North Penn, Pennsbury & CR North were winners in the District One AAAA Tournament’s second round Wednesday. To view photos of the CR North/Wissahickon game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
#15 Council Rock North 6, #2 Wissahickon 0
Noah Hartwell did it all in Wednesday’s second round upset of the tournament’s second-seeded Trojans. He not only tossed a five-hit shutout on the mound, he also had a pair of hits and drove in a pair of runs.
“He threw a gem,” coach Matt Schram said. “He had great command of not only his fastball but his off-speed pitches. He was hitting spots with his curveball.
“His pitch count was under 90 pitches. He was effective and he was efficient. Even his one walk was borderline. He was in a zone, and he’s been like that for the last couple of weeks now.”
Hartwell was the team’s closer when the season began.
“The way the season was going, we weren’t playing three games a week, so he wasn’t getting a whole lot of starts until the weather started to get a little nicer,” Schram said. “Then we started making up some games, so we had three games a week, and he became our third starter, but after watching him throw, he’s jumped up there, and you can call him our number two or you can call him our 1B with Matt Hand. Brandon McIlwain is also right there. We have 1A, 1B and 1C. We have three guys that are just throwing great.”
Great hardly covers the pitching performances Schram has received this week.
Two days after Hand threw a complete game shutout on Monday, Hartwell duplicated that feat on Wednesday.
For good measure, Hartwell delivered the game-winning hit as well, delivering a two-run single in the top of the first to spot the Indians a 2-0 lead they would never lose.
“Those two runs were all we needed,” Schram said. “Noah really really was the star of the game and with his bat. He was something special today.”
Although Hartwell didn’t need any insurance, his teammates gave it to him, tacking on four runs in the sixth for the 6-0 final. The Indians – who did not commit an error for the second straight game – are looking anything but the part of the tournament’s 15th seed.
“I always say – this is when you want to be hot,” Schram said. “You don’t want to be hot in the beginning, you don’t want to be hot in the middle – you want to be hot at this time of year.
“Right now, everything is clicking. Our pitching has been good all year, and our defense has been good all year. We spend a lot of time on our defense. Our base running has been awesome. I would say at the beginning of the year, our Achilles heel was our hitting, and now that’s what has gotten us hot.
“We’re getting clutch hitting, we’re working counts, and guys are just doing a great job at the plate.”
Leading the Indians offensively were McIlwain (2-for-3, run scored), Jared Schram (2-for-3) and Hartwell (2-for-4, 2 RBIs). Hand contributed a double and two RBIs, and Cole German had a hit and RBI.
Hartwell – in addition to allowing just five hits – struck out five and walked just one.
Matt Schilling accounted for two of Wissahickon’s five hits, finishing the day 2-for-3. Logan Willans absorbed the loss on the mound for the Trojans (14-5, 12-2 SOL).
Council Rock North (12-7, 10-4) will travel to Conestoga for a quarterfinal contest Friday. The 10th-seeded Pioneers earned a 9-5 win over 26th-seeded Harriton on Wednesday.
Council Rock North 200 004 0 6-9-0
Wissahickon 000 000 0 0-5-3
#3 Pennsbury 8, #19 Spring-Ford 2
The Falcons earned their first playoff win since 2007 on Wednesday. It is their first under coach Joe Pesci, who led the squad to its first conference title in 19 years.
“It’s big for the program,” the Falcons’ coach said. “What's the scouting report against us? It’s hard to say because we have different heroes every game.
“We have consistency from guys up and down the lineup.”
Logan Buell was one of Wednesday’s heroes, allowing four hits and two runs (one earned) while walking three and striking out two and earning the complete game win.
“This is only Logan’s second start of the year,” Pesci said. “He’s 3-0 with a win in relief against Council Rock early. He won the title-clinching game against CR South, and he won this playoff game and he has two saves this year.
“We’re afforded clutch hitting, guys up and down the lineup that compete and a deep pitching staff that we’re comfortable throwing. It’s huge for this program, but we hope we’re not done.”
The Rams got on the scoreboard with a single run in the first. That 1-0 lead stood until the bottom of the second when the Falcons’ offense came to life and also received an assist from the Rams’ defense.
Brady McFadden got things started with a one-out single, and that was followed by several costly Ram miscues. Kyle Marshall delivered a two-run single, and Billy Bethel drove in a run with a single, giving the Falcons a 3-1 lead.
That lead grew to 5-1 in the bottom of the third. McFadden collected a one-out single, and Logan Buell drew a walk, setting the stage for a two-run double by Tom Augustin.
The Falcons loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth inning but couldn’t push a run across. The Rams plated an unearned run in the top of the sixth, but the Falcons put the game out of reach with three runs in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Buell and Freddie Schrandt both had RBI singles. A third run crossed the plate on a passed ball for the 8-2 final.
“It’s big because Spring-Ford was a 19 seed, but they won their PAC-10 Tournament, and this kid that pitched today – (Alex) Gouveia – was phenomenal in that game,” Pesci said. “Spring-Ford has a storied program.
“They were the preseason number one in the state by PBR and a couple of other people. They have a solid group of kids that are going to play at the next level.
“This is the best team from one through 24 that we’ve had. These kids battle. The games we’ve lost we’ve made mistakes and beat ourselves. When we can play our game, we have all the confidence.”
Endler (2-for-4, one run) and McFadden (2-for-4, two runs) led the Falcons’ nine-hit attack. Augustin (1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBIs) and Marshall (1-for-3, 2 RBIs) also came up big.
Pennsbury (17-4, 12-2 SOL) will face another PAC-10 team in Friday’s quarterfinal round when the Falcons will host 11th-seeded Owen J Roberts, a 6-3 winner over #6 Upper Dublin.
Spring-Ford 100 001 0 2-4-4
Pennsbury 032 003 x 8-9-3
#4 North Penn 9, #13 Hatboro-Horsham 3
In a contest that saw the Continental Conference rivals combine for 24 hits, it was the Knights – who collected 14 of them – making the most of their opportunities.
“I know that Hatboro-Horsham has a very good pitching staff, and they throw a lot of strikes – they don’t walk you,” coach Kevin Manero said. “So we wanted our guys to go out there aggressive today and swing, and they did that.
“I thought it was probably our best offensive output of the year.
The Knights took some of the suspense out of Wednesday’s second round district game early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning.
“To be able to put four runs on the board against a team who you only managed to scrape two off of the entire game the last time you played them and only one the first time you played them – those guys in the middle part of the order that drove in our runs in that inning, I think that was the most important part of the game,” Manero said.
The Hatters got one of those back in the top of the second, but that’s as close as they would get.
North Penn all but put the game out of reach with a five-run fifth before the Hatters plated single runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.
“I expected a very competitive game, and I think in the late innings it did get a little competitive again,” Manero said. “They were a couple of hits away from really changing the result of the game at the end, but I liked our approach.
“I thought we were aggressive, I thought we drove the ball well in the gaps, so ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s probably the right time of the year for the bats to start to wake up. We had some guys hit the ball hard today.”
No one hit the ball better than Alex Peterson and Doug Apple. Both had three hits with Apple hitting a pair of doubles and Peterson also contributing a double. Apple had a pair of RBIs and a run scored while Peterson had one RBI and two runs scored.
The top three batters in North Penn’s lineup combined for seven hits with Peterson, who bats out of the two hole, accounting for three while Mike Christy (2-for-4, double, one run) and Mason Nadeau (2-for-4, RBI, one run) also came up big.
Kadar Namey was 1-for-2 with a double and two RBIs.
The Hatters received some standout offensive performances of their own. Alec Blyler was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double and one RBI. Alex Kleidon (2-for-3) and Joe Simmons (2-for-2) also turned in multi-hit efforts. Chris Crookham had a double.
James Witner earned the win, allowing eight hits and three runs in 5.1 innings of work. Paul Haynie threw an inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief, allowing two hits.
Ryan Murphy absorbed the loss for the Hatters (13-10, 10-4 SOL).
North Penn (16-3, 12-2) will host fifth-seeded Boyertown – a 9-0 winner over Perkiomen Valley – in a quarterfinal contest Friday.
Hatboro-Horsham 010 011 0 3-10-2
North Penn 400 500 x 9-14-0
#11 Owen J Roberts 6, #6 Upper Dublin 3
The visiting Wildcats plated three runs in the top of the first and added a single run in the top of the fourth before the Flying Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the fourth when Christian Huckfeldt delivered a two-run single to make it a 4-2 game.
That’s as close as the Cardinals would get the rest of the way as the Wildcats added single runs in the fifth and sixth before Upper Dublin scored one in the seventh.
Cole Swiger was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored to lead the Cardinals, who collected just six hits.
Huckfeldt was charged with the loss on the mound for the Cardinals (13-8, 12-2 SOL).
Owen J Roberts 300 111 0 6-11-1
Upper Dublin 000 200 1 3-6-3
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