Chase Madden is greeted by his Elite National teammates after hitting a game-ending grand slam.
By Rich Bevensee
Judging by their performances, Thomas Lynch and Chase Madden seemed to be in an awful hurry to get their team off the field and headed home after a grueling doubleheader Saturday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
In the second game for Elite National 2029 ST, Lynch produced a terrific effort in relief, escaping a fourth-inning jam with two strikeouts and then setting down the side in order in the fifth with time running out on the game clock, almost assuring that the CT Titans would not get another at bat..
Madden, an unlikely candidate to supply the longball, took the hint from Lynch and hammered a walk-off grand slam home run in the fifth inning with no time left to give Elite National a 12-5 victory over the Titans and cap a doubleheader sweep in 16U Labor Day Blast pool play at ‘The Nation.’
In its earlier game, Elite National knocked off Monmouth County Oilers 2029 Scout, 8-6.
On Sunday, Elite National (2-0) of Broomall, Pa., will face Body Armor Titans 2029 and Morris County Cubs Fall 16U to complete pool play.
There is no playoff bracket for the 16U field. The top two teams advance straight to the championship game on Monday at 12:15 p.m.
The CT Titans, based in East Granby, Conn., split their Saturday doubleheader as they defeated EEP 2028, 2-0. On Sunday the Titans will play 9ers Baseball 2029 National and MC Oilers 2029 Scout.
Although Elite came away with two wins on Saturday, the effort in the second game was more in line with what coach Jonathan Grosse expects from his ballclub.
Jackson Piscottano had an RBI groundout for the CT Titans.
“I thought we played our style (in the second game),” Grosse said. “We really like to push the envelope. We like to run. We like to take the tempo to the other team. We did a better job of that in the second game and we’ll do that moving forward. It was good that in the second game you could see how we manufactured some runs and stole a couple runs. If we had played station to station we wouldn’t have gotten that.”
In the top of the fourth the Titans rallied for two runs and cut their deficit to 6-5. It could have been much worse had it not been for Lynch, who stranded two runners in scoring position with a pair of strikeouts.
In the fifth, Lynch retired the Titans’ 3-4-5 batters in order, which meant that with six minutes remaining on the game clock, Elite National had all but clinched a win.
“Thomas threw a big one there, getting three quick outs,” Grosse said. “Once he got out of that fourth inning with a couple strikeouts, you knew he was going to come out in the fifth and do his thing.”
Lynch, a 6-foot righty and a junior at Souderton Area High School, said the only thing that changes for him when he comes into a game to relieve is that he relies more on his curveball than his fastball.
“My mindset there is to close out the game and help out the boys,” Lynch said. “My approach doesn’t really change. I just throw strikes and let my guys go to work. I rely more on the curveball later in the game. I don’t know why, it just feels good.”
With the minutes dripping off the clock, the Titans saw their chances of another at bat slowly slip away after Elite got two walks and a single to load the bases in the bottom of the fifth.
Daniel Webster scored on a throwing error on an Ezra Shepski ground ball, meaning the bases were still loaded for Madden, a freshman at Cape Henlopen in Lewes, Del.
The lefty-hitting Madden, with all of one home run to his name this spring and summer, belted a 2-2 pitch well over the right field fence for a game-ending grand slam.This was Madden’s first tournament weekend with Elite National.
“I used to lead off for my old team (the Bagel Bombers of Delaware) so I’m usually sprinting out of the box,” said Madden, who was batting second for Elite. “I saw it carrying and when I got to first I said, ‘That’s gone.’ I’ve always had a good swing but that one surprised me.”
The grand slam was a relief of sorts for Madden who went 0-for-4 in Elite’s game against the MC Oilers. Madden finished the second game 2-for-3 with a walk and six RBI. He had a two-run single in the second inning.
“I used to be more of a ‘get on base’ guy,” Madden said. “Now I’m trying to get bigger and do more damage. I didn’t have to change my swing. I’ve just been in the weight room trying to get stronger. I’m looking to do damage every at bat.”
Lynch pitched two innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on one hit and two walks with three strikeouts. Elite starter Ian Cannale pitched three innings and yielded three runs on two hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Mason Bict hit a solo homer for Elite in the first inning and nearly had another in the fourth were it not for a tremendous leaping, homer-stealing grab at the fence by Titans left fielder Uriah Bentley.
Jarik Trout had an RBI double, Finn O’Leary had an RBI single, Bennett Luke tripled and walked twice, and Shepski and Webster both walked three times for Elite.
For the Titans, Hudson Lyles entered the game as a relief pitcher in the third inning and got his first at bat with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth. Lyles responded with a two-run double which brought the Titans within a run at 6-5.
Liam Rooney had a two-run single in the first inning to give the Titans an early 2-0 lead. Jackson Piscottano had an RBI groundout in the third.
Titans starter Ryne VanDerWalker threw 1⅔ innings and allowed four runs on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts. Lyles went 1⅔ innings and gave up three runs (one earned) on one hit and four walks with one strikeout. Ethan Burgh closed the game for the Titans with 1⅓ innings pitched and allowed five runs (four earned) on one hit and three walks with one strikeout.