By Terry Toohey ttoohey@21st-centurymedia. com @TerryToohey on Twitter

ASTON TWP. >> After throwing five innings of three-hit ball Wednesday night, Upper Darby pitcher Johnny Gonzalez grabbed 3½ hours of sleep and then dutifully reported to Fizzano Brothers at 2  a.m. Thursday morning where he works as a tractor-trailer driver.

Following a brief nap after his shift, Gonzalez showed up at Jim Buggy Memorial Field late Thursday afternoon to finish what he started in Game 4 of the Delco League championship series, which had been suspended by darkness and weather with the score tied less than 24 hours earlier.

No one in the Blue Sox dugout was surprised.

“He’s a freak of nature. I don’t know where he gets the gas,” Upper Darby catcher Christian Strickland said of Gonzalez. “He’s running on something. To pitch five innings last night and come back and pitch four innings tonight is ridiculous. He’s a vet and we love him for it.”

The rubber-armed righty followed up Wednesday’s performance with four shutout innings as the Blue Sox took advantage of a pair of ninth-inning errors to beat Aston Valley, 5-3, and tie the best-of-five Delco League championship series at two games apiece.

Game 5 is Friday at Cardinal O’Hara at 5:30.

“Johnny Gonzalez, Game 5 starter,” Upper Darby manager Dave Jerdon pronounced.

Jerdon was kidding, of course. That would be too much to ask of the 48-yearold Gonzalez. But make no mistake about it, the Blue Sox are alive because of his remarkable two-day, nine inning complete game six-hitter.

“He’s unreal. He’s the best ever,” first baseman Joe Suppa said. “Johnny goes down in history already, and then after throwing yesterday, to come back today and finish a complete game is something that nobody does. Only Johnny does that.”

Gonzalez picked up where he left off. He allowed two hits in the final four innings. He also hit two batters and pitched out of jams in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to force a fifth and deciding game. He dug deep into his bag of tricks to keep the Blue Sox alive.

“Muscle memory,” Gonzalez said when asked how he was able to come back and throw four more innings. “I’ve done it so long that even sometimes it amazes me. Yesterday, I had a so-so slider but today I just went back to the basics, just let it go, let it fly. Today it was working well. I threw one for a strike and I thought, ‘Wait a second, I have something here,’ and I started using it with two strikes, like the old Johnny.” 

Upper Darby did not let that herculean effort go to waste. The Blue Sox capitalized on a pair of Aston Valley errors to score two unearned runs in the top of the ninth inning. Suppa reached base when Aston Valley pitcher Jack Liberio failed to catch an infield popup in front of the mound. Steve Theisen followed with a fly ball to center field that Roman Tozzi overran to put runners at the corners.

By Matt Smith mattsmith@21st-centurymedia. com @DTMattSmith on Twitter

ASTON TWP. >> They don’t make them like Johnny Gonzalez anymore. 

The veteran pitcher of too many years to count and too many men’s baseball leagues to remember is a total throwback. He’s the type of guy who would have fit in on the 1993 Phillies.

Gonzalez doesn’t throw anywhere near as fast as some of the Delco League’s best and youngest hurlers, but the Upper Darby pitcher still has plenty of grit. He’ll show you slow, slower and slowest, but everything he throws has the right amount of spin to fool opposing hitters.

That was the case Wednesday evening in Game 4 of the Delco League championship series, which was suspended in the bottom of the sixth inning due to inclement weather. The game will resume at Jim Buggy Field Thursday at 6 p.m. with Aston Valley and Upper Darby tied 3-3.

Aston Valley leads the best-of-five series, 2-1. If necessary, Game 5 will be played Friday evening at Cardinal O’Hara High School. If it wasn’t for Gonzalez’s bag of tricks, Upper Darby may have left the field before the thunderstorms on the losing end, still in search of the franchise’s first title.

So, what keeps the 48-year-old Gonzalez coming back year after year? The love of the game, of course.

“At this age, it’s the competition,” said Gonzalez, who gave up three runs on five hits with three strikeouts in five innings. “I don’t get the chance to hit anymore, but I can still pitch. You’ve got a lot of younger kids, faster guys. I love that competition.”

