Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action Tuesday. Wissahickon/Springfield Twp photos provided courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. CLICK HERE for a gallery of photos. PW/LM photo provided courtesy of Cindy Manero.
Hatboro-Horsham 3, William Tennent 1
Offense has been key for the Hatters over a four-game win streak heading into Tuesday, but in this one, senior Jimmy Tooley decided his team didn’t need to give him much offense to work with.
Tooley earned the complete-game win, allowing just one run (unearned) on three hits and one walk, while striking out 12. Tennent scored a run in the bottom of the first, but that would be it against Tooley. In the seventh, with his pitch count rising, Tooley struck out the side to end the game.
“Jimmy was terrific today,” said Hatters coach Pete Moore. “He has really been outstanding all year for us. I have coached a lot of great pitchers at H-H and Jimmy is putting himself in that group with the way he is throwing the ball this year. We play with a ton of confidence when he is on the mound because our guys know he is going to fill the zone and the rest of the guys just need to make the routine plays and score a couple of runs.
“He is a prime example of a baseball player who was really hurt in the recruiting process by the pandemic. He’s a terrific pitcher and should be pitching for a D-1 or high level D-2 program next year. Somebody is going to get a great late sign with him. The best part about him is that as great as he has been on the mound, he has been an even better leader in our program and he is just a phenomenal person.”
Offensively, the Hatters didn’t get much against Tennent pitchers Mike Soltis and Kyle Bussinger, but broke open a 1-1 tie with a run in the top of the fifth on an error, and another in the sixth as Justin Kahrimanian scored on a flyball out by Cole Fisher.
Will Porter had two hits for H-H, while Trey Porter hit a triple.
“As a team, it was good to win a close game today,” Moore said. “We were ranked 17th in the District One rankings before today’s game. Only 20 teams get into the playoffs. We know that in order to improve our ranking, we need to win some close games.
“Today should help build our confidence in that area. We have five league games left and every one of them is going to be a battle. We know that we have to earn every victory that we are going to get.”
H-H (8-6) plays at Wissahickon on Thursday. Tennent (4-8) plays at Cheltenham.
Hatboro-Horsham 100 011 0 – 3 4 2
Tennent 100 000 0 – 1 3 2
Wissahickon 5, Springfield Twp 4 (11 innings)
After digging itself an early 4-0 deficit, Wissahickon managed to come back and tie it and then survived extra innings to post the 5-4 win in 11 innings.
“Danny Crump, Reed Bram and Jackson Tappen did a nice job on the mound pounding the strike zone and challenging their hitters,” said Wissahickon coach Andy Noga. “Jackson has just started getting some innings for us on the mound. I knew with him being the type of competitor he is that we could give him the ball and trust him to keep giving us chances.
“It was a solid team win to grind out that type of game with a lot of different guys being used in different roles. We talk a lot about being ready at every moment because you don’t know when your number will be called and that was certainly the case today.”
Springfield scored one run in the first and three more in the second to build the 4-0 lead. Jack O’Malley had an RBI double in the first for the Spartans. In the second, one run scored on a bases-loaded walks, another on a Nate Dennis RBI single and one on a hit by pitch.
Wissahickon tied it at three in the bottom of the third, as Ben Junker, Joe Hornig and Tappen had RBI singles, and two innings later, the Trojans tied it at 4 as Nate DeVincent had an RBI single.
That’s where the score stood until the 11th, as Crump threw a scoreless inning in relief of starter Junker, Bram added two more scoreless innings and then Tappen finished it off with three scoreless and hitless innings.
The first three batters of the Wissahickon lineup reached on walks to open the 11th. Junker then scored the winning run on a wild pitch.
Wissahickon (9-5, 3-2 SOL) hosts Hatboro-Horsham on Thursday. Springfield (4-9, 4-1) plays at New Hope-Solebury on Thursday.
