![\"Steven](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DTD-L-DELCOFINAL-0808-37.jpg\")
Steven Wells belts a home run during Wayne\u2019s 21-2 victory over Upper Darby Thursday night to clinch the Delco League championship. (PETE BANNAN\/MediaNews Group)<\/p>\nMARPLE TWP. \u2013 Steven Wells has been a Delco League fixture for nine summers, the last six wearing a Wayne uniform.<\/p>\n
While the league gets younger every year, the veteran first baseman keeps finding himself in the middle of championship celebrations.<\/p>\n
Thursday night, Wells helped Wayne capture its record 20th Delco League title. Wayne buried two-time defending champion Upper Darby with a 10-run first inning and cruised to a 21-2 victory to complete a sweep in the best-of-five championship series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably ranks up there at the top,\u201d Wells said. \u201cHonestly, this year has been a bit of a struggle. I think for us, offensively, we\u2019ve left too many people on base, and I think when we finally have our whole offense together, like tonight \u2026 damn, it just explodes.<\/p>\n
A year after losing to Upper Darby in five games, Wayne got even in emphatic fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were 17-7-3 in the regular season and got to the playoffs, took Ridley to five games, which was an intense series,\u201d Wells said. \u201cAnd then to come here and have the first two games be close with Upper Darby as expected, but this last one we kind of let the floodgates open. So, this championship ranks pretty high up there just because of how we were able to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steven Wells belts a home run during Wayne\u2019s 21-2 victory over Upper Darby Thursday night to clinch the Delco League championship. (PETE BANNAN\/MediaNews Group)<\/p>\n
The first inning dragged on for about 25 minutes. A merry-go-round of Wayne players crossed home plate. For Upper Darby, it probably felt longer.<\/p>\n
By the time it ended, Wayne had all but reclaimed the Charlie Kress trophy, thanks in large part to finals MVP Chris Schaller started<\/p>\n
Schaller, the third batter of the game, unloaded on a Ben Mutz pitch and crushed a three-run homer to give Wayne a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur pitching has brought us a long way this season, so it felt good to kind of get out there early and score a bunch of runs,\u201d said Schaller, a Garnet Valley graduate and rising sophomore at the University of Richmond. \u201cThe three-run bomb \u2026 to get the first three guys home set the tone. To go up 3-0 right away with no outs, felt great. It was an incredible first inning.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inning only snowballed from there. Wayne sent 15 hitters to the plate, knocked Mutz out of the game after eight hitters and forced the Blue Sox to use three hurlers to escape the inning. Only three of Wayne\u2019s 10 runs were earned, but every batter grinded out tough ABs against an Upper Darby pitching staff that struggled to throw strikes and seemed to be running on fumes from the opening pitch. Blue Sox pitchers walked four batters and hit two in the first.<\/p>\n
Ben Milligan stroked a two-run single. Matt Kane forced home a run with a bases-loaded walk. Ayden Frey ripped a two-run double to cap the eruption at 10-0.<\/p>\n
The Blue Sox showed their championship mettle in the bottom of first. Longtime standout Sammy Burman singled home a run and scored on an error as the two-time defending champs trimmed the deficit to 10-2.<\/p>\n
But Wayne didn\u2019t want to give the Blue Sox any ideas that they had a shot at an epic comeback.<\/p>\n
The lefty Wells launched a solo homer to center field to lead off the second inning, one of those towering blasts Wells has been known for in the Delco League for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m nursing a little bit of a leg injury right now, so being able to turn efficiently hasn\u2019t been really fun lately,\u201d Wells said. \u201cBut that one, I was just trying to let the ball travel and I got a lot of it. Felt pretty good to get.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Wayne's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DTD-L-DELCOFINAL-0808-2.jpg\")
Wayne\u2019s Chris Schaller, right, was announced as MVP of the championship series. Schaller had three hits, including a three-run homer, and six RBIs Thursday\u2019s title clincher. (PETE BANNAN\/MediaNews Group)<\/p>\n
It also reflected the mindset Wayne brought into Game 3, after rallying from a three-run deficit in Game 2 and watching veteran lefty ace Luke Zimmerman grit through a complete game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like all year we\u2019ve kind of been hesitant, letting a lot of first-pitch strikes go by,\u201d Wells said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t really attacking the baseball, but tonight from the very start we knew we couldn\u2019t let them get on top of us. We\u2019ve got to swing early and attack the fastballs and have good at bats. I think we did that tonight, and it was great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third inning was like a three-song encore from your favorite band. Wayne batted around again, sending 14 hitters to the plate and scoring eight times. Frey doubled home a run before adding an RBI single in the inning. Danny Braslow chipped in an RBI single. Eliot Dix collected a hit, a walk and drove in two runs.<\/p>\n
Frey was 4-for-5 with four RBIs. Schaller finished 3-for-5 with six RBIs and was named the championship series MVP. Milligan went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and four runs scored.<\/p>\n
Wells was 3-for-4 with a homer, two RBIs and four runs scored. Drew Van Horn scored three runs after drawing two walks.<\/p>\n
Kane, who steered Wayne\u2019s pitching staff with aplomb all season, contributed an RBI on a bases-loaded walk in the first inning. Leadoff man Cole Lombardo scored twice.<\/p>\n
![\"Wayne's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DTD-L-DELCOFINAL-0808-4.jpg\")
Wayne\u2019s Ben Milligan knocks in two runs in a 10-run first inning. (PETE BANNAN\/MediaNews Group)<\/p>\n
Perhaps lost beneath all the offense was another solid performance from Wayne\u2019s pitching staff. Blake Havertine, a rising Radnor senior, settled down after the first inning and earned the victory. He allowed four hits and one earned run over three innings while striking out three without issuing a walk.<\/p>\n
Koll Peichel, the 2021 Daily Times Player of the Year from Strath Haven, and Marc Garcia combined to finish the final four innings.<\/p>\n
The win capped a 23-9-3 season for Wayne and delivered the league\u2019s 20th championship to the Delco League\u2019s most decorated franchise. It was Brian Fili\u2019s seventh title as Wayne\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n
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