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PHILADELPHIA – Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference.
Monday’s Carpenter Cup semifinal game pitting the SOL American-Continental against the SOL National-Bicentennial League was suspended because of rain in the bottom of the seventh with the SOL National-BAL clinging to a 4-3 lead.
The game will resume on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Citizen’s Bank Park, but for now at least, the SOL National-BAL’s lead can be traced to one play.
It happened in the fourth inning. Trailing 3-2 entering the inning, the SOL National-BAL put its leadoff runner on board when Holy Ghost Prep’s Tim Lazor drew a leadoff walk. One out later, Council Rock North’s Mike Tentilucci collected his second single of the day.
The two teams were deadlocked 3-3 after Holy Ghost Prep’s Greg Olenski hit an RBI single to shallow center. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and when a second wild pitch got past the catcher, Tentilucci sprinted for home, barely beating the tag with a run that gave the SOL National-BAL its 4-3 lead.
“It was close,” Tentilucci said of the play. “Coach Cox told me, ‘Be aggressive – if you see a passed ball, think about going. Try and change the game.’
“I froze for a split second, which made it even closer. I knew it was going to be a close play. I saw the catcher get the ball as I was getting close to the plate. I tried to put a move on to try and slide in there safe. It was a tie game at that point. I got my foot in, dodged around (the catcher) and got my hand in. I don’t know – something got in.”
That one-run lead stood until the game was halted after Hatboro-Horsham’s Matt Hollenbeck drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh.
The winner of Tuesday’s semifinal will face Jersey Shore in the title game, which has been rescheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. Jersey Shore downed defending champ Burlington County 4-0 in the other semifinal.
“It’s just part of the game, and I don’t think it gives either team an advantage,” Wissahickon coach Shannon Gunby said of resuming play in the seventh. “What it does for us – it allows our guys to go home and re-focus and come out and hopefully put some runs on the board in the bottom of the seventh and then go on from there.”
Neshaminy coach Dennis Cox viewed the suspended game as a blessing of sorts.
“The kids get to come down here an extra time,” he said. “If I was one of them, that’s how I would look at it.
“That’s like paying once for a double header. They get to play on the field twice for the price of one game.”
There’s no mistaking that playing on the Phillies home field is a thrill for all of the athletes.
“I wish we could play here every day,” Truman’s Brian Beyer said.
“It’s amazing,” Tentilucci said. “The first time going out there for warm-ups – it’s a surreal feeling.
“You see guys on TV hitting home runs in the second and third deck in right field, and when you’re down on the field thinking about it – you’re playing on the same field all these big-time guys have played on.”
“It’s awesome,” said Wissahickon sophomore J.T. Crits. “Just walking on the field – you always watch (the Phillies games) and now you get to finally be there.”
Crits played a starring role in the SOL American-Continental’s three-run outburst in the second, roping a bases-clearing double into the left center field gap to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.
“I saw he was throwing a couple of balls to the guys before me, so I knew he was going to want to get ahead in the count,” Crits said. “I was looking fastball, and he put it right there.
“I put a decent swing on it, and I got the job done. I was really pumped up.”
Upper Moreland’s Dave McInerney set the stage for the big hit by Crits when he led off the inning with a triple into deep right center. Back-to-back walks to Cheltenham’s Matt Brown and Central Bucks East’s Tyler Zeleny loaded the bases for Crits, who delivered the game’s big blow.
“He (Crits) has been playing with some very elite teams, and a lot of (those players) are going on to D-1 and D-II college programs,” Gunby said. “He’s playing well, but he realizes he’s one of the younger kids, and it wasn’t his time to step in the limelight just yet.
“I think today helped him realize, ‘Now is my time, going into my junior year, and I’m laying the groundwork to go to the next level.’”
The SOL National-BAL – which plated an unearned run in the second on Tentilucci’s RBI single – got one of those runs back in the third. Truman’s Brian Bower roped a double to right field to open the inning, and he scored when Council Rock North’s Ryan Hartley doubled to left, making it a 3-2 game.
“We’re definitely very confident,” Tentilucci said. “We know we have a lot of talent on this team from all around the league. Three runs they put up – it was hard to go down early, but we knew we still had seven innings ahead of us.”
Any thoughts of a big inning were put to rest when Wissahickon’s Scott McKenna closed out his three-inning stint on the mound with three straight strikeouts.
In the fourth inning, the SOL National-BAL went on top 4-3, but like the SOL American-Continental, which managed just one hit after the second, the SOL National-BAL’s bats went silent after that as well.
The rain began in the top of the seventh, and by the bottom of the inning, the game was halted.
“The ball was really hard to grip,” Cox said. “I think they went as far as they could possibly go in the conditions.”
Both teams left feeling optimistic.
“We have been hitting the ball hard all day,” Crits said. “We just need to get a couple of timely hits, and we can pull it out.”
“It’s not really a big impact coming back tomorrow,” Beyer said. “We’ll come out tomorrow just like we did today.
“Everyone on the field just has to do the job just like we did today. I’m real confident. We got down (3-1), and I wasn’t worried at all. We have a bunch of hitters and great players.”
"Up on the scoreboard in right field it shows that we left 13 guys on base,” Tentilucci added. “One ball falling in (for a hit), and the score could be totally different. It’s good to know we’ll have a couple of more chances to score some more runs.”
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