Hamburg clinches District 3 4A finals and a state berth with 10-0 storming of Kennard-Dale

EPHRATA >> When does a mercy-rule shortened ball game feel like an extra-inning grind? When there’s a two-hour weather delay smack dab in the middle of it.

 

Hamburg overcame that slickened curveball from the weather gods to ensure its inaugural trip to the District 3 championship under the now-three-year-old classification system, in which the Hawks reside in 4A. They got there with a nearly four-hour-long, five-inning smackdown of the Kennard-Dale Rams, 10-0, Tuesday night at War Memorial Field in Ephrata in a 4A semifinal contest.

 

The win earned Hamburg its first trip back to a D-3 final since 2016, when they won 3A with a 7-0 win over Palmyra at First Energy Stadium in Reading, the last season contested under the old four-class format.

 

The Hawks (19-6) will play East Pennsboro for the district crown Thursday evening at 6 p.m. at Wenger Field in Fredericksburg. Their advance to the title game also clinched a PIAA berth, something which hadn’t been done since that memorable 2016 ride.

 

“It was a long day and I have to give our ballclub credit,” Hamburg head coach Nick Evangelista said. “They kept their composure, kept their focus throughout that delay. As teenage boys, you can’t as for much more than that as their head coach. They came back out and finished the job.”

 

Tuesday night’s victory over Kennard-Dale (13-7) included a 2-hour, 4-minute weather delay, which was called as the Hawks were about to bat in the bottom of the third inning and holding a 7-0 lead. When play finally resumed, Hawks starting pitcher Colby Gromlich resumed his dominance as if nothing had interrupted it.

 

Gromlich held the Rams to two hits prior to the delay and one after it. Overall, he struck out seven and walked one, featuring an effective changeup, sparingly used, that kept the Rams off-balance.

 

“It’s really nice to come back this year and make a run,” Gromlich said. “I just do what Coach needs me to do. If he needs me to pitch and do that, I gotta do that. My changeup is one the best pitches to keep them off-balance. It looks like a fastball a drops at the last minute.”

 

There was a question as to whether Gromlich would back out after a break of more than two hours. It was discussed but the decision was left to the junior right-hander, who didn’t hesitate.

 

“We (thought about making a change), yeah,” Evangelista said. “He went out to throw, I went out to talk to him. It was probably going to take a physical altercation to take the baseball from him at that point.”   

 

Hamburg would get all it would need in the bottom of the first off K-D starter Garrett Lowe. The Hawks raked Lowe for six runs on seven hits for an early 6-0 edge. Owen Zimmerman’s three-run blast over the fence in left field, landing in the third row of the football bleachers, gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead before Lowe had recorded an out. It was Zimmerman’s first home run of the season.

 

“We had runners on first and second, no outs, I was just thinking poke the ball somewhere, get a run home or maybe two,” Zimmerman said. “I just happened to hit one into the bleachers. … I hit it and I saw it stay low, so I thought it was one-hopping the fence and was going to try to get a double out of it. I saw hit the bleachers and I was like ‘did I really just hit a home run.’

 

“Our game plan was to go out and score early and fast and put the pressure on them. We all had a scouting report. Sit fastball, hit the ball hard, make them run.”

 

Hamburg plated three in the bottom of the fifth off reliever Cole Sinnott to end it. Austin Gromlich’s two-out single past first base and into right field sent Tarik Feick scrambling home with the game-ending run.

 

Earlier, Reece Adam had laced an RBI single to score Colby Gromlich, who had doubled, with the eighth run. An infield RBI groundout two batters later made it a 9-0 game.

 

District 3 4A semifinal

at War Memorial Field, Ephrata

Hamburg 10, Kennard-Dale 0 (5 inn.)

KD –  0  0  0   0  0  — 0  3  0

H –  6  1  0   0  3  —  10  15  0

WP: Colby Gromlich  LP: Garrett Lowe

2B: H, C Gromlich; KD, Max Cooper

HR: H, Owen Zimmerman (3-run)