CR North advanced to the District One AAAA title game with its win over Owen J Roberts while Pennsbury kept its season alive with a win over Conestoga. Springfield fell to Devon Prep in the District One AA title game. To view photos of the Springfield/Devon Prep game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
DISTRICT ONE AA
#1-1 Devon Prep 4, #1-2 Springfield Township 3
The Spartans came up just short in their bid for a fifth consecutive district title, falling to a Devon Prep squad that is ranked eighth in the latest Philadelphia Inquirer Southeastern PA Top 25.
“It was a close competitive game,” coach Dennis Primavera said. “Both teams made really good plays. It was a great baseball game.
“We practiced well. I don’t know if we could have done anything different to prepare them. I told them that the mystique of Devon Prep was just that – a mystique, and that they were as good as them. It was true – they believed me, and they played that way. It was a good game.”
The Tide benefitted from a Spartan error to plate an unearned run in the second. They added a single run in the third and two more in the fourth to go on top 4-0, but the Spartans came roaring back, plating three runs in the fifth to make it a 4-3 game. Chris Binet delivered the inning’s big blow – a two-run double. Julian Salzer drove in the third run with a single.
“We had chances in the sixth and seventh also,” Primavera said. “We only had one error. It was in the second inning, and it came back to haunt us.
“Still, we had chances. The seniors stepped up. The younger kids faltered a little bit in the later innings, but that’s a learning process.
“It was a good game. They had chances, we had chances. Both teams played good defense. We were ready, they were ready. It was just one of those things.”
Binet led the Spartans with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate. Springfield held an 8-5 advantage in hits but came up just short on the scoreboard. Salzer, despite another strong outing, absorbed the loss on the mound.
Primavera bids farewell to eight seniors who were the heart and soul of this year’s squad.
“They were a pretty tight-knit group,” the Spartans’ coach said. “They realized what had to be done to succeed.
“Within the past three weeks, they really stepped up toward the end of the regular season, and the younger kids followed. It was something that was contagious, and it was a good thing.”
The Spartans closed out the year with a 10-9 record (6-8 SOL).
Springfield Township000 030 0 3-8-1
Devon Prep 011 200 x 4-5-1
DISTRICT ONE AAAA
#1-15 Council Rock North 10, #11 Owen J Roberts 6
Owen J Roberts spent the opening week of district play creating havoc for SOL squads. Three times the Wildcats faced SOL teams, three times they knocked them off. The Indians brought an emphatic end to that mini-streak with their no-doubt-about-it win over the Wildcats. The win vaulted the Indians into Thursday’s district title game against North Penn and keeps the team’s magical postseason run alive.
“Today at the game, a couple of people asked me about being the number 15 seed, and I never really thought about it,” coach Matt Schram said. “I guess it is quite an accomplishment, but when you’re in it like we are, we’re kind of assuming we should be where we are, but looking at it from a different window, it is quite an accomplishment, especially considering that two weeks before the season ended, we weren’t even in the playoffs. We weren’t even close to making the playoffs.”
The Indians closed out the season on a tear, and they’ve been unstoppable in their first four district games, outscoring their opponents 34-7 with five of those runs coming in the seventh inning on Tuesday when the outcome had long since been decided.
“You know what – they’re very confident,” Schram said. “They’re confident, but they’re also working really hard.
“You can tell they’re really working every at-bat. They’re up there, and they’re working pitchers. They’re not swinging at bad pitches out of the zone. They’re very disciplined. This was one of the approaches we needed to get in there with these guys that’s really helped a lot. It’s made a huge difference for us. Now we’re getting a lot of two-strike hits, a lot of two-out hits, and we’re making the pitcher throw, and that’s crucial.”
Bobby Himes took a no-hitter into the fourth inning of Tuesday’s district semifinal game against the Indians. Jared Schram took care of that little matter with one mighty swing of his bat, ripping a double that plated JR Hicks, who had walked. The Indians had a lead they would not lose.
“Jared came up and hit a one-hopper to the fence, and that was huge because it opened up the can, so to speak,” Schram said. “The inning after that we banged out four hits.
“Again, it’s making adjustments at the plate. We had our guys move up in the box a little bit. In the first couple of innings, our guys were so worried about getting beat on a curveball, getting beat on off-speed, so we focused on hitting the fastball, waiting for him. He wasn’t going to throw it by us. He wasn’t overpowering. Jared got a fastball and hit it in the gap, and it just seemed that opened up the floodgates for us.”
Cole Hofmann opened the fifth with a single to left and moved up to second on Matt Hand’s sacrifice bunt. The Indians had runners on the corners after Tyler Nowmos singled, and a sacrifice fly by Brandon McIlwain made it a 2-0 game. Cole German followed with an RBI single, and then it was Seth Leuz singling. JR Hicks delivered a two-run double. Just like that, the Indians led 5-0.
