Jarrad Saffren recaps the District One AAAA games featuring SOL teams while Scott Huff covered the Springfield-Devon Prep Class AA title game. To view Keith Clemens’ photos of the Springfield/Devon Prep game, please visit the Photo Gallery...CLICK HERE.
By Jarrad Saffren
We started the season with a simple, annual question: Which league is better? The Suburban One League National Conference or the Suburban One League Continental Conference?
On Thursday, Council Rock North and Pennridge will settle the matter, sort of. The Indians and Rams won District One Class AAAA semifinals on Tuesday.
The final will be all-SOL for the second straight year. CR North beat North Penn in 2015.
“That speaks to the strength of our leagues. The western part of the state is known for football. I’ve always said the eastern part of Pennsylvania is baseball country,” North coach Matt Schram said. “All of our areas have strong little leagues. It starts there and goes right up through middle school and high school.”
“You have 14 league games and it does not matter who you play. If you take one lightly, you will lose,” Pennridge coach Tom Nuneviller said. “We didn’t care about playing higher seeds in the playoffs because we got through our league.”
Schram and Nuneviller said Thursday’s game will decide…something, maybe.
“It’s hard to say one game will answer that question,” Nuneviller said. “But it’s a big one and it can help answer it.”
“There are so many factors that go into one game on one day,” Schram said. “But the winner will have bragging rights.”
I could stop this introduction here. But Schram has more effusive things to say about the SOL.
“This is par for the course, having two SOL teams playing each other. It’s not just a banner season,” Schram said. “We went 10-4 last year and won the district. They went 9-5 this year. It’s amazing that a team could lose four or five games in its league and win the district title.”
Schram does not know anything about this year’s Pennridge team. Nuneviller does not know anything about North. The coaches do know each other, though. They also follow each other in the standings.
“Tommy’s teams are always well-coached,” Schram said.
“North has led its league all year for a reason,” Nuneviller said.
North and Pennridge had to win to get here. Tuesday’s results and recaps are below.
Upper Dublin played as well, in the playback round.
District One Class AAAA Playoffs
#6 Council Rock North 2, #2 Downingtown West 1
Council Rock North beat a higher seed for the second straight game.
North crushed No. 3 seed Upper Dublin 10-0 in the quarterfinals. Now the Indians are one win away from their second straight district title. North’s baseball program had never even reached two straight district title games. Council Rock didn’t either, before splitting into two high schools in 2002-03.
“It’s huge for us. This is the most important thing for us,” North ace Matt Hand said. “The fact that it hasn’t been done before at our school means even more to us. And the fact that we are seniors, this is our last go at it, makes it even bigger.”
“I can’t wait. I just can’t wait for it,” closer CJ Kilgarriff said. “Hopefully we can repeat.”
Hand and Kilgarriff are seniors. So are five other position starters and two designated hitters (Juliano Kovalcik and James Closser platoon).
They have been the core of two district finalist and state qualifying teams. But on Tuesday, one of their supporting actors, sophomore Cavan Tully, got the biggest hit.
The score was uno-uno in the top of the fifth. Tully stepped to the plate with pinch-runner Cole Olshavsky at second. Tully barreled an 0-1 fastball to center as Olshavsky galloped home.
“I did my job,” Tully said. “It felt amazing.”
“It was perfect timing for him to take care of business,” Schram said.
In the bottom of the fifth, Downingtown West’s John Paul Bell singled, stole second, and ran to third on a ground out to short.
Schram waved his infielders in. They inched up to the grass. Hand fired a fastball on the inside corner. Mike Mollenhauer popped the ball up behind first base. Kilgarriff, playing second, dashed over and caught the ball.
After a walk, Hand beamed another fastball inside. JJ Freeman chopped it to Kilgarriff, who threw to first for the last out. The key shutdown inning was Downingtown West’s last chance.
Kilgarriff relieved Hand in the sixth and looked like Koji Uehara circa 2013, or Brad Lidge circa 2008, or Mariano Rivera circa ever.
The righty retired six straight batters on 17 pitches. He struck out the last two in the sixth with his plummeting, broken elevator of a slider.
“My slider was really messing with people. They were out on their front foot. Even if they hit it, it would have been a weak ground ball,” Kilgarriff said.
In the seventh, Kilgarriff gunned a fastball on the outside corner to strike out the last batter. “I had my best stuff today. I’ve been throwing harder than before,” Kilgarriff said.
Kilgarriff has not allowed a run in six playoff innings.
“I feel good. I can pitch any day of the week,” Kilgarriff said.
Hand earned his ninth win of 2016 after allowing one run in five innings. He gave up six hits, two walks, and threw 96 pitches. But the Whippets went 1-for-11 with men on base.
“As the season progresses, teams hit better. You can’t expect to blow the ball past people. They had really good at-bats today,” Hand said. “I had them 1-2, 0-2 and they fouled balls off and got it to 3-2. They laid off a lot of pitches that were right around the zone. But our defense was great.”
