LEGION: Offense leads Valley Forge past Mount Carmel

UPPER MERION >> Valley Forge has the highest-scoring offense in the Greater Norristown American Legion Baseball League this season and it was on full display Monday night.

The Generals totalled 13 hits and took advantage of a few Mount Carmel errors in a 12-4 win at Upper Merion Area High School.

“We have fun winning,” Valley Forge’s Jack Kelly, who was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, said. “As long as we keep the bats going — that’s a good thing for us.

“We have fun hitting and we have a lot of confidence at the plate. That’s good going into the postseason and the end of the season.”

Kelly got the scoring started in the bottom of the second inning. He led off with a solo home run and started a streak of five straight hits. Brad Zielinski, Luke Hutchinson, Zach Hooven and Kelly added RBI singles later in the inning and two runs scored on an error to build an early 7-0 lead.

The Generals (6-4) added five more runs in the fifth. Matt Zielinski scored on a balk, Dale Clayton plated two with a single and Kelly brought home two more with a double.

“I’m just trying to take my at-bats slow,” Kelly, a rising senior at Malvern Prep who’s hitting a team-best .600, said. “I’m not trying to rush anything. My third at-bat (two-run double) I took the ball the other way.”

Hooven pitched a complete game to help Valley Forge stay in second place — one game behind JP Mascaro (6-2). Over seven innings Hooven struck out five batters to no walks and allowed four runs on seven hits.

The Mounties (4-6) did their scoring in the third and sixth innings.

They responded to Valley Forge’s seven-run second inning with three in the third. Bobby McFarland, who went 3-for-3, hit a bases-loaded three-run double to cut their deficit to four, 7-3.

In the sixth, McFarland singled and scored on a Brad Krenicky double.

Devon Craley started for Mount Carmel and took the loss. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out one batter to no walks.

Jalen Dunn, Stephen Longo and Antonio Dunn split the final 2 2/3 innings on the mound.

“We didn’t hit enough to beat our own mistakes,” Mounties coach Tom Longo said. “That one inning they scored seven runs on six hits and three errors and we threw the ball around like we didn’t know what to do with it. We’re not built to out-hit mistakes like that. We have trouble scoring runs and 12 is a good month for us. It is what it is.

“We had young pitchers today that we’re working with, but we can’t get on the field because every time we want to have practice it’s raining. You saw what happened with the balks. Can’t teach them in a game. It’s too late.

“(Valley Forge was) the better team. It was clear.”