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By Scott Huff
BOYERTOWN – Council Rock North had an impressive run in the PIAA District One Quad-A tournament, but the Indians came up a win shy of the title as Rock North lost a 6-2 contest to West Chester East in the district final.
“We wanted to win the district championship,” said Council Rock head coach Dan Kusters. “But when you look at what we have done so far this season, it’s not too shabby.
“The seniors and I got together before the season and talked about our goals for the season,” added Kusters. “We wanted to have a good showing in the conference, in the districts, and get into states.”
Mission accomplished.
Rock North finished the season as the second place team in the Suburban One National Conference behind conference champion Council Rock South with an 11-3 record.
Rock North finished second in the district playoffs and will earn a first round date with a team from District 12 – the Philadelphia Public League – in the state tournament that begins on Monday.
“We’re ready to rock and roll in the third season,” said Kusters. “We’ll do some research on our next opponent, but all we really need to do is take care of Council Rock North.”
West Chester East scored five of its six runs with two outs to earn the victory. The Vikings – the champions of the Ches-Mont League – scored a single run in the second take the lead.
East broke the game open with back-to back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning. All of those runs came with two outs.
“I got my fast ball up a little to the bottom of their order,” said losing pitcher Kelly Adams. “They hit the ball better than us.”
East added a solo run in the fifth inning to take a 5-0 lead.Council Rock North finally got on the scoreboard in its half of the sixth inning.
With one out, Adams walked. Tim Filer and Ryan Hartley also walked to fill the bases. The first run came on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ryan Venner, and the second run of the inning came on an RBI single by Lee Marvel.
The Indians loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning, but a double play ended both the scoring threat and the ballgame.
“We battled back late in the game, but it wasn’t enough,” said Adams. “We got pretty far in this tournament, no one expected us to be in the final.
“But we were right there,” added Adams. “And we should go far in the state tournament.”
If the runs through the conference and the districts are any indication, there should be a lot of baseball left to be played this 2009 season by Council Rock North.
West Chester East 0 1 0 3 1 0 1 - 6 11 1
CR North 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 6 1
West Chester East: Derek Pruecial 3 0 1 1; Zack Mooton 2b 4 0 1 0; Steve Snyder ss 4 2 1 0; Justin Leeson c 4 0 1 1; Chase Miller dh 4 1 1 0; Thomas Spitz rf 2 0 1 0; Justin Orton cf 3 1 1 0; Rich Brice lf 3 1 2 1; Tyler Quaile 3b 3 1 2 1. Totals 30 6 11 5.
Council Rock North: Matt Hone ss 4 0 0 0; Tyler Farrell c 4 0 0 0; Scott Runzer 1b 4 0 1 0; Kelly Adams p 2 1 1 0; Tim Filer lf 3 1 1 0; Ryan Hartley 2b 1 0 0 0; Ryan Venner dh 2 0 1 1; Lee Marvel rf 3 0 1 1; Jesse Goldberg cf 3 0 1 0. Totals 26 2 6 2.
2B – {WCE – Brice, Quaile, Pruecial, Leeson}
West Chester East Inn H R ER K W
Jay Lynch 2.0 2 0 0 3 0
Rob Worrell (W) 3.1 2 2 2 1 3
Bill Phalis 1.2 2 0 0 1 2
Rock North
Kelly Adams (L) 5.0 8 5 3 6 1
Jared Weed 1.0 1 0 0 0 0
Darren Lauer 1.0 2 1 1 0 0
SOL District One Notes
North Penn survived the ‘playback’ bracket and earned a fifth place seed in the state tournament from District One with a 10-0 rout of Great Valley at Spring-Ford High School.
“We came out swinging the bats, and we made the plays in the field,” said North Penn coach Bob McCreary. “And I also think we caught them on an off day.
“The players responded well – it was win or go home,” added McCreary.
The Knights broke open the game in the fourth inning by scoring six runs. Jimmy Smith led off with a homerun, Justin Davey delivered a two-run double, and Scott Christy crushed an RBI triple.
Mike Bradstreet picked up the win for North Penn with a complete game two-hit shutout.
The Knights will play the winner of District Three to open their state tournament play on Monday.
Pennridge earned a three seed from District One with a 12-3 victory over Garnet Valley. The Rams will play the winner of District 11 to open state play on Monday.
Like North Penn, Pennridge used the big inning to claim a huge win. The Rams scored six runs in the sixth inning to break open a close game.
“We have been doing this all season,” said Pennridge coach Tom Nuneviller. “We fall behind early, but we battle back and win ballgames.
“It’s nice to be able to go into states on a winning note,” added Nuneviller. “We got some solid pitching and some timely hitting.”
The pitching came from sophomore Jared Schaffer who was the winning pitcher and threw five strong innings. Sophomore Dylan Tice threw two scoreless innings of relief.
The biggest run producers for the Rams were seniors Brad Herrmann and Eric Kammler who each knocked home three runs.
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