North made one error after making none against Upper Dublin.
Downingtown West’s only run came on a solo homer in the first. Bell crushed an inside fastball over the scoreboard in right center.
North tied the game in the second on Closser’s RBI single. Chase D’Arcangelo, Tyler Nowmos, and Closser all singled with two outs. D’Arcangelo scored the run.
The 2016 Indians have won four straight games. The 2015-16 Indians have won eight straight district playoff games.
Did I mention that North (20-3) plays Pennridge on Thursday?
Gavin Ferrandino, Seth Leuz, and Kilgarriff are the possible starting pitchers for the Indians. Ferrandino pitched four scoreless innings against Upper Dublin. Leuz has not pitched in the playoffs.
Council Rock North 0-1-0-0-1-0-0 2
Downingtown West 1-0-0-0-0-0-0 1
#17 Pennridge 3, #5 Boyertown 0
Pennridge beat a higher seed for the fourth straight game.
The Rams beat No. 16 seed Garnet Valley in the first round, No. 1 seed Interboro in the second round, No. 9 seed Marple Newtown in the quarterfinals, and No. 5 seed Boyertown in the semifinals.
“Nothing seems too hard after the league schedule we play,” Nuneviller said.
Pennridge will have to beat another higher seed, No. 6 CR North, to win its first district title in 29 years.
Nuneviller played centerfield on that 1987 team, and remembers how different winning felt in that era.
“We didn’t understand it as well as kids do now. Our coach would just tell us who and where we were playing every day,” Nuneviller said. “Now these guys follow it online and can see the bracket whenever they want. They don’t need me to tell them.”
That’s how long ago it was. The last time Pennridge won a district title, “online” was still a science fiction word. The drought is somewhat surprising. The Rams have been successful under Nuneviller. They won the SOL Continental in 2009 and ’11, went 9-5 in league play in five of the last seven years, and lost the district title game in 2013.
“It’s hard to win a district title. You have to get hot at the right time,” Nuneviller said. “This team is.”
Starter Ian Kacergis pitched a four-hitter on Tuesday.
“Ian had everything working. His fastball changeup, everything,” Nuneviller said. “They only threatened in one inning.”
Boyertown had men on first and third in the fourth. But Kacergis retired the next two batters. He set down 11 of the last 12 after the fourth. Kacergis improved to 2-0 in the district playoffs. He also beat Interboro.
Kacergis’ performance allowed Nuneviller to keep closer Dan Long at shortstop.
“That makes our defense so much better,” Nuneviller said. “Dan made so many fantastic plays today. He’s amazing.”
Pennridge scored three runs in the top of the third. Mitch McLeod and Andrew Fantaskey hit infield singles. Then Joe Robinson and Kyle Yoder stroked RBI singles. Chase Bifolco scored the third run on a delayed steal play.
Pennridge (17-7) plays CR North Thursday in a baseball game.
Pennridge 0-0-3-0-0-0-0 3
Boyertown 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0
#10 Spring-Ford 9, #3 Upper Dublin 0
We heard it all season: “Spring-Ford has that one pitcher who’s unbeatable.”
Upper Dublin ran into him.
Conor Larkin gave up three hits in six innings. He also struck out nine.
“Larkin was A-plus. He has a fantastic fastball for a junior. And he was throwing his curve for a strike,” Upper Dublin coach Ed Wall said. “He was tough to hit, that’s for sure. He’s one of the toughest pitchers we’ve faced all year, if not the toughest.”
Larkin’s fastball clocks in the high 80s. He has reached 90.
In the fourth, the Rams - who pounded 13 hits in the game - plated three runs to make it 5-0. They added four more runs in the fifth.
The playback semifinal loss ends Upper Dublin’s 2016 season. The Flying Cardinals were outscored 19-0 in their last two district playoff games. They lost 10-0 to CR North in the quarterfinals.
“Council Rock North’s pitchers were really solid. I was also real impressed with their bats 1-9. They didn’t give us anything, didn’t chase anything, or swing at curves,” Wall said. “And everything they hit was gap to gap.”
“Then we ran into Larkin, who’s a complete buzz saw. He made it tough to make contact,” Wall said. “Plus everything Spring-Ford hit seemed to fall. They are a good, well-coached team though.”
UD still enjoyed a banner 2016.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” Wall said. “Getting a win in the playoffs and playing past Memorial Day, there’s something to be said for that.”
The Cardinals also won their second straight SOL American championship. Wall’s 2012 Cardinals made states and lost to La Salle, the eventual champion, in the first round. “Other than that, this team got the furthest. So they were the second best I’ve had here,” Wall said. “They were both great teams with a lot of talent. Last year too. Coaching these guys was a lot of fun.”
Upper Dublin will lose eight seniors, including two starting outfielders, two starting infielders, and top catcher Thomas Juelke.
Cole Swiger and Conor McFadden—UD’s top two pitchers—are part of that gang of eight.
