South Philly Saints rumbled unbeaten through the HR Classic en route to the 10U championship.

By Rich Bevensee

Back in April, the South Philly Saints 10U ballclub battled through some lopsided losses while the team was getting exposed to the best competition coach Ron Malandro could find. 

Two months later the Saints are the ones dishing out the punishment. Over their last 12 games the Saints have outscored their opponents by a combined 61 runs. 

That slow but sure development yielded more than just a strong aggregate when the Saints made the trip north to Diamond Nation for the 10U Home Run Classic. 

Led by the bats of Joey Lombardo and Brady Nicolo, the Saints’ offense remained as potent as ever during a four-game set, and the boys from Philly concluded their business in New Jersey with an 11-7 victory over Slim’s Chance Bulldogs Black of Middletown, Delaware, in the 10U championship game on Sunday in Flemington. 

The Saints (14-8-1) captured their first title of the season in their first appearance in a final. Malandro said the team reached a handful of tournament semifinals prior to playing at ‘The Nation.’

“I really loaded up the schedule this year with talent,” Malandro said. “Going into the season I told the parents it’s not going to be easy. There are going to be some tough weekends. And some weekends we went 1-2, 0-3 and we got 10-run-ruled a couple times. 

“We started off slow but now we’re peaking and this is what they do. It took a while to get rolling but this is what they do.”

After a 2-4-1 start, the Saints have won 10 of their last 12 and scored 143 runs in that span. In the Home Run Classic, the Saints outscored four opponents, 71-44.

“I think it’s because we practice hard and everybody plays as a group,” Lombardo said. 

“We stay together and have more encouragement that way,” Nicolo said. “We work hard in practice so we can compete and get better against the better teams.”

Nicolo, the team’s catcher for all four games, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for displaying an impressive work ethic behind the plate in addition to his potent bat. He had a two-run home run and an RBI double in the championship game. For the weekend he went 8-for-14 with a homer, one triple, one double and nine RBI.

“The kid is predominantly a catcher and he doesn’t want to come out from behind the plate,” Malandro said. “If I ask him to sit he says, ‘I’m not sitting down.’ I respect that and I’m gonna let him play his game the way he wants to play it.”

Brady Nicolo batted .571 and caught all four games for the 10U South Jersey Saints to earn the MVP.

Lombardo provided the biggest hit of the final in a game which featured three lead changes and one tie. 

The Bulldogs took a 7-6 lead in the top of the fifth inning on Jack Brown’s RBI single. The Saints rebounded to tie the game in the bottom of the inning when Michael Montecalvo doubled and Patrick Bradley drove him in with a single to center, and then took an 8-7 lead on a fielder’s choice RBI by Tristan Alice.

Both teams had shown a penchant for scoring multiple runs in any inning so the Saints knew a one-run lead would be tough to maintain. Knowing that, the lefty-hitting Lombardo came to the plate with two out and two on and drove a hard single into right field to drive in a key insurance run.

Seeing the ball trickle to the fence, Lombardo never stopped running and made it all the way around, as the Saints benefitted from a two-run error for an 11-7 lead. 

“I was feeling a lot of pressure, but I was doing everything I was taught,” Lombardo said. “I was trying to move them over and get a more comfortable lead for my team.”

For the weekend Lombardo, the Saints three-hole hitter, batted .583 with a homer, double, 10 RBI and eight runs scored. 

“He’s the best hitter on the team,” Malandro said of Lombardo. “Having him at the plate, I don’t care how many outs there are, I don’t care what the situation is, I know he’s going to deliver.”

In all, seven of nine Saints recorded one hit in the final, seven scored one run, and all nine starters reached safely at least once. 

Also for the Saints, who have scored in double figures in their last six wins, Bradley was 2-for-3 with a double and RBI, Alice went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Domenic Renzi drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.  

“I want to say it’s easy to play that way, knowing we have a lineup whether it’s top, middle or bottom, they’re going to turn it over and create some havoc,” Malandro said. “We have some baseball players who know how to play the right way. We can take over the bags.”

For the Bulldogs (17-12), Wyatt Creek was 3-for-3 with a double, Ethan Ertle was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Elliott Moran had a two-run single, Jack Brown singled and drove in two runs, Cameron Matey had an RBI single, and Harris Crist singled and forced home a run with a base on balls. 

The Bulldogs claimed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an Ertle RBI single. The Saints responded when Nicolo blasted a two-run homer to left.

In the second, the Bulldogs took a 4-2 lead when Moran sent a two-run double into the left field corner, and Matey added an RBI single. The Saints tacked on a run to make it 4-3 on a Renzi sac fly.

The Bulldogs kept piling on runs in the third when Brown had an RBI groundout and Crist walked with the bases loaded for a 6-3 lead.

The Saints tied the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth. With two on and two out, Lombardo singled up the middle to drive in two runs, and Nicolo added an RBI double to center to tie the game at 6-6.