Pennsbury and North Penn were winners in SOL baseball action Wednesday.
Pennsbury 6, Council Rock North 5 (8 innings)
It didn’t take a whole lot of time for the Falcons to bring an end to a resumed game against the Indians that was halted because of darkness on Tuesday after seven innings with the two teams deadlocked 5-5.
After Logan Buell tossed a scoreless top of the eighth, Pennsbury’s Pat Lawrence collected a one-out single and then advanced two bases on an errant pick-off attempt that sailed to the fence. With Lawrence on third base, Ethan Mackenzie picked up his fourth hit of the game, plating Lawrence and giving the Falcons the walk-off victory.
Buell, who struck out one and faced just four batters, earned the win in relief.
“We used four pitchers in the game,” Pennsbury coach Joe Pesci said. “Brody McFadden started, and he, Zack Conley and Andrew Gilbert all threw about two innings.
“We were able to make some pinch hitting changes, some pinch running changes at crucial times because we had enough pitching to rotate those guys through.”
The eighth inning represented the completion of a game that saw the Falcons – sparked by seven hits, including three doubles – open up a 5-0 lead after two innings only to watch the Indians answer with four runs in the third and one more in the fourth to knot the score 5-5.
The Indians scored on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh, but the Falcons answered in the bottom of the inning when DJ Endler, who led off the inning, blasted a 3-2 pitch over the right field fence for a solo home run to knot the score.
Twenty-four hours later, the Falcons needed just one inning to bring an end to the contest.
“As a coach, you try to motivate in different ways and try to get your team to have an edge,” Pesci said. “I look at the book, and we’ve scored a lot of runs in the first two innings and the last two innings of games, but in the middle, we’re getting content and pulling up a little bit. We’ve been starting great and finishing great.
“I told them, ‘This is our day. You can look at it as – it’s the first inning of a new day or the last inning of a game, and that’s when we’ve been scoring all our runs.’
“It’s a testament to the kids that they don’t pack it in and give up. They still fight. DJ Endler’s home run to tie it in the seventh inning – he was our savior there. Pat and Ethan came up with big hits today.”
Mackenzie finished the game 4-for-5 with a double and the game-winning RBI. Endler was 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs. Tyrone Hodges (2-for-4) also had a multi-hit day. Buell (1-for-2, double, RBI, run), Zach Szumigala (1-for-3, double, RBI, run) and Brody McFadden (1-for-3, two RBIs) also made important contributions.
For the Indians, Cole Hofmann was 2-for-4.
Pennsbury (4-1, 2-1 SOL) will travel to Bensalem on Thursday while Council Rock North (1-3, 1-1) will host Harry S Truman.
Council Rock North 004 010 10 6-8-1
Pennsbury 410 000 11 7-12-6
North Penn 9, Central Bucks East 0
Sparked by a pair of standout performances on the mound, the Knights continued their impressive start to the season with a shutout win of the visiting Patriots Wednesday.
James Witner started and threw five shutout innings, allowing just two hits. He walked two and fanned six. Colin Healy closed it out with two shutout innings of one-hit ball.
The Knights, who played flawless defense behind Witner and Healy, scored all the runs they would need in a two-run second, but they didn’t stop there, adding runs in each of the next four innings. They collected just seven hits but benefitted from four East miscues and four walks.
Mason Nadeu had a productive game out of the leadoff spot, finishing the day 2-for-3 with a run scored. Jared Melone was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Kadar Namey was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Mike Christy and Johnny Posavec both scored two runs for the Knights.
North Penn (4-0, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Quakertown on Thursday while Central Bucks East (1-3, 0-2) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Friday.
Central Bucks East 000 000 0 0-3-4
North Penn 021 231 x 9-7-0
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