Springfield (Montco) is the only SOL baseball team still alive after Friday’s District One quarterfinals.
#3 Springfield 9, #2 Bristol 3
The Spartans pounded out 12 hits while Julian Salzer turned in another strong outing on the mound to lead Springfield to an upset of Bristol in Friday’s District One AA semifinal game at Cairn University.
“It’s big” coach Dennis Primavera said. “This is only my second year, but Springfield has always had Bristol in the playoffs and has had a good record against them in the past, but this year is different.
“This year – as with a lot of other teams, we played our first league game against Cheltenham, which was our first time on our field. Other teams were in the same boat, but as a small school, we ended up practicing as we played our games. That’s how we got in shape.
“I kept on telling them – ‘We’ve had glimpses of great defense and great offense but never in the same game.’ That didn’t happen until about two weeks ago. It started to happen, and I said, ‘Just keep it up. We’re going to play ourselves into game shape, and we’ll be ready for the playoffs.’ Hopefully, that’s happening.”
Salzer threw five innings to earn the win, allowing three runs but only one earned.
“Julian was Julian,” Primavera said. “Julian had a no-hitter against PW going into the seventh inning. He had a shutout going against Wissahickon into the seventh earlier this season.”
Marten Pauwels was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Spartans offensively. Billy Hetrick was 2-for-4 with one RBI, and Mike Johnston was 2-for-3 with a double off the fence and one RBI. Ed Bacino was 2-for-2 with one RBI while Jeff Hammons was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and also, according to his coach, turned in a standout game at third base.”
“We’re at a point now where we’re putting our defense and offense together in the same game,” Primavera said. “There was a lot of good defense on the field today, and there was a ton of offense.
“The kids felt good about themselves. It’s what the kids are capable of. We play in the Suburban One, and it’s a tough league. If we had started a month earlier, we probably would have had a better record. The winter we had probably hurt a smaller school more than a bigger school, but the kids are coming together. They played a good game.”
The game had its bizarre moments, none more unusual than when Basino took the mound in relief of Salzer and one pitch later was wrongfully ejected for wearing a necklace.
“Apparently, he’s supposed to get a warning,” Primavera said. “The game was over, and the umpire came over to me and said, ‘We made an error, and I have some good news and bad news.’ I said, ‘Give me the bad news.’
“He said, ‘I made you burn one of your pitchers.’ I’m thinking – we won the game, but what’s the good news? He said, ‘The good news is we should have given the pitcher you brought in (Bacino) a warning instead of an ejection.’ Had he been ejected, he would have been suspended from the next game, but he’s not ejected. He’s eligible for the next game.”
With Bacino out of the game, Primavera called on Hammons to close it out. He threw two scoreless innings.
Springfield is scheduled to play New Hope-Solebury in Tuesday’s championship game, but it’s not exactly an even playing field since the Lions received permission to play their semifinal game on Wednesday, giving their pitching staff two extra days of rest.
“I want to have the same options my opponent does,” Primavera said. “Their number one has five days rest and ours has three days.”
Springfield 101 040 3 9-12-2
Bristol000 030 0 3-5-2
[S-4] Conestoga 6, [N-1] Cheltenham 2
The Panthers saw a memorable season come to an end Friday at the hands of a talented Conestoga squad.
“They’re a very good team,” coach Frank Decembrino said. “We were able to tie them. We had some big hits.
“We had some really hard hit balls, and they just played really good defense in the outfield. They came as advertised. They were a very good team. They were the best team we faced all season, and they just beat us.”
The Pioneers plated a single run in the top of the first, but the Panthers matched that run in the bottom of the frame. Max Perilstein drew a walk, and his courtesy runner, Amari Cathay, scored on an error to knot the score 1-1.
Conestoga plated a run in the top of the third, but again the Panthers answered – this time scoring a single run in the fourth on Perilstein’s RBI double.
Conestoga won the game with a single run in the fifth and added three more over the next two innings to bring an end to the Panthers’ season.
“We gave them some extra outs, and that’s uncharacteristic of us,” Decembrino said. “I don’t think it was mental mistakes. I think our guys were trying to do so much on every play.
“There were a few where we tried to do too much. We should have just focused on catching the ball and throwing to the right spot rather than trying to get double plays, but that’s a credit to them. They put pressure on us.”
Jake Bufo earned the win, allowing just three hits and one earned run while walking three and fanning eight.
The Panthers closed out their season with a 16-5 mark (13-1 SOL).
Conestoga 011 012 1 6-6-0
Cheltenham 010 100 0 2-3-3
[N-7] Methacton 4, [N-3] Council Rock South 1
The streaking Warriors – winners of seven straight - scored two runs in the first and two more in the second on their way to a win that propelled them into the state tournament while the Golden Hawks went home for the season.
Connor Macaulay led the Hawks with two hits, including a double. The Hawks scored their only run in the second to make it a 4-1 game, but that’s as close as they would get.
Kyle Feaster led the Warriors with a 2-for-3 effort. Kyle Lowery, TJ Tornetta and Glenn Seymour each had drove in a run for the Warriors.
Tim Carfrey earned the complete game win, allowing six hits and one run (unearned while walking none and fanning three). Jordan Silverman absorbed the loss.
The Golden Hawks closed out their season with a 14-7 record (11-3 SOL).
Methacton 220 000 0 4-7-1
Council Rock South 010 000 0 1-6-0
[N-2] Boyertown 1, [N-6] Pennridge 0
Brandon Griesemer tossed a four-hit shutout while striking out three, leading the Bears to a win that propelled them into the district semifinals. The win avenged a 4-1 season-ending loss to the Rams in last year’s district tournament.
The Bears managed just three hits off starter Joe Molettiere, who was coming off a shutout against West Chester East and pitched well enough to win on most days. Dan Long threw two scoreless innings in relief.
The Bears plated the only run they would need in the second. It came on a wild pitch, and it was Griesemer’s courtesy runner scoring game winner. Earlier in the inning, the Bears’ pitcher hit the game’s only extra base hit – a double.
Dan Shane, Joe Unangst, Tom Nuneviller and Jeff Roedell accounted for the Rams only hits.
Pennridge closed out its season with a 13-7 record (9-5 SOL).
Pennridge 000 000 0 0-4-0
Boyertown 010 000 x 1-3-1
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