In the sixth, they tacked on two more runs and – after the Wildcats scored a single run in the bottom of the sixth – put the game out of reach with a three-run seventh. Highlights of the seventh included singles by Schram, Noah Hartwell and McIlwain.
The Indians withstood a seventh inning rally by the Wildcats, who sent 10 batters to the plate and capitalized on five singles and two free passes to plate five runs.
Schram and McIlwain had productive days at the plate with Schram finishing 3-for-4 with an RBI while McIlwain was 2-for-4 with five RBIs out of the leadoff spot. Hicks (two RBIs), German and Hand each drove in runs.
Hand earned the win, allowing eight hits and six runs (five earned) in 6.2 innings on the mound. He walked five and struck out five. Hartwell recorded the game’s final out.
Council Rock North (14-7, 10-4 SOL) will face North Penn on Thursday at Glen Mills (4 p.m.) with a district title at stake.
“You go into every year hoping for this,” Schram said. “You prepare for this – there’s not one coach that wouldn’t prepare for this.
“Obviously, it’s a fight, it’s a battle, you need some luck and you need to be hot, and somehow or other, it’s all come together for us right now in those areas.”
Council Rock North 000 142 3 10-11-1
Owen J Roberts 000 001 5 6-10-2
#1-3 Pennsbury 2, #10 Conestoga 1
It was another walk-off win for the Falcons, who kept their season alive with a dramatic seventh inning comeback.
“Honestly, every game except for the Neshaminy game – even that game, we had runners on late, but you look at the CR South game, our first game of the year, and we had guys on with a chance to tie it or win it,” coach Joe Pesci said of his team’s only league losses. “Owen J Roberts (in the district quarterfinal) game we had the bases loaded, and a single ties the game.
“The scouting report is make sure you’re up on them by several runs in the seventh because we’ve done it before. This is our fourth walk-off this year, and obviously, not a bigger stage than trying to get back to the state playoffs.”
North Carolina recruit Brendan Little cruised into the seventh inning with a shutout when the never-say-die Falcons staged a heroic rally.
“He threw a little bit harder than Brian Brown from Coatesville did last year,” said Pesci of the Red Raiders’ ace who led his team to a 4-1 win over the Falcons. “The kid was an extremely good pitcher.
“He kept us at bay for a while, but again, it’s the heart and the will to win the guys have. I said to them before the game – this is the last time these 13 seniors will have a game on this field that’s meaningful. Conestoga is a very good team. We saw their best – you’ve got to beat the best to be the best.”
Tom Augustin drew a walk to lead off the seventh. He moved up to second on Kyle Marshall’s two-strike sacrifice bunt and – after a wild pitch – found himself on third with one out. Pat Lawrence delivered a single to right that eluded the diving first baseman to plate the tying run, and he moved up to second on Billy Bethel’s sacrifice bunt. With a base open and two outs, Zach Szumigala – who was already 2-for-3 on the day – was walked intentionally, bringing DJ Endler to the plate.
Endler delivered in a big way, singling to left to plate sophomore pinch runner Bryen Kimbrough with the game winner.
“It was huge for DJ,” Pesci said. “He didn’t have a hit in the game, and you could tell he was just missing the ball. He fouled a bunch of balls off the other way.
“You feel good for DJ because of the game against Owen J (a 3-1 loss that saw Endler at the plate in the seventh inning). I’m sure he felt like he let us down, but he didn’t. He had a couple of hits before that. This is vindication for him. It’s a kid who was second team all-league last year and our four hitter this year. You have Szumigala and him – those are guys you want up in that situation. The right play was to walk Szumigala, and DJ stepped up – it was great.”
Logan Buell and Szumigala both had two hits to lead the Falcons.
“Although Logan didn’t score or knock anybody in – it was nice to see him square up some balls,” Pesci said. “We’re facing a kid who’s a top three round draft pick. The scouts had him at 92-94 on the gun today.
Buell earned the complete game win, allowing six hits and one run while fanning seven and walking just one. The Pioneers collected three of their hits in the fifth when they used a single, a sacrifice and another single to put a run on the board. A two-out single put runners on first and third, but Buell slammed the door on that rally by picking up his second strikeout of the inning.
“Logan threw incredibly today,” Pesci said.
One win separates the Falcons (18-5, 12-2) from the fifth and final state berth, but they will need to beat fifth-seeded Boyertown in a high stakes playback game Thursday at Methacton High School (4 p.m.). The Bears crushed Ches-Mont American Division champion West Chester Rustin 10-0 in an abbreviated five-inning contest.
Conestoga 000 010 0 1-6-0
Pennsbury 000 000 2 2-6-2
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