ASTON – Griffin Apple was the hero for Ridley Area in the District 19 Little League championship game Monday night.
The slugger sporting the No. 99 on the back of his jersey was summoned to pinch hit with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. He was Ridley’s last hope.
Even though he is the youngest player on the team, Apple wasn’t the least bit intimidated after he watched Aston-Middletown pitcher Nicholas Hoffman strike out two straight batters.
He was ready for the moment.
Apple pounced on the first pitch he saw and shot it in the hole between third base and shortstop, driving in the tying and winning runs. Jules Grugan slid home safely and the celebration was on. Ridley Area won in walk-off fashion, 10-9.
“I knew that we had a fast runner on second base and all I had to do is hit a single in the gap and we would win,” Apple said. “Jules is very fast and he just scored.”
It was the best moment of Apple’s young life.
“Yes. Definitely,” he said.
Ridley Area captured the Little League title for the first time since 2018.
After falling to A-M earlier in the tournament, Ridley Area battled back from the losers bracket. They defeated an excellenr Aston-Middletown team two days in a row at A-M’s home field.
The game took nearly five hours to complete due to lightning in the area. There were delays of 30 and 90 minutes.
Ridley showed a never-say-die mentality Monday evening and throughout the district tournament. It trailed by three runs in the sixth inning, but Josh Collado belted a game-tying homer to force extras.
Aston-Middletown broke an 8-8 deadlock in the eighth inning. Gavin Terzoglou, who entered in relief of Collado, threw a wild pitch that enabled Hoffman to sprint home from third base. Terzoglou bounced back to record back to back strikeouts.
With an automatic runners on second base, T.J. Vannetti and Collado worked two straight walks to load the bases. Hoffman settled in and struck out the next two RALL hitters. Apple made certain he wouldn’t be the third strikeout victim.
“It’s awesome,” Apple said.
Building off the momentum of Sunday’s win, Ridley Area went right to business with the bats. Terzoglou led off the bottom of the first with a single and Nicky Vanni worked a walk. A-M starter Jeremy Schneider got the next two outs, but five-hole hitter jumped on a first pitch and slammed it off the left-field wall for an RBI double, giving RALL the early 1-0 advantage.
Vanni was cruising along until the third inning. He struck out three in a row to send the first and picked up his fourth punchie to close out the second. But the second time through the order wasn’t as kind for the Ridley Area ace. Speedster Danny Getz walked and advanced two bases on a passed ball. Then, with two outs, slugger Braden Davis belted a long two-run homer to put A-M in the lead at 2-1.
The punch in the gut didn’t bother RALL’s big boppers. By the end of the next half inning, it had regained a one-run lead. Cole Romano and T.J. Valletti cranked back-to-back doubles to even the score. With Valletti on third base, Josh Collado hit a sacrifice fly to give Ridley Area a 3-2 lead.
A-M went back in front on the fourth inning. Danny Getz and A-M starting pitcher Jeremy Schneider each hit a sacrifice fly.
Ridley will continue its march in the postseason in the Section tournament later in the week.
