CR North, North Penn & Pennsbury will be in action when the PIAA Class AAAA State Baseball Tournament begins Monday.
By Scott Huff
The first round of the PIAA Quad-A State Playoffs begins today as three championship caliber teams – Council Rock North, North Penn, and Pennsbury – will represent the Suburban One League.
Council Rock North may not have won a regular season conference championship, but the Indians are the current District One champions after last week’s thrilling 4-3 victory over North Penn in the finals. North Penn and Pennsbury captured SOL regular season conference championships as the Knights were champs of the SOL Continental Conference and the Falcons captured the SOL National Conference title.
The trio of remarkable Suburban One League teams are all hopeful that they can add that coveted state championship title to their 2015 resume.
And the beat goes on…
[1-1] Council Rock North Indians vs. [3-3] Governor Mifflin Mustangs
@ Immaculata University – 4 pm
District Playoff Resume:
Council Rock North: The Indians opened the PIAA Quad-A District One Playoffs with a 6-0 victory over Avon Grove. Rock North claimed a win in the second round with a 6-0 win over SOL American Conference co-champion Wissahickon. The Indians earned a 12-1 victory over Conestoga in the third round. CRN earned a date to the district final with a 10-6 victory over Owen J Roberts. Council Rock North was crowned District One champions with a 4-3 victory over North Penn.
Governor Mifflin: The Mustangs opened the PIAA Quad-A District Three Playoffs with a 4-3 win in 11 innings over Cumberland Valley. Governor Mifflin collected a second round victory over Penn Manor by an 8-0 margin. The Mustangs lost in the semifinal round in a 3-2 loss to eventual champion Hempfield. Governor Mifflin earned the third and final state invitation from District Three with a 9-3 victory in a playback game against Ephrata.
About Governor Mifflin: Governor Mifflin is led by Penn State recruit Erik Mock, whose fastball has been clocked in the low 90s. Through 23 games, Mock boasted a team high batting average of .426 (26-of-61) with 18 RBIs. Zach Weidner (.408, 29-of-71, 24 runs), John Catchmark (.387, 29-of-75, 20 RBIs), Earl Kochel (.379, 22-of-58, 15 RBIs) and Zach Sczepkowski (.333, 25-of-75, 12 RBIs, 21 runs) also carry big bats. On the mound, Mock, who is 6-0 with one save, boasts an ERA of 2.10 with 56 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings. Catchmark is 6-3 with a 1.81 ERA and has struck out 61 in 54 innings pitched.
Council Rock North Head Coach Matt Schram says: “We won the district championship, and that is wonderful. But now we want to stay the course – stay focused – and keep up our level of intensity in the state playoffs. District 3 has a great tradition of good baseball. District 1 is perhaps the best district overall – but District 3 is not too far behind. There is no real concern about seeding – every team left playing in the state playoffs is a good baseball team. They can all pitch, they can all hit, and they can all field. You have to go out and win every pitch, win every inning, and win every game. Sure we scout the other team, but it really comes down to doing what we have to do to win. We have to remember what it takes to be successful and carry that into everything we do during the game.”
The Winner Gets: The winner of the CR North vs. Governor Mifflin game will play the winner of the game between [11-1] Parkland vs. Owen J Roberts [1-3] on Thursday (June 4, 2015) @ a time and site to be determined.
[1-2] North Penn Knights vs. [12-2] Olney Trojans
@ Neumann University – 4 pm
District Playoff Resume:
North Penn: The Knights were the SOL Continental Conference champions and earned a first round bye. North Penn advanced to the third round with a 9-3 victory over SOL Conference foe Hatboro-Horsham. The Knights collected a 14-6 win over Boyertown to earn a date in the district semifinals. North Penn earned an invite to the district final with a 4-0 victory over West Chester East. The Knights lost a hard-fought 4-3 contest to SOL National Conference rival Council Rock North in the district final.