Gonzalez’s second outing in the championship series was better than his first, even though he ran into trouble in the fifth inning, when Aston Valley rallied to tie the game. In Saturday’s Game 1, Gonzalez came running to the field in the middle innings to give Upper Darby manager Dave Jerdon some much needed relief. He warmed up quickly and was ready to go. That particular appearance wasn’t great — he allowed five hits and two runs in 2.1 innings — but Gonzalez appeared much sharper in Wednesday’s start. He had thrown 31 strikes and nine balls through the first four innings. 

“I actually pitched seven innings on Sunday — this was a league in New Jersey — and I ended up losing 2-0. But I felt I was in a groove where I was hitting my spots low, hitting the corners in and out. (I) just was looking to stay in a groove tonight. I’ll throw a fastball and mix in the slider and try to get quick outs.”

Aston Valley’s bats finally solved Gonzalez in the bottom of the fifth. Roman Tozzi and Matt Domian led off with back-to-back singles, setting the stage for series MVP candidate Jarad Carney, Aston Valley’s player/ coach, to deliver his second double of the game. This one was a shot to the gap in left-center, which allowed both Tozzi and Domian to score easily.

By the time the game was called, the Knights had momentum in their favor.

By Matt Smith This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. @DTMattSmith on Twitter

ASTON >> Chris Murphy’s biggest challenge Tuesday wasn’t the guy standing in the batter’s box. The Aston Valley ace had no trouble firing his untouchable fastball by Upper Darby all night long.

Murphy’s toughest battle was the heat and humidity. It was disgustingly hot at Jim Buggy Field. 

In the first inning, the 6-foot-4 righthander was sweating profusely, trying to keep his rhythm on the mound. Murphy had to take a few deep breaths between every pitch just to make sure his heart rate wasn’t working on overdrive.

Luckily, the former Houston Astros draftee was dealing and getting quick outs. And his offense gave him more than enough time to chill out in the dugout in the second inning, as the Knights batted around and scored six runs. Murphy did the rest, twirling a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts to lead Aston Valley to a 6-0 victory in Game 3 of the Delco League championship.

Game 4 of the best-of-five series, which Aston Valley leads, 2-1, is set for Wednesday evening back at Buggy Field in Aston. First pitch is 5:45.

“Breathing, breathing, breathing. You’ve just got to keep an air flow when it’s this hot out,” Murphy said. “When it’s hot, you can’t speed up or you’re going to burn out. You’ve got to maintain your tempo — I mean, I’m still breathing hard, it’s like I ran three miles. You just got to breathe, set your tempo and make your pitches.”

Murphy allowed a leadoff single to Christian Strickland in the second inning. Upper Darby got its second hit with two outs in the seventh, a single down the right-field line off the bat of Steve Theisen. That was all the offense for the Blue Sox. Murphy walked zero and didn’t allow the Blue Sox to reach second base.

Murphy faced the minimum until Theisen’s single in the seventh. He notched a pair of strikeouts in each of the first four innings.

It was Murphy’s third consecutive shutout of the Delco League playoffs. He stymied Chester in the quarterfinal round, then dominated two-time defending champion Wayne in the semifinals.

“He’s the best pitcher in the league for a reason,” Aston Valley catcher Matt Domian said. “Whenever he goes out there, he gives us a shot every time. I mean, he’s one of the best pitchers in PSAC  history, set all kinds of records at Millersville. He’s unbelievable. Like I said, every time he’s on the bump, he’s going to give us a shot.”

The Knights played small ball and took advantage of some shoddy defense by Upper Darby in the second inning. Brett Lesher started things off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob Stretch. Kody Clausius reached on an error by shortstop Matt Query to put runners at the corners and one out, then Roman Tozzi legged out a chopper to first base, driving home Lesher from third base. Nine-hole hitter Dante DiSabatino sacrificed himself, but Strickland airmailed the throw to first. enabling two more runs to score. Later, with two outs, Quentin Ivy ripped a two-run single to give the Knights a 5-0 advantage. Player/coach Jarad Carney hustled all the way home from first base on the play. Ivy scored the game’s final run on a hit by Aidan Duda.

It might as well have been a 16-0 advantage with Murphy on the hill.

“I thought they would do something different, try and change their approach a little bit ... to make him work more,” Domian said. “But he just continued to pound the zone. He located three pitches really well, which is hard to do. He’s fun to catch.”