The SOL American/Continental earned a 5-4 win over Delaware County in Tuesday’s Carpenter Cup semifinals to advance to Friday’s championship game. Check back to view Keith Clemens’ photos of the action.
O’Donnell, Tappen lead SOL American/Continental to Carpenter Cup final
By Jarrad Saffren
One player didn’t make the team. The other was the easiest selection.
North Penn’s Nate O’Donnell made the All-Suburban One League Continental Conference First Team in 2016.
But O’Donnell still didn’t make the SOL American/Continental’s Carpenter Cup roster. Coach Ed Wall did keep him as an alternate.
Wissahickon’s Alex Tappen, only a junior, is already committed to play baseball at the University of Virginia, one of the best programs in America. The coaches were always going to pick him as a cleanup hitter. Tappen just had to show up at tryouts.
He decided to play because he has two free weeks in June.
“The past two years I’ve had scheduling conflicts with summer baseball,” Tappen said. “So my coach (Wissahickon’s John Bernhardt) was like, ‘If you don’t have anything, this would be a great opportunity.’ I’m thankful that he did. This experience is so cool.”
Together, O’Donnell, the alternate, and Tappen, the star, made the difference in Tuesday’s Carpenter Cup semifinal against Delaware County.
SOL American/Continental led 3-2 in the top of the eighth. Tappen led off and got ahead 2-0.
“I was sitting fastball. But he tipped off a changeup,” Tappen said. “So I knew it was coming.”
This is why Tappen is a Virginia-caliber player. Sure, he’s talented. But he’s just as cerebral.
Listen…
“His (Delco pitcher Jonah Frankel) arm motion slows down,” Tappen said. “I watched him in warm-ups. He did that when he threw changeups. So I sit back, keep my weight back, and get through.”
Tappen crushed the ball over the left field wall, into the grass patch between the wall and the blue seats. SOL American/Continental took a 4-2 lead.
“I knew it was going out. I enjoyed my trip around the bases. I tried to take it in as much as possible,” Tappen said. “It’s not everyday you get to play at Citizens Bank Park, let alone hit a home run at Citizens Bank Park.”
Central Bucks South ace Dan Klepchick would pitch the last two innings. Klepchick had already thrown a scoreless inning Tuesday and three in the first two rounds.
But in the bottom of the eighth, with a man on, Harriton’s Don DiLoreto tape-measured the ball over the left field wall (Rhyme). It landed in nearly the same spot as Tappen’s home run.
“I left it up and I asked my catcher what it was. He said, ‘It didn’t spin at all,’” Klepchick said. “And it was at the belt.”
Klepchick wanted another shot.
“I really needed one,” he said. “I was pumped to go back out there.”
O’Donnell led off the top of the ninth. He turned on an inside fastball and doubled down the left field line. Central Bucks West’s Steven Gebre bunted him to third. After a walk and a fielder’s choice, O’Donnell was still at third.
Frankel bounced a curveball low and away. The catcher blocked it.
“Good thing,” said a Delco fan. “That would have been terrible if the go-ahead run scored that way.”
Frankel fired the next pitch to the backstop. O’Donnell will take it from here…
“I always look to come down heavy on the front foot, get a good read, get a good jump,” O’Donnell said. “But I didn’t get a good read on this one. I stumbled for a second.”
O’Donnell recovered, raced home, and slid under the mitt. 5-4 SOL American/Continental.
CBP’s major league dimensions aided O’Donnell.
“The backstop is so far away, that if you get by them, you’re scoring easily,” O’Donnell said.
The junior has scored three runs in three tournament games. He did not join the team until the middle of its first game last Wednesday.
Wall called O’Donnell at 3:20 p.m. The first round game started at 4. O’Donnell was at the gym. He drove home, grabbed his baseball bag, and arrived in the fourth inning. “The traffic was brutal,” O’Donnell said.
He got on base twice, scored twice, and helped SOL American/Continental overcome a 6-0 deficit.
“Some kid had to drop out at the last second. I’m not complaining,” O’Donnell said. Neither is Wall.
After O’Donnell’s mad dash, Klepchick got his second chance.
“I wasn’t letting up another run,” Klepchick said.
He didn’t. Delaware County went down in order.
“It was awesome to pitch here,” Klepchick said. “The Phillies won a World Series on that mound. So it’s pretty exciting to be out there.”
Closing/Impersonating 2008 Brad Lidge is an unfamiliar role for Klepchick. But, like any hurler, he has occasionally daydreamed about his walk-in song.
“When I came out of the bullpen I thought about how cool a sell-out crowd would be,” Klepchick said. “(Metallica’s) Enter Sandman is a cool walk-in song. But I can’t take that one from Mariano Rivera.”
