For Lower Macungie this season, a strong roster of pitchers made the offense have to work a little less for the team to still be successful.

The result was a team that finished 15-9 overall, won its first Lehigh Valley Legion League tournament in memory, and got to play in the Region 2 tournament in Quakertown.

The pitching staff started with three primary pitchers who were the only three pitchers on the team to throw 20 or more innings and also the only three pitchers to finish with an ERA under three.

Ryan Hummell was the team’s ERA leader and also led the team with the lowest WHIP (0.841) and allowed opponents to hit just .167 against him, the lowest mark on the team. He and Cole Moreau tied for the most innings pitched at 27 1/3 innings this season, with Robbie Barnes also being one of the workhorses for Lower Mac with 23 1/3 innings.

Hummell and Moreau were also the only two pitchers on the team to throw seven-inning complete games this season. Hummel’s complete game came against Whitehall-Coplay in early July when he threw seven innings with just five hits given up as he held the Zephyrs to just one run.

A day before Hummel’s gem, Moreau had thrown a complete game as he shutout North Parkland and gave up just three hits and two walks while striking out six hitters in the game. It was that kind of dominance that helped the Mustangs win games not just during the regular season, but in the league tournament where pitching depth is especially important.

Barnes came close twice with five innings against North Parkland and six innings against Salisbury. Against the Falcons, Barnes struck out a season-high seven hitters.

In addition to the big three, Dylan Freed threw nine innings with a 3.89 ERA and Chase Simmons also threw nine innings and finished the year with a 3.11 ERA for the Mustangs.

As a team, Lower Macungie posted a 3.58 ERA and at the plate, hit .268 as a team.

Barnes again was a mainstay as he and Cameron Pengelly both hit .400 on the season with Pengelly posting a 1.051 OPS and Barnes finishing with a .927 OPS. Among players with at least 30 plate appearances, Ben Roth hit .300, Aaron Fleetwood finished at .290, and Simmons hit .283 for Macungie.

The roster lacked power with no home runs, but it did produce 24 doubles with Pengelly having a quarter of them, followed by Barnes with four and Fleetwood and Moreau both having three doubles. The only triple on the team was by Barnes.

When it came to producing runs, 10 players had five or more RBI to spread out the production. In scoring runs, Fleetwood was the guy to look to as he scored 17 times over the 24 games. Roth and Jaden Betz both scored 11 runs and Barnes finished with 10.

Lower Macungie knocked off South Parkland, the regular season champion twice during the season. The second win was in the tournament championship game on Parkland’s home field