Springfield 130 000 000 00 – 4 9 1
Wissahickon 003 010 000 01 – 5 6 3
Bensalem 8, Souderton 1
The Owls wrapped up crossover play the same way they started, with another big win, now improving to 11-0 heading into the homestretch of the regular season.
Bensalem pitchers have allowed just five runs in its last eight games.
Tuesday, senior Ryan McLaughlin dazzled with six solid innings to earn the win. He allowed one run (unearned) on five hits, while not walking a batter.
This was a close game through five innings. Bensalem jumped up 1-0 with a run in the top of the second on a Ryan Rooney single, but that’s all Souderton starter Jacob Horton would allow through the first five.
The Indians then tied it up in the bottom of the fifth as Shanley Wall had a two-out RBI single to left.
But the Owls answered back with six runs in the sixth, including five straight one-out hits – singles by Sean Nelson, Matt McShane and Greg Phalen, a double by Nick Nush and another single by Rooney that made it a 5-1 game. Jalen Soberal hit a two-run single later in the inning to make it 7-1.
Nelson finished the game off with a scoreless seventh inning out of the bullpen.
McShane, Phelan and Rooney each two hits each, with Rooney driving in three runs.
Luke Pollock was 2-for-3 for Souderton.
Bensalem (11-0, 3-0 SOL) will travel to Pennsbury on Thursday, and Souderton (5-8, 2-3) will be on the road at Central Bucks South on Thursday.
Bensalem 010 006 1 – 8 9 3
Souderton 000 010 0 – 1 5 0
Council Rock South 5, Central Bucks South 3
Joey Purcell went the distance on the mound and also had a key hit offensively, as CR South won a key crossover game Tuesday at home against CB South.
The Golden Hawks (5-6, 2-2 SOL) now sit at No. 22 in the District One Class 6A power rankings for the 20-team district playoffs, which start later this season, so Tuesday was a must-win game.
Purcell allowed just three runs on five hits and one walk, while striking out eight.
“It was a great win,” said CR South coach Greg Paprocki. “Joey Purcell stepped up in a big way by throwing a complete game with eight strikeouts and only one walk.
“We were able to string together some timely hits and produce the runs that we needed. This win really gets us going in the right direction for the battle that the end of the year is going to be.”
Offensively, Purcell helped himself in the bottom of the first with an RBI double to center field to score Jack O’Neill.
CB South answered back with two runs in the top of the third. Colin Mitchell led off the inning with a double and later came around to score, while Carter Hinds added a RBI single.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Hawks scored twice to regain the lead on a two-RBI single by O’Neill, and then in the sixth, Ryan Wheet led off with a solo home run to center and another run scored on an error.
The Titans did score once in the seventh on a Josh Yang RBI single, but Purcell was able to put out the fire, rolling a double-play grounder and then inducing a pop fly to end the game.
CR South has three games in three days later in the week starting at Neshaminy on Thursday. CB South (7-6, 3-1), currently No. 25 in the power rankings, plays at rival CB East on Wednesday.
Central Bucks South 002 000 1 – 3 5 1
Council Rock South 100 202 x – 5 7 1
Pennsbury 7, Central Bucks West 6
Two runs in the bottom of the fifth broke open a 5-5 tie and then Jake Schilling came out of the bullpen to get Pennsbury out of a jam in the seventh and save the one-run win at home on Tuesday.
The Falcons saw a four-game win streak snapped Friday against CB East by one run.
“We dropped a one-run game Friday to CB East,” said Pennsbury coach Joe Pesci. “Today, it was just a tight game. We were able to take the lead and never surrendered it, but West kept hanging around.”
CB West entered the seventh trailing by two, but a walk and two singles plated one, and the Bucks had the tying run on second and nobody out. Schilling recorded a groundout, a big strikeout and another groundout to end the game.
“Alex Martin was phenomenal on the mound for us,” Pesci said. “Jake Schilling came on in a tough situation to get the save.
