Valley Forge falls to Bristol in Region 3 tournament opener

Valley Forge shortstop Dylan Roberts, 13, throws a pitch against Bristol during the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 3 tournament, Friday, July 19, 2024, at Marple Newtown High School. (Mike Cabrey/MediaNews Group)

NEWTOWN SQUARE – Valley Forge stayed close to Bristol until mistakes in the fifth inning of Friday afternoon’s Pennsylvania American Legion Region 2 contest put the game out of reach for the Cannons.

Three Valley Forge errors allowed the Blue Jays to score five runs in the bottom of the frame to extend their lead to 7-0, and the Lower Bucks champions won 7-2 at Marple Newtown High School.

“We couldn’t do anything big, we just had to battle out there, we just had to stay focused,” Cannons pitcher Dylan Roberts said. “We ended up crashing because we weren’t focused enough.”

Bristol’s Andrew Armstrong and Thomas Selsavage combined to limit Valley Forge to just two hits as the Blue Jays, regional runners-up the past two seasons, advance to face host Broomall-Newtown on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“Just hitting the zone with my fastball early,” Armstrong said. “I had a game plan before the game, to keep my pitch count under 80 so I could come back later in the tournament. And throwing as many strikes as I could with my fastball and going forward, that was just the game plan and I worked.”

Valley Forge faces Fort Washington, which fell 4-2 to Broomall-Newtown, in a GNABL all-elimination game at 1 p.m. The teams last met on July 10 in the winners final of the league playoffs, with Fort coming away with an 8. -4 win.

Armstrong threw five innings to get the win on Friday. The right-hander, heading into his sophomore year at Bloomsburg University, allowed just one run in the first inning while walking one, striking out one batter and striking out eight.

“He had a really fast fastball, I went all the way back, choked on the bat, no pitch,” Roberts said of Armstrong. “And he also had a nice changeup-splitter pitch and curveball. So you just have to think about what he would throw, and if he throws the pitch you’re thinking about, just try to break it. And even if he doesn’t just try to put a bat on it, put it in play, see what happens.”

Roberts gave up seven runs to take the loss in a complete game effort for Cannon, but only one was earned. The recent Upper Merion grad allowed five hits, walked three, hit two batters and posted three strikeouts. He also recorded both hits for Valley Forge, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

“I was just trying to calculate the number,” Roberts said. “They’re a really good hitting team, a really good overall team, so I was just trying to get them rolling, get on top of the ball a little bit so our players could make some plays that didn’t always happen , but it’s better to try than not.”

Armstrong also collected a pair of RBIs while Aqual Chapman went 2-3 with three runs scored for Bristol, which has been the Region 3 runner-up the past two seasons.

Bristol took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an Armstrong RBI single. Jayden Gaines followed with a walk to load the bases with no outs, but Roberts got out of the jam with a double play after a lineout to short, then a groundout to the visitors.

“I felt really good,” Roberts said. “It was a great play. It definitely saved me and saved my arm a little bit.”

The Blue Jays added another run in the third when Chapman came in to score on an error after stealing third.

The margin was still 2-0 until three Cannons errors helped Bristol pull away in the fifth.

Chase Wideman led off the bottom of the inning with a single, then advanced to second on Edward Colgan’s sacrifice bunt. A Chapman single, then a Dylan Held walk loaded the bases for Armstrong, who drove in Wideman to make it 3-0, reaching on an error.

The next batter struck out, but a fielding error by Zach Lentchner brought in another run. With the bases still loaded, all three runners came in after Ryan Kerns reached on an error for a 7-0 lead.

“Just put the ball in play, that’s all we had to do,” Armstrong said. “Put the ball in play, good things will happen. Just making contact and good things will happen, so it was good to have some lucky breaks.”

Valley Forge broke through for two runs in the top of the sixth. Hal Eaton led off with a walk, went to third when Carmen Pascale reached on an error, then scored when Roberts singled to center.

“I was just looking, the first pitch looks good, I’m going to rip it,” Roberts said. “I know a lot of people are going to say, ‘Oh, wait until you see a strike,’ but I’m the opposite of that, I want to make a dent, the first pitch is usually the best pitch you’re going to see, so he could at might as well try to play it, let’s see what happens.”

After a walk by Tyler Spence loaded the bases, Pascale came home on Dustin Gunning’s sacrifice fly to right to make it 7-2. A strikeout and then groundout to second kept the Cannons from getting any closer.

Shane Gilligan led off the seventh with a walk, but was doubled off a lineout to second with a groundout to short in the next at-bat, sealing the win for Bristol.

Bristol 7, Valley Forge 2

Valley Forge 000 002 0 – 2 2 5

Bristol 101 050 x – 7 5 1

WP: Andrew Armstrong 5 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 8 SO 1 HB.

LP: Dylan Roberts 5 H 7 R 1 ER 3 BB 3 SO 2 HB.

Valley Forge: Roberts 2-3, RBI.

Bristol: Armstrong 2 RBI; Aqual Chapman 2-3, 3 R.