Royals crowned victors after exciting battle with Seahawks

A six-run fourth inning proved to be the difference between Delmarva Christian and Sussex Academy at Sports at the Beach April 28, as the Royals upended the Seahawks 8-6.

“We enjoy playing them, and they enjoy playing us because they're a good bunch over there,” said Royals coach Jeff Bell. “It was a good win for us; we were down, but we came back, and a lot of times this year, we've been down and we haven't been able to come back.”

Sussex Academy opened up the scoring when Victor Goodhue’s single to left scored Matthew Brittingham and Emerson Layton. The Royals capitalized on a throwing error in the top of the third inning, as Chase Hitchens scored to slice Sussex Academy’s lead in half.

Delmarva Christian’s offensive explosion began with two outs in the fourth inning after the Seahawks were inches away from ending the frame with a double play. 

“We talk about putting the bat on the ball, making the other team field the ball, make them make throws, and things like that,” Bell said. “We only struck out three times today; we’ve been averaging way more than that. We had three sacrifice bunts today. Those things are important. These kids needed a win like this. It's been up and down, plus we have 11 more games in three weeks.”

Taking what Sussex Academy was giving them, Ben Pribulick, Tyler Hutt, Brayden Cronic, Silas Jones, Kasey Bell and Malakai Jones came around to score. The Jones brothers and Malachi Light recorded RBIs during the outburst.

Kasey Bell started on the bump for the Royals, but made his biggest contributions at the plate, notching a base hit and collecting three walks. He thinks the simple approach paid off.

“I'm looking fastball right away that I can just drill; I got it that first at-bat, and then after that, I started seeing a bunch of all speed, so I just laid off, and they weren't giving me strikes,” Bell said. “For our team, I think if we go with the approach to just sit fastball and rip it up the middle, that's when we're at our best, because when we try to get too big of swings, we start popping it up. We gotta stick to line drives.” 

Sussex Academy responded in the bottom of the fifth after the Royals tacked on one in the top half of the frame. 

Layton doubled to center field, scoring Mason Glover and Cole Bunting. Layton came around to score on a single off the bat of Brittingham, who then scored on a fielder’s choice before Delmarva Christian could record the third out.

“It's pass the baton, you know? Shrink the strike zone, swing in the zone, make your outs on the ground, battle like a son of a gun with two strikes, and then pass it to the next guy,” said Seahawks coach Doug Nowell. “The message was clear, and they delivered that message in the fifth, but we needed that same message in the seventh.”

Delmarva Christian junior Jackson Ward came in for Bell during the Seahawks’ big fifth inning and only surrendered one earned run throughout three innings of work to notch a save.

The 8-6 victory and an Aspira forfeit April 30 moved the Royals to 5-3, while the loss drops the Seahawks to 4-8.