Newark National Bristol-bound again

BRIDGEVILLE – Day two of Delaware Little League's David vs. Goliath story was far from a disappointment on Monday night in the Major League state championship at Bridgeville.

One night after allowing District 3 to shut down their potent offense, District 2 rose to the occasion, led by AJ Blanchard's two home runs, to take down Bridgeville 10-5 – sending them to regionals in Bristol, Connecticut, for the fourth straight summer.

"This was a dogfight, it went back and forth – they wouldn't go away," Newark National manager Tim Bush said. "We took the lead, they came back – then they took the lead and we had to come back again, then we had to hold it. It was a tough game, but that's what makes it worth it – nobody said it was going to be easy."

Woodbridge starter Vance Joseph sat down the Newark side in order to begin the game – making way for a dangerous District 3 offense. Knocking a single into left field, right fielder Camden Troyer was driven in by catcher Brock Keeler with a double to right giving the host a 1-0 lead heading into the second.

"They're resilient," Woodbridge manager Rusty Emory said. "It's that never-die attitude they carried this whole season – the whole All-Star tournament."

Taking advantage of an error, Blanchard reached first to lead off the second inning – followed by a pinch-hit single by Wyatt Minner. Will Dubeck knocked a hard-hit single against the left-field fence to drive in Blanchard to knot the game at 1-1.

Newark left fielder Jason Dauerty layed down a perfect bunt down in front of the plate for a sacrifice but an overthrow of first base allowed two runs to score.

"We changed things up just a little bit, we added another thing to our routine," Bush said. "We got better pitches to hit today than yesterday."

Newark leadoff batter Brett Callahan continued his hot streak, driving in Dauerty with a double.

In need of a quick response, Tyler Yoder and Tyler Heder both drew walks from Newark's Jack Hardcastle in the bottom of the second. Shortstop Gabe Wescott's double drove them both in to narrow Newark's lead to 4-3. A single by Troyer and a passed ball gave Woodbridge a 5-4 lead later in the inning.

"Baseball is one play at a time, you have to worry about the play ahead of you, you can't really worry about the play behind you," Bush said. "If you're worried about the last play you're not going to be prepared for the next play."

Returning to the plate in the third, Blanchard would seize the opportunity to tie the game up at five – slugging a fastball over the right-center field fence. "I just centered it and it went over the fence," Blanchard said.

District 2 scored four more runs in the fourth inning to make it 9-5. Blanchard highlighted the inning with his second homer of the night.

"Those were four huge runs at critical points in the game," Bush said. "They gave us the lead and gave us back the lead so they were as clutch as clutch can be, they were awesome."

Sitting down the side with two strikeouts and a fly ball, Hardcastle left pitching duties to relief pitchers David Hautof and Brett Callahan to close out the final three innings. "I have lots of confidence in them," Hardcastle said. "I think, especially in Bristol, we do real well because we have lots of pitching. If we burn one pitcher we have another ready."

Taking the state title for the fourth summer in a row, Newark National hopes to keep moving forward thanks to experience and deep pitching depth that has guided them to successful trips in the past. A regional title would once again send the club to the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania.