Huntingdon Valley American Legion Team Splits with Morelanders

The Huntingdon Valley American Legion baseball team split its series with the Morelanders this past weekend.

HV opened the series with a come-from-behind 6-4 extra inning win on Friday as pitcher Brian Camp was brilliant on the mound. In an illustrious effort, he lasted all 12 innings and struck out nine to improve his record to 4-0 on the season.

Nick Ritter connected for the game-winning hit in the top of the 12th as HV put a rally together set up by a hit and run off the bat of Callan Palmer. Jack Madnick drew a bases-loaded walk for an insurance run. Ritter finished the game with three hits and two RBIs.

Camp’s biggest moment came in the 10th inning. After allowing runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out, he got out of the jam with two strikeouts and a ball that didn’t leave the infield.

"I cant say enough about Brian (Camp) to be honest,” HV coach Evan Horn said. “This young man just wants to win games. He doesn't care if he has to pitch 20 innings, he wants to have a chance to help the team win."

Twelve innings is a long outing no matter what level of baseball it is. Horn thought about taking him out several occasions but his decision to keep him in paid off.

“About 12 times I wanted to pull him out because of the high pitch count,” Horn said.  “And Brain kept saying, ‘Please don't take me out I have another one (inning) left in me. Please, Please, Please.’ Yes it was very hard to throw him out their inning after inning but the Horse wanted the ball and deserved to have it"

HV trailed 4-2 in the 5th inning when Holy Ghost junior Paul Buckley and Lower Moreland senior and team spark plug Jared Licht scored runs to tie it up.

"We keep fighting back in games and winning them, this is truly building character for us as we expect to win these type of games,” Horn said. “These kids have something special here this season and we are riding the momentum at this point."

Sunday, however, was a different story for HV in the second of a home-and-home series.

It allowed 12 runs before the 3rd inning was over in an eventual 16-0 loss.

HV couldn’t get anything going and mustered only four hits the entire game.

The split with the Morelanders brings HV’s record to 5-4 on the season.

Click the links to see the box scores from Game 1 and Game 2.