“They had a fantastic four years,” Wall said.
Wall kept Swiger and McFadden on varsity as freshmen in 2013. The decision paid off.
“It got them ready and ended up helping us win back-to-back conference titles,” Wall said. “Hats off to them for a lot of hard work.”
Shortstop Justin Horn, pitcher Jason Greene, second baseman Thomas Reilly, and outfielder JT Breslin will be back in 2017.
“We’ll have some depth,” Wall said. “The first question is always, ‘What’s our rotation going to look like?’ This year’s fell into place with Cole and Conor stepping up. Next year, Justin, Jason, and Tommy should be the core.”
Upper Dublin (14-7) will play somebody next March.
Spring-Ford 0-1-1-3-4-0-0 9
Upper Dublin 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0
#1 Devon Prep 4, #3 Springfield Township 2
By Scott Huff
West Chester – Springfield senior center fielder Corey Cottone slowly walked off the field after the Spartans dropped a 4-2 contest to top-seeded Devon Prep in the PIAA District One Class AA championship game played at West Chester Henderson. The loss ended the season for Springfield as a team and culminated a Spartan career for Cottone.
“This isn’t really what we came here for,” said Cottone with the district silver medal dangling around his neck. “We wish we could have done better. The scoreboard tells the story.”
Cottone – who was on base all three times, stole a base, scored a run and drove home a run - was the lone bright spot in a Springfield lineup that managed just two hits off Devon Prep ace Danny Brace.
“Corey has been great all year – an all-league outfielder,” said Springfield head coach Dennis Primavera. “He, along with the other seniors on this team, carried us late in the season and got us to this game.
“This was a very good high school baseball game,” added Primavera. “The game was there to be had – but they were the ones that came up with the big plays and the timely hitting.”
Springfield came up with a run without a hit in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Cottone was hit by a pitch to open the inning, moved to second on a stolen base, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Kelly and scored on a groundout by Matt Gauss.
Devon Prep knotted the score in its half of the third inning – not without some controversy. Evan Chambers led off the Prep inning with a double and Tony Gallo lifted a fly ball to deep center field where Cottone caught the ball and fired a strike to third baseman Jack Cornely. Cornely applied the tag – and the close call did not go in the Spartans’ favor as the umpire emphatically gave the safe sign.
Primavera came out of the dugout to question the call – and the Springfield fans along the third base line let their opinions be known to the umpire.
“I really couldn’t see too much,” said Cottone. “I saw the back of the runner, and let it go. It was close.”
Chambers would score the tying run moments later on a groundout.
Springfield regained the lead in the fifth inning – an inning that featured the only hits of the game for the Spartans.
Collin Criniti opened the inning with a single and one out later scored on a blistering double off the bat of Cottone. The 2-1 Spartan lead, though, would not last long.
In the bottom of the inning, Devon Prep found itself facing Springfield ace Nick Pave. Pave – pitching in relief of an effective Gauss – was un-Pave like as Prep loaded the bases with no outs on a double, an infield hit, and a walk. Pave then appeared to work out of the inning with an infield pop out and a strikeout, but a two-out blooper that was misplayed in the outfield resulted in the game winning runs.
“It was a goofy game in a lot of ways, and that was a goofy way to lose the game,” said Primavera. “But there is no way that I can complain about the effort and enthusiasm we played with today – and all year.
“We have had to play a lot of small ball this year to get us where we are,” added Primavera. “It just wasn’t enough today.”
The second place finisher in the PIAA Class AA tournament does not get a shot at the state tournament. On this day, the medals are the only consolation prize.
Even if Corey Cottone didn’t really come to the title game just to earn that silver medal.
Springfield Spartans 0-0-1-0-1-0-0 * 2 2 0
Devon Prep Tide 0-0-1-1-2-0-x * 4 9 2
Springfield
Cottone cf 2-1-1-1
Kelly 2b 2-0-0-0
Gauss p-rf 3-0-0-1
Jamison c 2-0-0-0
Pauwels ss 3-0-0-0
Dahme dh 3-0-0-0
Dolan rf 0-0-0-0
Pave p 0-0-0-0
Francyk 1b 3-0-0-0
Criniti lf 3-1-1-0
Cornely 3b 3-0-0-0
Totals 24-2-2-2
Devon Prep
Gallo cf 4-1-3-0
Wright 2b 4-1-1-1
O’Reilly lf 1-0-0-0
Skolnicki rf 3-0-0-0
Bevilaqua ss 3-1-1-0
Czachin dh 3-0-1-2
Loftus 1b 3-0-2-0
Piontek c 2-0-0-0
Chambers 3b 3-1-1-0
Totals 26-4-9-3
Springfield Inn. H R ER K W
Matt Gauss 4.0 5 2 2 2 1
Nick Pave (LP) 2.0 4 2 2 1 1
Devon Prep
Danny Brace (WP) 7.0 2 2 2 4 2
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