Hatboro-Horsham and Council Rock South advanced to Monday’s PIAA Class AAAA semifinal round. To view photos of the CR South/Coatesville game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Scott Huff
Allentown – On a day when the Hatboro-Horsham bats were quiet, the magnificent pitching of Zach Crim and the alert base running of Tyler Zingle spoke loud and clear as the Hatters advanced to the PIAA Quad-A state semifinal round with their 2-0 quarterfinal victory over District 2 champion Wyoming Valley West. The Hatters will play the winner of the La Salle-Central Dauphin game on Monday. The La Salle-Central Dauphin contest will be played Friday after a rain postponement on Thursday.
“We always preach to the kids that there are going to be days when we don’t hit,” said Hatboro-Horsham head coach Peter Moore. “But we can always pitch, we can always run the bases, and we can always field the baseball. We needed to do those things today.”
Crim took care of the pitching with a masterful complete game effort. Crim scattered five hits – no more than one hit in any inning - and issued just one walk. He was not overpowering with three strikeouts, but he was efficient with an even 100 pitches thrown.
“I just had a gut feeling about pitching Zach today,” said Moore who used ace lefthander Casey O’Donnell in the win over Nazareth on Tuesday. “I could have thrown Zach Prendergast, Tyler Zingle, or Crim today. Actually, Prendergast and Zingle had really good earned run averages, but I just had a feeling about Crim. Nothing against the other two, it was an extremely tough choice, but I just felt good about Zach.
“Crim seems to be able to keep his emotions in check, and in playoff baseball you have to keep your emotions under control,” added Moore. “And he had an effective cutter all day and got ahead of hitters.”
Crim – who has been a dependable relief pitcher in recent outings – was told of his starting assignment on Wednesday.
“When coach told me I was starting, I was really excited,” said Crim. “I came in with the idea that no matter what I throw, I was going to get them out. Late in the game all I did was throw the ball right over the plate and let my team mates make plays behind me.”
Zingle took care of the base running, scoring a huge insurance run in the third inning in a most bizarre manner.
Zingle opened the inning with a single and appeared to have gotten himself picked off first base. The resulting rundown ended up with Zingle safe on second base as the Wyoming Valley West shortstop was called for interference. Zingle alertly advanced to third base on a wild pitch and just as alertly scored on a sacrifice-fly to right field off the bat of Conner Crookham.
“I really thought the pitcher committed a balk, but when it wasn’t called I just took off for second base,” said Zingle. “The coaches always tell you to stay in a rundown, and I guess the kid interfered with me.
“On the wild pitch, I just took off once I saw the ball hit the dirt,” added Zingle. “And on the sacrifice-fly the kid just held up the ball to show he caught it, and I just took off again.”
Hatboro-Horsham scored its only other run of the game in the second inning.
With one out, Prendergast raced to second base for a double on a line drive that was misplayed by the right fielder. Ryan Kelly followed with a single, and Prendergast alertly (there is that word again) raced home when the rightfielder juggled the baseball.
The Hatboro-Horsham team took care of the fielding by making all the plays behind Crim – except one.
“When coach told us that Zach was pitching, we all have confidence in him,” said Zingle. “He works quick and throws strikes.”
And on a day when the powerful Hatter bats were quiet – the firm of Crim & Zingle spoke volumes.
Wyoming Valley West Spartans 000 000 0 - 0 5 1
Hatboro-Horsham Hatters 011 000 x - 2 6 1
Golden Hawks Soar To State Semifinals
Council Rock South cleared the PIAA Quad-A state quarterfinal hurdle as the Golden Hawks captured a 5-1 victory over Coatesville on Thursday. The Hawks will face District Six champion Altoona on Monday. Altoona advanced with a 6-3 victory over Mt. Lebanon (7-2) on Thursday.
“We had a much better approach at the plate today,” said Council Rock South head coach Greg Young as the Hawks pounded out 10 hits. “We feel that if we play our style of game, we can play with anyone. We only scored in one inning, but we had runners on base in six of the seven innings.”
Council Rock South scored five runs in the second inning and did it with a pair of damaging extra-base hits. Zac Fitzgerald drilled a two-run triple for the Hawks, and Jeff Miller followed later in the inning with a two-run double.
“We had some timely hitting in that inning,” said Young. “And we did a good job of running the bases.”
Council Rock South also had another superlative pitching outing turned in by senior Bret DeStefano. DeStefano threw a complete game for the Golden Hawks with seven strikeouts and limited the hot Red Raider bats to a meager five hits.
“Bret was in total command in the first five innings of the game,” said Young. “And he went out and battled through the sixth and seventh inning to get us the win.”
Last season, Council Rock failed to clear the PIAA Quad-A state quarterfinal hurdle with a loss to Spring-Ford. This season the Hawks soared over the hurdle with room to spare.
“We have two days to get ready for whoever we play next,” said Young as the Hawks prepare for the semifinals. “We will be ready.”
Council Rock South Golden Hawks 050 000 0 - 5 10 0
Coatesville Red Raiders 000 100 0 - 1 5 1
- Log in to post comments