“He’s been our starting first baseman the entire season. Today, we sat him, but he has the right mentality. We knew we could go to him in the right situation. You need a kid to have the mentality to want the ball and come right after you.”
West jumped up with a run in the top of the first as Aidan Quinn doubled with two outs and scored on a James Carbone single.
Pennsbury put up three runs in the second, likewise all with two outs, including a two-run triple by Danny Ciotti and then a Charlie Evans RBI single.
After the Bucks scored a run in the top of the third on another Carbone RBI single, the Falcons upped their lead to 5-2 in the bottom half of the inning, as Justin Mitrovich had an RBI double and Reese Hirsh scored a run with an RBI groundout.
CB West, however, tied it back up at 5 with three in the top of the fourth, including a RBI single by Aiden Kim, and a two-out, two-run single by Quinn later in the inning.
The bottom of the fifth saw Pennsbury score twice to retake the lead, including a Hirsh RBI single and a RBI single by Ciotti.
Evans, Cailan Fang, Joe Limongelli, Mitrovich and Ciotti had two hits each to lead an 11-hit attack for Pennsbury.
Quinn was 3-for-4 with three RBIs for CB West, while Carbone was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Pennsbury (8-5, 2-3 SOL), now No. 15 in the District One power rankings, hosts first-place Bensalem on Thursday. CB West (5-8, 5-8) hosts North Penn on Thursday.
CB West 101 300 1 – 6 9 0
Pennsbury 032 020 x – 7 11 0
Pennridge 7, Council Rock North 4
Seven early runs gave the Rams all they would need to snap a nine-game losing streak and play spoiler for a CR North team badly in need of a win in its quest for a district playoff spot.
“The funny thing is winning changes a lot of things,” said Pennridge coach Craig Whitten. “(Going up early) helps the kids play loose, I think. They enjoyed themselves in the game, our approaches were different. It was like a complete night and day hitting from the last eight or nine games. Every single one of our hitters, except one, had a hit today. We haven’t had that all season.”
The Rams scored three runs in the bottom of the first, including a two-out, two-run home run by Matt Dubyk, and another on a two-out error. After North scored a run in the top of the second on a Leor Kedar homer, the Rams countered with four in their half of the inning to go up 7-1 and take command. They took advantage of three CR North errors and Bobby Croyle had an RBI single in the inning.
Dubyk finished the game with three RBIs, while Ashton McCloskey and Ryan DeHaven each had doubles for the Rams.
Jaden Morgan got the start and earned the win with 4 2/3 innings on the mound. Nate Manuola came out of the bullpen and pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings, with five strikeouts.
“Nate Manuola has been one of our most consistent pitchers,” Whitten said. “Nate is a very underrated pitcher in our league. He’s been a situational reliever. He comes in, throws strikes and gets guys out. He wrestled at 113 or 120 (for the Pennridge wrestling team this winter), so he’s not a big guy, but he’s got a sneaky fastball. He just gets guys out.
Kedar led CR North with two hits and three RBIs.
Pennridge (3-10, 1-4 SOL) plays at CB East on Thursday. CR North (6-8, 2-3) plays at Harry S. Truman.
CR North 010 120 0 – 4 4 3
Pennridge 340 000 x – 7 7 1
North Penn 5, Harry S Truman 2
North Penn came into the week needing wins, and for the second straight day, the pitchers did their part, as Tuesday junior Dylan Brown dominated for the Knights with a complete-game victory.
Brown allowed just two runs on six hits and one walk, while striking out 10 in the seven-inning effort.
“Dylan Brown was outstanding today,” said NP coach Kevin Manero. “He threw 28 pitches through three innings, 40 through four innings. It was every bit of what Dylan Brown should be. Along with Mike Lennon (Monday), we’ve had a couple of guys really step up a the top of the rotation, and they’re doing so at the right time.”
After getting shut out by Truman starter Christian Culver through the first three innings, North Penn struck for five runs in the top of the fourth.
