Baseball: Bechtold caps Garnet Valley rally in seventh

CONCORD — Joey Sweeney stepped into the box to lead off the seventh inning Wednesday without a hit to his name on the season. His Garnet Valley team hadn’t hit safely in six innings against Penncrest’s Rob Brown.

In one decisive swing, both droughts were rectified. Four batters later, so too was the Jags’ deficit.

Sweeney and Tom Everly led off the bottom of the seventh with singles to curtail Brown’s no-hit bid, and both came around to score when Andrew Bechtold’s hot shot to third was mishandled, giving the Jags a walk-off 2-1 win in a Central League clash.

Sweeney got things started, stinging a 1-2 pitch up the middle for the Jaguars’ first hit off Brown. The breakthrough in the hits column came with a swing in the momentum category.

“I just feel like it pumps everybody up, it gets them alive,’ the center fielder said. “We were kind of dead going into that inning, down 1-0 without a hit. It just pumped everyone up and got them into the game. … I wasn’t even going up there trying to get a hit. I was just trying to get on base. Obviously I was looking to take a pitch, be a good leadoff hitter.’

Anyone who wasn’t awake on the Garnet Valley bench got to their feet when Troy Everly’s bunt attempt wasn’t dealt with, turning into an infield hit.

Michael Bechtold followed with a successful sacrifice, and Steve Palis was intentionally walked to load the bases. That’s when the elder Bechtold stepped up and hit a hotshot two-hopper that handcuffed third baseman Steve Moppert and dribbled down the left-field line, allowing Everly to stroll home with a crucial league win for the Jags (4-0, 3-0).

“We just battled,’ Andrew Bechtold said. “Their pitcher threw really well. We didn’t have a hit until that last inning, but we’re never going to give up, and we’re just going to do whatever we can. We had two big bunts that inning, Sweeney had a good hit and I got lucky and put one past the third baseman.’

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Ganret Valley's Andrew Bechtold takes aim at a pitch for a walk-off hit that scored Joey Sweeney and Troy Everly in the bottom half of the seventh inning against Penncrest Wednesday. (Times Staff / JULIA WILKINSON) (Julia Wilkinson)