Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action in District One Tournament play on Thursday. PW/Garnet Valley photos provided courtesy of Cindy Manero.
District One Class 6A
Quarterfinals
#8 North Penn 8, #1 Spring-Ford 2
Playing for the second time in 24 hours, North Penn started Thursday the way it ended Wednesday and as a result punched a ticket to next week’s District One Class 6A semifinals and earned a berth in the PIAA state playoffs as well.
Facing the tournament’s top seed, the Knights didn’t waste any time, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning.
“We got out of the gates fast,” said North Penn coach Kevin Manero. “We scored five in the first and that was the tone-setter. From there, more than anything, it was about (starting pitcher) Dylan Brown.
“Dylan stepped up today and gutted out an unbelievable game on a big stage. He kept the game in our hands. I’m proud of the way he stepped up in a big spot.”
Brown pitched 6 2/3 innings, before leaving the game after hitting the pitch-count limit in the seventh. He allowed two runs, scattered nine hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Eric Hamilton recorded the final out of the game.
Offensively, the first started with an RJ Agriss infield single, followed by walks to Jeff Sabater and Steven Corrado to load the bases. The Knights then had three straight hits by Justin Egner, Colin Orndorff and Sam Cohen, and by the time the inning was over it was a 5-0 game.
“Yesterday (in its first round win over Abington), I thought we came out of the gate with maybe a little tightness,” Manero said. “We had some early base runners and didn’t cash in. I thought we had to shake the nerves a little bit. Today, I felt at game time, they were locked in and ready to go.”
Cohen went 3-for-3 with one run scored and a RBI to lead the North Penn offensive attack, as the 7-8-9 hitters in the lineup went 6-for-10. Ryan Sullivan, Egner and Evin Sullivan all had two hits, and as a team the Knights had 14 hits for the game.
North Penn (17-5) is now off until Tuesday when it will play at the winner of Friday’s quarterfinal between #5 Boyertown and #4 West Chester Henderson.
North Penn 501 001 1 – 8 14 0
Spring-Ford 010 001 0 – 2 10 4
Second Round
#19 Central Bucks South 11, #3 Bensalem 10
After belting out 10 runs in six innings against the best pitching staff in the Suburban One League, CB South went back to Bensalem to resume a game suspended because of rain. And Wednesday’s later afternoon storm wasn’t the only precarious position the Titans found themselves in.
The game was tied at 10, and Bensalem had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when play resumed.
Senior Owen Petrich, the only starter remaining from a Titans’ team that reached the District One and state championship games in 2019, recorded the final out of that sixth inning with a strikeout. Petrich then remained in the game and ended up going 2 2/3 innings to close out the game and the upset win for CB South.
He also played a big role offensively, too. Petrich led off the top of the eighth inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by JT Anderosky. Later with two outs, Dakota Beck singled to score Petrich for the team’s 11th and game-winning run.
“He’s kind of been a driving force for us, offensively and defensively all year,” said CB South coach Kevin Bray. “We really haven’t used him on the mound until later in the year, in a couple of little spots. But he told me before that inning that he was going to warm up and he wanted the ball. I have all the confidence in the world in him and his ability. He just did a job for us. I trusted him and he got it done.”
Wednesday’s portion of this second-round game was wild for almost six innings.
Bensalem scored four runs in the bottom of the first. South countered with six runs in the top of the second and led 8-4 after adding two more in the fourth. Bensalem scored three in the bottom of the fourth, and then after South had two in the top of the sixth, the Owls countered with three in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 10 when play was suspended.
Facing a pitching staff with miniscule ERAs across the board, South had pounded out 10 runs. The key to advancing was coming back Thursday with the same mindset.
“We told our kids, we just need to stay focused on what we need to do,” Bray said. “There was a lot of outside noise as far as rules about suspended games, but we were just focused on trying to get our guys to maintain a focus, stay on board, and do what we were trying to do.”
When the boxscore was finally tallied after nine innings, Petrich led the way going 4-for-5 with a home run, a double, four runs scored and two RBIs. Beck went 3-for-5 with a double, triple and the game-winning RBI. Carter Hinds was 3-for-5 with one RBI and a run scored. Anderosky (2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBIs, R), Josh Yang (2-for-5, 3B, 2 RBIs) and Matt Boyce (2-for-3, 2B, RBI, R) also had multiple hits. As a team, the Titans finished with seven extra base hits.
South (13-8) advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals with the win, and will play at No. 11 Neshaminy at noon.
Bensalem finished its season at 18-3, including the SOL Patriot Division title.
Greg Phalen went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs in the game. Matt McShane also had a home run and Logan Young went 2-for-2 with two RBIs.
CB South 060 202 01 – 11 16 1
Bensalem 400 303 00 – 10 9 3
#11 Neshaminy 5, #6 Coatesville 2
It took another day to get this second-round game started, but once they did a lot of excitement followed. After giving up a two-run lead in the bottom of the seventh, Neshaminy bounced back in a big way, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to pull out the extra-inning win and earn a berth in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
In the critical ninth inning, Jake Oberholzer led off with a single. After a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Warr, Matt Edwards was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Gaige Ryan followed with an RBI single to put Neshaminy back in front, and Jake Kozlowski and Zack Bowman each had RBI singles in the innings as well.
