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Wayne 7, Narberth 5
Paparella goes deep for MVP, Wayne title win
from the Daily Times posted 8/19/2020
ByMattSmith mattsmith@21st-centurymedia. com @DTMattSmith on Twitter
NARBERTH » Ed Paparella discussed some of the swings he had in the Delco League championship series.
“I had some really bad at bats,” said the Wayne slugger.
He balanced a few underwhelming plate appearances with a Herculean performance in Games 3 and 4 at Narberth Playground.
Paparella feasted in the middle of the Wayne order, which destroyed Narberth pitching in the final two games of the best-of-5 series. The University of South Alabama product put the exclamation point on Wayne’s series-clinching, 7-5 win Tuesday night with a mammoth, two-run blast in the sixth inning.
The man they call “Pap” was named the 2020 Dick’s Sporting Goods Finals MVP.
“I really don’t know that I deserve it,” said Paparella, who was 5-for-14 with two doubles, three runs scored, four RBIs and two gigantic home runs in the four games. “I wouldn’t think I would be the MVP of the series. There’s a lot of guys here that put out incredible performances. To think that I had a couple of big hits that stood out, you don’t want that to overshadow the incredible things that other guys did in this series.”
Paparella, 25, returned to the Delco League after COVID- 19 wiped out his position in the Seattle Mariners organization as a minor league hitting instructor.
“Who knows what the state of baseball will become next year?” he said. “You never know, maybe I’ll be back with Wayne helping them win it again.”
Alden Mathes was in the conversation for MVP, too, as well as Luke Mutz, Nate Sides and Will Peiffer, all of whom played key roles in Wayne’s 17th Delco League championship and second in a row. The top five in the Wayne lineup — Sides, Mathes, Paparella, Peiffer, Mutz — gave Narberth pitching trouble throughout the series.
“I think what wins any championship series is two out hits and two-out RBIs and we did that a lot. It was a gutsy performance from our hitters,” Paparella said.
Joe Peluso gave Wayne six strong innings on the mound. The fifth-year West Chester University senior cruised on a low pitch count until he ran into a j am due to some terrible luck in the fifth inning. With Wayne leading 4-0, Narberth scratched out three runs, one coming on a routine popup behind second base that should have been caught, and another run crossing when a lazy fly ball to Mathes in right field clipped a tree branch, automatically resulting in a dead ball base hit.
Peluso kept his cool and lasted six innings. He gave up five runs (four earned) on four hits while striking out two and walking none.
“I was trying to fill up the zone early and throw strikes,” Peluso said. “I wanted to put bats on the ball because I have a great defense behind me. I knew (Narberth’s) bats would eventually come alive, like they came alive last night. I was trying to find a rhythm early, then I felt like I was in a good one through three innings. I ran into some trouble in the (fifth), that was a weird inning. Ball hits the tree, a popup drops, that was crazy. But we responded really well, putting up a three-spot in the sixth. After that, I was just trying to keep the same mentality I had the entire game; fill up the zone and get quick outs.”
Wayne’s bats answered in the top of the sixth. Paparella hit a 3-2 fastball deep over the fence in right field and onto Wynnewood Ave to make it a 7-3 game. It was the swing that resulted in Paparella earning MVP honors.
He homered in Monday’s Game 3, too.
“The biggest thing was when they came back to make it 4-3 and our bats responded,” Wayne manager BrianFIli said. “Weput three runs on the board and that was really huge. These last two games, the bats really did come alive and in big times. The two-out hits the entire series were really important.”
Wayne’s top three starters, Cam Mathes, Jimmy Kingsbury and Billy Corcoran, returned to college prior to the start of the championship series due to COVID-19 protocols. That left pitchers Matt Eiel, Ashton Raines and Peluso to step up and give Fili quality starts. They exceeded expectations. Eiel pitched a complete game gem in Game 1, Raines went the distance in Game 3, and Peluso earned the win with six strong in Game 4.
“I was asked if I would be good to start Game 4 and I said, ‘Yeah, if we get there. I’ll be ready,’” Peluso said. “I was waiting to get out there and I knew it was my ball today. I didn’t want to get to Game 5, I just wanted to end it while we’re up (in the series).”
Fili couldn’t have asked for a better effort by his starters in the championship round.
“I can’t say enough about the start that Matty Eiel gave us in Game 1 and the way Joe really battled it out tonight and Ashton gutting it out to throw a complete game (Monday),” Fili said. “You’re talking about losing three really good pitchers in Billy Corcoran, Jimmy Kingsbury and Cam Mathes. They weren’t here, but the next guys stepped up. You can never have enough pitching because you never know what’s going to happen and those guys really stepped up for us.”
Mathes roped a one-out triple in the first inning and scored on a Will Peiffer single. Peiffer had six hits in the final two games of the series.
In the second, Wayne again scored off Narberth starter Frank Driscoll, who labored through 3.1 innings. Nate Sides’ run-scoring single plated Tommy Jacobs to give Wayne a 2-0 advantage. Wayne scored twice more in the fourth thanks to a throwing error and wild pitch.
Mike White crushed a two run homer for the Mudcats.
Despite the coronavirus shortened season, Wayne showed why it is the class of the Delco League, the oldest semi-professional baseball league in the country. They had to piece it together at times, but the Wayne franchise found a way to hoist the Charlie Kress Trophy once more.
“It is special this year,” Fili said. “You had a lot of different guys and you’re trying to get the guys together. All of sudden, we have all of our college guys back and we had to ... make sure all of the guys understand that this was going to be a different year and you’re going to have to put your ego aside at times and let some other guys play. I said going into the season the most important thing was to keep our pitchers healthy because all of those guys have to go back to school. They really did a great job and everybody played a big role in this.”