“We had a lot of base runners early in the game without success getting guys in,” Manero said. “They showed up ready to play. There’s no time for a let down (after Monday’s win over Neshaminy). It’s time to do what we haven’t been able to do, string some wins together.
“We scored all five in one inning. We had first and second with nobody out, and Ryan Sullivan reached on a bunt to load the bases. Then, we had a bases loaded walk and we tacked on some runs after that.”
Jeff Sabater went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two doubles for North Penn. Colin Orndoff was 2-for-3.
Mike Burns went 3-for-4 to lead Truman hitters. Ryan Bailey pitched four shutout innings out of the bullpen, allowing just two hits and no walks.
North Penn (8-4, 2-3 SOL), currently ranked No. 11 in the District One power rankings, plays at CB West on Thursday. Truman (4-10, 1-4) hosts Council Rock North on Thursday.
North Penn 000 500 0 – 5 5 1
Harry S. Truman 000 002 0 – 2 6 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 13, Lower Moreland 1 (5 innings)
After falling behind early, PW flexed its offensive muscles with four runs in the bottom of the first and five in the second to blow this one wide open on the way to the team’s 13th straight victory to start the season.
Jesse Jaconski had an RBI single in the first to open the scoring, Luke Caucci followed with a RBI triple, and Jack Hildebrand and Joe Capriotti added RBI singles. In the second, three straight reached on walks, Mike Miller drove in one with a RBI groundout, Hildebrand had a two-run double and later scored on a wild pitch, and Capriotti had another RBI single.
The Colonials added four runs in the fourth and didn’t bat again as they ended this one early via the mercy rule.
Hildebrand and Jaconski each went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Capriotti went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Joe Rauscher and Ben Picker combined on a two-hitter for PW. Rauscher picked up the win, allowing only one run (unearned) on one hit and two walks, while striking out five.
Mason Tammaro had Lower Moreland’s RBI.
PW (13-0, 5-0 SOL) looks to stay unbeaten when it plays at Quakertown on Thursday. Lower Moreland (4-9, 2-3) hosts Upper Moreland on Thursday.
Lower Moreland 100 00 – 1 2 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 450 4x – 13 10 3
Upper Dublin 10, New Hope-Solebury 0
The Flying Cardinals won their seventh straight game and evened their record at 7-7 with a six-inning home win over New Hope-Solebury.
Upper Dublin starter Griffin Johnson threw just 66 pitches in going all six innings on the mound for the Flying Cardinals. He allowed just one hit, did not walk a batter, and struck out three.
Johnson retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced, before a pair of two-out errors in the fifth. But he got out of that spot by inducing a groundout and then didn’t allow a baserunner the remainder of the outing.
Offensively, UD scored 10 runs on just four hits, taking advantage of three walks, a hit batter and nine New Hope fielding errors.
The Cardinals were led by Tyler Lizell, who went 2-for-3 with two triples and an RBI.
Upper Dublin (7-7, 0-5 SOL) hosts Abington on Thursday. New Hope (6-9, 3-2) hosts Springfield on Thursday.
New Hope-Solebury 000 000 – 0 1 9
Upper Dublin 303 00x – 10 4 2
Quakertown 13, Cheltenham 1 (5 innings)
Quakertown scored 13 runs on five hits, taking advantage of 13 walks in a game that was shortened to five innings due to the mercy rule.
The Panthers won for the sixth time in seven games.
Trevor Hurst led Quakertown with a double and two hits, while Ethan Beil hit a home run. Mike Staudenmeiere also drove in two runs.
On the mound, Tyler Nielson picked up the win, allowing just one earned run on three hits, while striking out six.
Quakertown (8-6), No. 14 in District One, hosts Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday. Cheltenham (0-11) hosts William Tennent on Thursday.
Cheltenham 000 01 – 1 3 0
Quakertown 128 2x – 13 5 0
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