) been throwing well. I wanted to see if he could go out and give us two shutout innings,” said Bradford Legion head coach Jim Henry. “We could have had them if we covered first on a weak ground ball. He pitched well though.”
In his first start of the season, Drayden Norton fanned five batters through two innings on the mound. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Getting back to the top of the order in the third, Bradford found some life behind Trey Buchholtz. Reaching first off a walk, Buccholtz put himself in scoring position as he cleared two bases on a Lucas Wallace single. Ethan Obergfell would be the one to bring him in, earning an RBI on his first hit of the afternoon with a single past second.
Both squads would make quick work of each other in the bottom of the third and top of the fourth, however, Kane would return on top quickly after. Loading the bases for the second time with a single and back-to-back walks, a timely hit from Eric Novosel put Kane in front once again. With two outs, a single into the left field gap from Carter Cochran would insulate their lead as two more runners rounded home.
To this, Bradford had no response. Over the final two frames, Post 108 would collect just three more hits – singles from Buchholtz and Obergfell in the fifth and a base hit from Brody Haviland in the sixth – before going three-and-out in the seventh.
Trey Buchholtz sends a ball into the outfield during Bradford Legion’s regular season finale loss to Kane. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
“We see (Kane’s ace Phinn Chamberlain) all the time. You’d think after as much as we’ve seen him, we’d be able to hit him,” said Henry, “but he’s just got our number.”
In the meantime, Kane would add a final pair of runs in the sixth off a missed catch from Bradford’s outfield, sealing their 6-1 victory and sending Post 108 out of the regular season with a loss.
Ben Woodhouse led Bradford with a team-high two hits in two trips to the plate, while Wallace (1-for-4), Obergfell (1-for-2) and Haviland (1-for-3) rounded out the rest of Post 108’s five hits. Norton ended with five strikeouts in his two innings on the mound while AJ Lama, who took over in the third, collected three in three frames.
Ben Woodhouse slides into second, beating the tag, during the fifth inning of Post 108’s loss to Kane. Woodhouse ended 2-for-2 at the plate during the loss. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
“It’s been kind of disappointing,” said Henry on the season as a whole. “We started out hot and then we went flat. Our bats have died off and we just aren’t hitting the ball.”
Bradford now sits in limbo. While their season concluded at 4-8, they await the rest of the teams in the league to settle into their final seedings. With the Regional tournament starting in mid-July and with the top four teams automatically qualifying, Post 108 will either be a part of that free-entry group – if Crosby Legion Post 976 and Kane lose out the remainder of the schedule – or will be forced into a do-or-die play-in game. For now, all they can do is be patient and prepare.
“We’re going to practice,” said Henry. “We’re going to practice and work hard and get ready for a playoff game.”
AT KANE
Bradford 001 000 0 R:1 H:5 E:0
Kane 100 302 X R:6 H:10 E:1
BR: Norton (5 SO, 1 BB), Lama (3) (3 SO, 1 BB), Buchhotlz (6) (1 SO, 1 BB) and Haviland
KN: Chamberlain (9 SO, 2 BB), Wyman (7) (0 SO, 0 BB) and Novosel
