Millsboro Major League All-Star Manager Jeff Revel has been in this situation before.
When his son Chris was playing for the town’s first district championship in over three decades just five years ago, it had to work its way through the losers’ bracket to ascend to the throne.
It was only fitting entering the weekend that Jeff was in the same situation with his younger son, Justin, as his squad needed to take two off of Lewes to reach the state tournament.
The first on Friday went pretty smoothly, as Millsboro pitcher Hunter Parsons tossed four perfect innings of ball and the All-Stars defeated Lewes 10-0 in four innings.
Saturday’s deciding game, however, was a little more dramatic.
After taking a 4-0 lead early in the contest, thanks in part to a two-run Parsons’ homer, Millsboro watched Lewes plate six unanswered runs in the top half of the fifth frame and grab a two-run advantage.
“After [Lewes] took the lead, I just told them we still have two more at bats,” Revel explained of his speech to the team. “We were not going to go quietly.”
And Millsboro, in fact, did not go quietly, as it rallied to take its own two-run lead at 8-6 in the bottom of the fifth, but Lewes again answered with a pair of runs in the sixth to tie the contest.
Lewes, in fact, was looking for more scores, but then centerfielder Orlando Kelley made a diving grab in right-center to record the inning’s final out and strand a Lewes runner on base.
“All I thought was I have to get to the ball,” said Kelley, who had made an error earlier in the frame that proved costly. “It couldn’t hit the ground.”
Kelley, however, was not done atoning for his fielding miscue, as he stepped to the dish in the bottom half of the sixth with one out and the bases empty and promptly lined one to the fence in right-center. Although he stumbled coming around second, the All-Star still managed to easily beat a throw to third that went wide of its mark.
Without hesitation, Kelley darted for the plate and slid home safely to give Millsboro a 9-8 win and a District III title.
“I was looking for the best pitch to hit,” Kelley said of his plate approach on the triple. “I wanted to drive it hard.”