“Zack Bowman, Gaige Ryan and Jake Oberholzer came up big for us on offense and, especially, on defense,” said Neshaminy coach Dan Toner. “Bowman and Oberholzer had multiple big-time defensive plays that allowed us to win.”
Reliever Matt Mays allowed a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth, but then struck out the final two batters to secure the win.
Mays also induced a double play ball with the bases loaded and one out to end the seventh inning after Coatesville had rallied the tie the game at 2. He pitched three scoreless innings and struck out four.
Starter Justus Agosto was unhittable before tiring in the seventh. He struck out four and allowed just the two earned runs in six innings.
“Justus Agosto pitched a great game and Matt Mays did a fantastic job coming in and picking up the win against a good-hitting Coatesville team,” Toner said.
Bowman finished 4-for-5 with two RBIs to lead Neshaminy offensively, while Ryan was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and one RBI. Oberholzer was 2-for-4.
With the win, Neshaminy (13-6) will host Friday’s quarterfinal against upstart No. 19 CB South. Game time will be noon.
Neshaminy 100 001 003 – 5 11 0
Coatesville 000 000 200 – 2 8 2
#18 Garnet Valley 5, #2 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3
A four-run second inning on Wednesday wasn’t what Plymouth Whitemarsh had in mind when it kicked off district second-round play.
Rain halted play in the fifth inning, however, the Colonials, trailing 4-3, had a day to regroup.
But Thursday when play resumed, PW had base runners in all three at-bats, but couldn’t come up with the big hit necessary to recover and as a result saw its season come to an abrupt end.
Senior Joe Jaconski wrapped up his high school career, and went out in a big way, with solo home runs in the first and third innings to help pull his team within one run.
Mike Miller also went 2-for-3, while Jack Hildebrand drove in a run with an RBI single in the third.
When play resumed Thursday, Garnet Valley plated a run in the top of the fifth to make it 5-3.
PW had chances. Luke Gartland hit a one-out double in the fifth, but was stranded on second. Joe Redmond led off the sixth with a single, but Garnet Valley’s Ryan Wootten recorded three straight strikeouts to end the threat. And then in the seventh, Luke Caucci singled and Miller walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out. But, a double play on a line drive and then a ground out ended the inning and the game.
Alex Wilke-Viscio pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three for the Colonials on Thursday.
PW ended its season with a 17-4 final record, winning the Suburban One League Liberty Division championship.
Garnet Valley 040 010 0 – 5 8 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 101 100 0 – 3 8 0
#5 Boyertown 4, #12 Quakertown 1
On the road, pitching kept Quakertown in the game at Bear Stadium on Thursday, but in the end, the Panthers’ offense ran up against a pretty good pitching staff too. With three runs in the bottom of the sixth, Boyertown advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal round and ended Quakertown’s season.
“Our pitching put us in position to win,” said Panthers coach Jon Pallone. “(Sophomore) Vinny Pellegrini came out strong and then Daniel Schwalm came in and held us tight. Trevor Hurst threw well too.
“We had some opportunities with runners on base, but sometimes you hit the ball at people and sometimes you hit it where they aren’t.”
Pellegrini allowed one run over three innings, while Schwalm pitched two scoreless innings.
Trailing 1-0, Quakertown tied it with one in the sixth as Anthony Rostick singled and later scored.
As a team, the Panthers had just four hits – by Rostick, Peyton Kochel, Daniel Qualteria and Ty Everitt – against Boyertown ace Trey Yesavage.
Quakertown wrapped up its season with a 10-10 final record.
“We’re going to miss our seniors,” Pallone said. “They’ve been through so much, I’m glad we’ve been able to play a complete season.”
Quakertown 000 001 0 – 1 4 1
Boyertown 010 003 x – 4 6 1
Class 5A Quarterfinals
#3 Oxford 4, #6 Upper Dublin 3
Tyler Lizell’s two-run triple in the top of the ninth had Upper Dublin in great shape to advance to the district semifinals, but Oxford had other things in mind.
The Hornets had four straight hits to lead off the bottom of the ninth, including a triple, a double and two singles, followed by an error that allowed the game-winning run to score without an out, ending the Flying Cardinals’ season.
The teams were tied at 1 in the seventh inning, when the game was suspended because of rain on Wednesday.
Both teams had leadoff singles in the eighth, but couldn’t plate a run.
In the ninth, however, UD struck first, as Kyle Rizzo led off with a double to left field. Nick Lombardo was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. With one out, Lizell roped a triple to left to score both runners.
The Cardinals couldn’t plate another run in the inning, but went into the bottom of the ninth with the 3-1 lead.
On Wednesday, UD trailed 1-0 going into the seventh, but Leo Soriano’s two-out RBI triple kept its season alive and when the rain came, extended the Cardinals’ season another day.
Wednesday’s starting pitcher Griffin Johnson went six innings and allowed just three hits and one earned run, while striking out three.
UD ended its season with a 13-9 final record, which included a 12-game winning streak after starting the season 0-7.
Upper Dublin 000 000 102 – 3 5 3
Oxford 010 000 003 – 4 8 0
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