'A sense of urgency': Northeastern rallies vs. Hummelstown to set up meeting vs. Chambersburg

HERSHEY – Northeastern returned to the Region 4 Legion baseball tournament with unfinished business on its mind.

Last summer, Paxton won the regional championship by defeating Northeastern in the championship game.

Sunday night, Northeastern did not quite finish that business, but the York County champion did take an important step forward with a 13-7 win over Hummelstown in the winners’ bracket final at Hershey Memorial Field.

“From the end of last year, there was a sense of urgency,” Northeastern head coach Dave Shindler said. “Our veteran players really wanted this one.”

In Monday’s action, Northeastern will play Chambersburg at 7 p.m. Northeastern will make it to Tuesday’s championship round regardless of the result, though it is a must-win contest for Chambersburg.

Northeastern trailed 6-4 entering the bottom of the fifth but scored nine runs to turn the game into a runaway.

That rally had little to do with key base hits. There were just three singles in the inning and only one – a hit by Brinden Floyd – scored a run. The other runs crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Wilson, a wild pitch, two passed balls, two bases-loaded walks and two bases-loaded hit batters. In fact, the tying and go-ahead runs scored on back-to-back pitches: Nate Moser made the score 6-6 by scoring on a wild pitch, and Derek Gross put Northeastern ahead 7-6 on a passed ball.

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“Patience was very important because their pitching wore down,” Shindler said. “It was a tight strike zone on both sides. We came out wanting to hit, and we did the first couple innings, but when they lost the strike zone, we had to be patient.”

Connor Rippo was the winning pitcher, though he had to get through a tough inning of his own. In the third, Hummelstown scored six runs off Rippo, who allowed five straight hits in the frame.

“There’s always a question in your mind, but I trust every one of my guys,” Shindler said about sticking with Rippo through the third inning. “We got someone up [in the bullpen] but I knew Connor would do the job.”

Rippo finished with four walks and five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings and was taken out only once he reached the pitch limit. Zach Ball pitched the last 1 2/3 innings, with neither a strikeout nor a walk.

Northeastern took a quick 1-0 lead when Floyd’s sacrifice fly scored Quinn Shindler in the bottom of the first.

The lead grew to 4-0 in the second. Ethan Reibold’s fielders’ choice grounder scored Moser for a 2-0 lead. Then, foreshadowing the Hummelstown pitching issues to come, Shindler forced in Wilson when he was hit by a pitch, and Floyd forced in Reibold when he was walked.

Floyd was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. Moser was 1-for-2 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Hummelstown will play Paxton in a must-win game for both sides at 4 p.m. Monday.

Chambersburg 10, South Parkland 2: A 10-run sixth inning turned a tight 1-0 contest into a laugher. The big blows in the rally were a bases-clearing double by Brady Deneen and a two-run single by Jason Cunha. Evan Brown had two RBI singles in the inning. Wyatt Kissel, Brady Truett, and Kadyn McMullen each had run-scoring hits as well. All 16 runs that Chambersburg has scored in the tournament have come in the fifth inning or later. McMullen pitched the first 6 2/3 innings to get the win, allowing two walks while striking out three. After McMullen reached the pitch limit, Murray retired the last batter to end the game.