Bottom third of Souderton lineup comes through in clutch in PIAA 6A final

STATE COLLEGE >> Hogan DeSpain wasn’t going to bunt, not in that situation.

With two men on base and one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Souderton senior had been asked to bunt, but felt like he could deliver something more. DeSpain made sure that self-belief worked out, hitting a key single as part of a three-run fifth inning then delivering the finishing blow with a two-run sixth inning single.

Souderton’s bottom three hitters in Jordan Morales, Billy Norbeck and DeSpain had a monster game, going a combined 6-for-8 with four runs scored and three driven in, including the game-winner by Norbeck as the Indians rallied to top Central Bucks South 6-3 to win the PIAA 6A title Friday morning at Penn State.

“It hasn’t changed all year, it’s always been Billy, Jordan and me,” DeSpain said. “During the playoffs, me and Bill got hot, Jordan stepped it up and at the end of the year it came together. We really could have been anywhere in the lineup and I think we would have made it work.”

Souderton’s offense had been mostly listless four innings until Morales came up with what Norbeck called the turning point of the game with a one-out double. The team’s pitcher heading to La Salle, Morales worked hard to become a more complete player and made a few nice plays as the Indians’ centerfielder on Friday.

But it was his two hits, both leading to runs that changed things for Souderton. Morales felt it too when he reached second base to start the fifth inning rally.

“I saw them so amped up, I’ve never seen them that amped up in my life and I think it just shifted the whole game,” Morales said. “We were more focused than ever and I couldn’t ask for greater teammates.”

Norbeck fought his way to a walk that put two on and brought up DeSpain in the nine spot. Arguably the team’s hottest hitter in the postseason, the senior second baseman made his case he could get it done to coach Mike Childs.

“When they called timeout, he said ‘you know what’s coming, the squeeze’ and I said ‘Coach, I have to hit,’” DeSpain said. “We talked about it a little more and I said ‘I want to hit,’ he said alright and that I could hit until we saw something else.”

DeSpain singled to left, loading the bags for the top of the order. Conlan Wall grounded out but scored a run and pitcher Luke Taylor followed with the game-tying hit when he scored two off an infield single. DeSpain was the second run to cross on Taylor’s hit, a bit of heads-up running when CB South made an error trying to recover from the play.

“Starting on second with Luke up, I know he’s capable and I was going to score,” DeSpain said. “He didn’t get a great hit, but whatever works. I was going home no matter what on the play.”

An inning later, with two men already aboard, Morales singled to load the bases and put Souderton position to take its first lead.

“It was pretty big, I wasn’t trying to think about it too much,” Morales said. “Hogan said to me ‘Coach wants me to bunt, but I think I can swing away’ and I told him ‘swing away and I’ll score for you,’ and I was able to do that.”

It was Norbeck’s turn to play delivery man in the clutch. The senior catcher, who came into his own as a full-time starter this year, blooped a ball to right field that he wasn’t all too happy about at first.

However, the ball’s arc carried it to a just the right spot and it fell, eluding a terrific diving attempt by South right fielder Jake McKeown and scoring pinch-runner Joey Santone for the go-ahead run.

“I was mad at myself because I knew I didn’t get much of that ball, I thought ‘shoot, now there’s two outs,’” Norbeck said. “Then, as soon as it dropped, it turned to excitement and I couldn’t be mad at myself anymore. I just put the game-winning run on the board.”

Norbeck finished the day 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. Morales was 2-for-3, scoring twice while DeSpain went 2-for-3, scoring a run and driving in a pair. It was his two-run single following Norbeck’s flare that gave the Indians a three-run advantage.

The senior is attending Utah State next year and won’t be playing baseball, so he authored a pretty good ending to his career.

“I don’t swing at pitches that are away, at all, unless I’m going to strike out,” DeSpain said. “He threw it right down the middle, a little inside and I knew I was swinging.”

So it was that in the biggest game of the season the ace pitcher, the defensive stalwart catcher and the do-it-all infielder came up biggest when their team most needed them to.

“This whole postseason, the three of us have been hot and playing with confidence, so I think we just stayed with that,” Norbeck said. “We played within ourselves and got the job done.”