SOL National/BAL Falls in Carpenter Cup Semis

The Suburban One National/Bicentennial League squad fell to Burlington County 6-5 in Thursday’s Carpenter Cup semifinal action at Citizens Bank Park. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.

By Scott Huff

Philadelphia – The scoreboard at Citizens Bank Park illuminated a 6-5 victory for Burlington County over the Suburban One League National Conference/Bicentennial League in a Carpenter Cup semifinal game Thursday morning.  But the players for the SOL National/BAL surely did not feel like losers playing on the home field of the Philadelphia Phillies.

“It would have been awesome to win the championship, but just to be able to get to play here is awesome,” said Abington junior catcher Nick Bein, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.  “This whole experience has been awesome.  I got to meet a great group of guys from all the other teams that made up this team.”

Bein was the lone member of Abington to be selected on the team - but there was one other friendly Ghost face to be seen on the roster.  Abington veteran head coach Dave Torresani was an assistant coach for the SOL National/Bicentennial under head coach Keith Smeraglio (Holy Ghost Prep).

“It gave me a warm feeling to have Coach Torrasani be part of this,” said Bein.  “But all the coaches have been great.”

Council Rock South senior Greg Paprocki also would not trade in his Carpenter Cup experience with the 2014 team.

“Every kid dreams about a chance to play here, and I had my dream come true,” said Paprocki.  “We watch the pros play on this field, and now we get a chance to play on the same field.

“It was fun to be able to pitch to Nick Bein,” added Paprocki.  “I played against him during the season and tried to get him out, and now he is one of my teammates.  Nick was great.”

Another Golden Hawk pitcher – junior Jordan Silverman – also enjoyed the new relationship with his batterymate.

“Nick is a very good catcher,” said Silverman.  “I had to face him during the season – and he is a tough out.  But we worked well together. The coaches here let us call all the pitches, and Nick and I were on the same page.”

“It was real exciting to actually go out on this mound and pitch,” added Silverman.  “It was great that we won enough games to be able to play here.  The whole experience was surreal.”

Silverman threw a scoreless eighth and ninth on Thursday, allowing just one hit while walking one and fanning four.

One player that was unable to play on the field – but got to sit in the dugout – was Pennsbury junior Brody McFadden.  McFadden pitched in the previous game – a 13-9 SOL National/Bicentennial League win over Tri-Cape (NJ) in a game played at Richie Ashburn Field on Tuesday (6/17).

“It was really interesting to be able to meet all the new players,” said McFadden.  “There was a lot of talent on this team.”

The talent level was an item of discussion with the construction of the roster. 

The fact remains that seven of 11 players that were selected on the first team SOL National All-Conference team were not on the 2014 Carpenter Cup roster.  Brendan Campbell (Pennsbury), Justin Jacko (Pennsbury), Paul McElroy (William Tennent), and Paprocki (CR South) were all on the team.

The fact remains that seven of the 11 players that were selected on the second team in the SOL National All-Conference team were not on the 2014 Carpenter Cup roster.  Brett Kowlowski (William Tennent), Jay Mulvey (Bensalem), Ryan Shaeffer (Pennsbury), and DJ Endler (Pennsbury) were all on the team.

Zach Szmigala (Pennsbury), Nick Bein (Abington), Steve Hatala (William Tennent), Jordan Silverman (CR South) and Brody McFadden (Pennsbury) were all third team players on the 2014 Carpenter Cup roster – while Bill Ritchey (Neshaminy) was an honorable mention selection on the Cup roster.

“Honestly, the players that didn’t play in this tournament missed something,” said Paprocki.  “There were a lot of people who probably didn’t think we were going too get very far, and we played with a chip on our shoulders to get to the semifinals.  The guys who played on the field really believed in themselves, and we won some baseball games.”

“There was a lot of talent in the BAL, and I wasn’t surprised that we made a run at this,” said McFadden.  “It was a great group of players to play with, and we played great as a team.”

Pennsbury head coach Joe Pesci was another assistant coach on the SOL National/Bicentennial League staff.

“This is a great way for the seniors to end their high school career – playing at Citizens Bank Park,” said Pesci.  “There are a lot of incredible seniors on this team who might never get this chance again.  It has to be a dream comes true for most of the players.

“You always want to win a championship, but playing here was one of the goals of the players,” added Pesci.  “And we got that done.”

You play the game to have fun – but it is no fun losing - unless you are at Citizens Bank Park.

EXTRA INNINGS:  The SOL National/BAL found itself staring at a 5-0 deficit heading into the bottom of the second when it plated three runs. Highlights of the inning included a leadoff double to center by Pennsbury senior Brendan Campbell as well as a single by Bristol’s Dylan Evert and a double by Devon Prep’s Sean Phelan (RBI). Holy Ghost Prep’s Jeff Tallman and Colin Smeraglio both drew bases-loaded walks to account for the second and third runs. Burlington County scored a single run in the fourth to go on top 6-3 before the SOL National/BAL scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth inning, Abington junior Nick Bein doubled down the left field line, and Bensalem’s Jay Mulvey followed with an RBI triple to right center. In the seventh, Pennsbury’s Ryan Sheaffer and DJ Endler collected back-to-back singles, and one out later, Bein delivered an RBI single to make it a 6-5 game…Phelan (2-for-3), Justin Jacko (2-for-2) and Bein (2-for-3) led the 12-hit attack for the SOL National/BAL.

Burlington County    032 100 000   6  11  1
SOL National/BAL     003 001 100   5  12  3

E-C.Milley, B.Campbell, D.Evert, J.Silverman. LOB-Burlington 11, SOL N/B 14. 2B - C.DeLuca, B.Campbell, S.Phelan, Z.Szumigala, N.Bein. 3B-J.Mulvey. SB-S.Phelan.