LOWER MERION – Friday, Mike Galetta made the big defensive play of the game from shortstop.
Sunday afternoon, when the third game of the Delco Baseball League semifinal series between top-seeded Chester and No. 5 Narberth began at Narberth Playground, Galetta was playing third base for the home team.
As the last two batters of the seventh inning came to the plate, Galetta had moved 60 feet, 6 inches from home and was asked to save the game for Narberth. After walking Matt Scherer to force in a run, Galetta got Pat Warrington to fly out to right field and Narberth believed it had claimed a 7-5 decision and a three-game sweep of the series.
Narberth could have qualified for the finals for the first time since being swept by Wayne in 2008, but Sunday’s contest was played under protest when Chester thought the umpires misinterpreted a ground rule and did not allow a three-run homer by Justin Lamborn in the top of the fifth inning.
Narberth scored four runs in the bottom of the first and got double plays to help starter Kevin Giffin out of trouble in the first two innings.
With Chester trailing 6-0 after four innings, manager Dan McShane’s visitors thought they got back in the game in the top of the fifth. Scherer belted a one-out double – his second two-base hit of the game – before Giffin retired Warrington for the second out of the inning. After Chip Scherer walked, Lamborn smoked a liner to right field that set off the fireworks.
Narberth right fielder Steve DeBarberie went after the ball, which disappeared in some bushes near a small building that sits right off the foul line. DeBarberie put his hands up in the air as if he couldn’t see the ball, but the Chester runners kept on going until each had touched home plate. First base umpire Jake Egan also raised his hands and ruled the hit a ground-rule double.
After a lot of shouting, a meeting of the umpires, and Lamborn’s ejection, the play was ruled a double, only one run scored, and Giffin fanned Lou Baldini for the third out of the inning. When Narberth’s “win” was complete, McShane officially filed his protest to Delco League president Frank Agovino.
Agovino poured over McShane’s protest, Narberth manager Lou Petrellis’ report on the game, and messages from umpires’ commissioner Dennis Keegan and decided that the situation required additional consultation among the league officers before a final ruling on the protest could be issued.
The teams will take tonight off and await the verdict. If McShane’s protest is upheld, the game will resume at Narberth Playground Tuesday with Narberth ahead, 6-3, with two outs in the top of the fifth inning.
“Narberth has been playing well and doing everything they could to get to the finals,” McShane said. “We just didn’t want to see our season finish this way. Our understanding was that if the ball went down there, it was all you could get.”
Narberth’s Lou DeRosa got two triples and a single in four trips to the plate and knocked in a pair of runs, and Galetta, his former Haverford College teammate, had two singles, a double and a walk and drove in one run.
DeRosa missed Narberth’s quarterfinal series win over Wayne.
“A friend of mine and I usually travel for a couple of weeks each summer, and we just got back from Columbia (South America),” said DeRosa, who grew up in San Francisco before settling in this area after completing his studies at Haverford.
“Whenever I miss some time like that, I just try to shorten up my swing and make sure I hit the ball.”
Galetta was pitching for the first time since throwing two innings against Wayne in the middle of the season.
“I threw four pitches before I had to go up to bat (in the bottom of the sixth),” the 2007 Daily Times Baseball Player of the Year said. “I love situations like that. I knew even if I walked the first guy, I still could go after the next guy.
“And if they (tied the score), I had confidence my teammates would pick me up.”
Chester got 13 hits off Giffin and reliever Rich Young, with Bob Williams going 3-for-4 and Matt Scherer, Baldini and Billy Ford (two-run triple, infield single) each adding a pair.