Klepchick said he will continue to occasionally daydream. Hopefully, by 2024, his rookie year, he will have a song.
Back to less trivial matters. SOL American/Continental overcame an early 2-0 deficit. In the third, Souderton’s Thylar Summarell blooped an RBI single over the pitcher’s head. The ball bounced in front of the shortstop as Gebre – who had singled - charged home.
One inning later, Gebre chopped the ball behind the second base bag, scoring Souderton’s Blake Gular, who doubled to left center to lead off the frame.
The score stayed even until the seventh. Souderton’s Aaron Gulibon shut out Delco in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Gulibon gave up three hits and hit a batter. But Delco left four men on base against him. Gulibon increased his scoreless innings streak to seven in cup play.
In the top of the seventh, Central Bucks East’s Cameron Komonchak lined the ball to right, plating Upper Dublin’s Cole Swiger. Swiger doubled with one out.
“It was 3-0 and the guy threw two off-speed pitches, which was pretty bold,” Swiger said. “Then he threw one up in the zone. It was a fastball.”
Swiger smoked it down the third base line.
SOL American/Continental led 3-2. Then the fireworks started. You already know that ends well.
SOL American/Continental (3-0, Carpenter Cup) plays the Philadelphia Catholic League Friday at 10:30 a.m. at CBP.
The SOL American and Continental came together in 2005. They are now 20-10 in Carpenter Cup play. But they have never lifted the second most famous cup in sports.
SOL AMERICAN/CONTINENTAL 5, DELAWARE COUNTY 4
SOL American/Continental: Jake Reed ss 2-0-0-0, Cole Swiger cf 1-1-1-0, Luke Barnum cf 2-0-0-0, Cameron Komonchak ph/rf 3-0-2-1, Thylar Summerell 1b 2-0-1-1, Thomas Philipps ph/1b 2-0-0-0, Collin Sheehan c 2-0-0-0, Alex Tappen ph/3b 3-1-1-1, Blake Gular 3b 1-1-1-0, Justin Horn ph/ss 1-0-0-0, Noah Goldstein dh 2-0-0-0, Andrew Dietz dh 2-0-0-0, JT Breslin lf 1-0-0-0, Eric Gross c 2-0-0-0, Luke Nuneviller rf 2-0-1-0, Nate O’Donnell 2b 2-1-1-0, Steven Gebre 2-1-1-1, Randy Meehl lf 1-0-0-0, Colin Kennedy p 0-0-0-0, Aaron Guilbon p 0-0-0-0, Dan Klepchick p 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 33-5-94
Delaware County: Aden Mathes cf 3-0-1-0, Gregory Tamaccio cf 2-0-0-0, Ricky Collings 3b 3-0-0-0, Nick Cerelli 3b 2-0-1-0, Liam Bendo ss 2-0-0-0, Brandon DiChiacchio ss 2-0-0-0, Scott Hahn 1b 3-0-1-0, Ben Newbert 1b 1-1-1-0, Nick Gorman rf 2-1-1-0, Dylan Renick rf 2-0-1-0, Luke Cantwell lf 2-0-1-0, Don DiLoreto lf 2-1-1-2, Sam Freedman dh 2-1-1-1, Dominic Bertone dh 2-0-0-0, Drew Fowler c 2-0-1-0, David Shore c 1-0-1-0, Aaron Deutsch 2b 2-0-1-1, Brett Sheeran 2b 2-0-0-0, Jared Morris p 0-0-0-0, Cole Humes p 0-0-0-0, Angus Mayock p 0-0-0-0, Cameron Mathes p 0-0-0-0, Jonah Frankel p 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 37-4-12-4
SOL American/Continental 001 100 111 5-9-0
Delaware County 020 000 020 4-12-0
DP-SOL Amer/Cont 1. LOB-SOL Amer/Cont 8, Del County 8. 2B-Cole Swiger, Blake Gular, Alden Mathes. 3B-Sam Freedman. HR-Alex Tappen, Don DiLoreto. SB-Cameron Komonchak, Justin Horn, Gregory Tomaccio, Liam Bendo.
SOL American/Continental IP H R ER BB SO
Colin Kennedy 3.0 5 2 2 0 2
Aaron Gulibon 3.0 3 0 0 0 1
Dan Klepchick (W) 3.0 4 2 2 1 4
Delaware County IP H R ER BB SO
Jared Morris 3.0 2 1 1 2 5
Cole Humes 2.0 3 1 1 1 1
Angus Mayock 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
Cameron Mathes 1.0 2 1 1 0 0
Jonah Frankel (L) 2.0 2 2 2 3 0
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