Olney: The Trojans opened the PIAA Quad-A District 12 Public League playoffs with a 7-1 victory over Latin Charter. They defeated Washington 8-2 in the quarterfinals and then split a pair of games with Franklin Towne Charter – winning by an 8-6 score in the semifinals and losing by a 9-7 margin in the final. As the top Quad-A Public League team (Franklin Towne Charter competes at the Class AAA level), Olney earned a date in the district finals against St. Joe Prep. Olney led 1-0 early in the game but fell to powerful Prep 11-1 in the Philadelphia City League championship game.
About Olney: Olney brings a two-game losing streak into Monday’s state title game. The Trojans are led offensively by junior Giovanni Ortega, junior Cesar Loya, senior Eddie Morillo, junior Christian Santos and junior Joseph Gomez. Gomez and Kenny Cruz have been the team’s top pitchers this season.
North Penn Head Coach Kevin Manero says: “The players were a little down after losing the district title game, but after practice today it is just a distant memory. The day after we won the conference championship we enjoyed it for a moment, but then it was back to square one for districts. Now districts are over and we’re back to square one with states. We are both prepared and hungry for the next game. Our conference gets us very prepared for districts – and our district gets us very prepared for states. Olney is a state playoff team and we expect them to be just as excited to play us as we are to play them. Every team that you play in states is good and anything can happen. We really put a lot of energy into what we do and we don’t worry too much about what the other teams does. Once you get into the state tournament it really doesn’t matter who you play or where you go – it is going to be a challenge.”
The Winner Gets: The winner of the North Penn vs. Olney game will play the winner of the game between [3-1] Hempfield vs. [1-5] Pennsbury on Thursday (June 4, 2015) @ a time and site to be determined.
[3-1] Hempfield Black Knights vs. [1-5] Pennsbury Falcons
@ Wenger Field (Frederickburg) – 6:30 pm
District Playoff Resume:
Hempfield: The Black Knights captured a PIAA Quad-A District Three championship four one-run victories. Hempfield opened the playoffs with a 5-4 win over Hershey. The top-seeded Black Knights moved on with a 3-2 win in eight innings over Cedar Cliff. Hempfield collected another 3-2 win in the semifinal round over Governor Mifflin. And the Black Knights won the District Three title with a 6-5 victory over Chambersburg.
About Hempfield: The 2015 Section One champions bring a 23-3 record into Monday’s state opener. Senior Grant Oberholtzer has a team-leading .377 batting average (30-of-69) with a team high 30 runs scored and 21 stolen bases. Senior Derek Manning is hitting .357 (25-for-70) with 11 doubles and a team high 28 RBIs. Junior Tim Gailor is hitting .346 (27-of-78) with 17 runs scored, nine RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Senior Jon Beck has a .316 batting average (25-of-79) with 27 RBIs. Manning is 6-0 on the mound with a 1.63 earned run average. Alec Miller is 5-1 with a 1.30 ERA and Mark Peterson is 4-1 with a 1.40 ERA.
Pennsbury: The Falcons were the SOL National Conference champions and earned a first round bye. Pennsbury advanced to the third round with an 8-2 victory over Spring-Ford. The Falcons fell into the playback bracket with a 3-1 loss to Owen J Roberts in the quarterfinal round. Pennsbury remained in contention for a state playoff berth with a 2-1 win over Conestoga. And the Falcons earned that playoff berth with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Boyertown.
Pennsbury Head Coach Joe Pesci says: “It seems like both us and Hempfield have played a lot of close games and it should be interesting. We had four walk-off wins recently and Hempfield has won four one-run games in a row. We lost the game to Owen J Roberts, but the players responded well and earned a spot in the state playoffs. Our 13 seniors have played together for a long time, and we won the league title for the first time in 19 years – these are the players that have built the program. They have shown great leadership and are a special group of kids. We know we have the long three-hour bus ride and the 6:30 start time is different. But the good thing is that the kids have a chance to go through a whole school day and we should arrive in enough time before the game to decompress. We might not get back until midnight, but if we win, it will be a great ride home. Like we keep telling the players – 24 guys and one goal.”
The Winner Gets: The winner of the Hempfield vs. Pennsbury game will play the winner of the game between [1-2] North Penn vs. [12-2] Olney on Thursday (June 4, 2015) @ a site and time to be determined.
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