Murrysville’s Owen Sinclair belts 3 homers in Junior Legion championship game
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Owen Sinclair had a memorable game July 11 in the Westmoreland County Youth Legion championship finals.
One he’ll always remember.
Sinclair had three home runs, drove in six runs and helped Murrysville defeat Penn Township, 8-2, to win the title.
All three of his home runs went over the center field fence. He only had one home run all season.
“I’ve had three-home-run days, but not a three-home-run game,” said Sinclair, a junior-to-be at Franklin Regional. “It’s pretty special.”
Sinclair was the starting designated hitter for the high school team. He hit .340 with five doubles and 13 RBIs. For the Junior Legion team, he hit .353 with 17 RBIs, 13 runs scored and five stolen bases.
He also expects to start at linebacker for the football team and has a chance to be the starting center.
“That’s a special game for him,” Murrysville coach Bob Saddler said. “I hope he has more special games. You don’t see many three-home-run games.
“Owen does a nice job staying on the ball. We knew he’s capable of hitting with power. We saw that in the high school season.”
By reaching the championship game, both teams qualified for the regional tournament beginning July 22 at Homer City. Penn Township is the returning league, regional and state champion.
“We’re ready to go,” Saddler said. “We got off to a slow start (1-5), but we’ve been hot down the stretch.”
Murrysville had won eight of its past nine games and is now 9-6 overall.
“It took us time to jell,” Saddler said. “Now the players know their roles and are familiar with what we want them to do as a staff. We were learning how to play together. Now they know the system.”
Anthony Mitchell, who Saddler calls an up-and-coming eighth grader, leads Murrysville with a .500 average. He has 19 hits, including three doubles, and 11 RBIs. Luke Williams, a top freshman, is hitting .429 with 15 hits, a double, three triples and 12 runs scored.
Chase Lemke hit .353 with 12 hits and 12 runs scored, Jonah Willochell hit .333, and Brady Yarbinetz hit .312.
The top pitchers for Murrysville have been N.J. Ramchandran, Lemke and Willochell.
“This is an exciting time of the year for the players,” Saddler said. “We’re giving the players a chance to continue the season. We are all in at this point.”