Neshaminy edged Central Bucks South 2-1 to capture the District 1 6A championship. Photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-7 Neshaminy 2, #1-17 Central Bucks South 1
It may have been the No. 7 seed in these District One Class 6A playoffs, but over the last two weeks, Neshaminy has proven it is far better than that.
This is a team that has played like it is the No. 1 team in District One, and Friday afternoon it validated that with a 2-1 win over Central Bucks South in the Class 6A championship game at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth.
“When we started to fall off (midseason), we didn’t act like a family,” said junior pitcher Max Temple. “We’ve come back on this streak acting like a family. That’s how we get stuff done.”
Coach Dan Toner, whose team won the program’s first district title since 1992, had a lot of praise for his players, especially his senior leaders, who helped the team navigate through a stretch in which they lost five out of six games and fell out of the SOL National Conference title chase.
“My captains, they just stepped up, all the seniors as well,” Toner said. “They took over this entire postseason. They’re coming up big every game.”
Starting with a 4-3 win over Souderton, another state qualifier, Neshaminy has won six of its last seven, including a 4-0 playoff stretch in which it has allowed just four runs.
Friday, it limited CB South to just one run, thanks to pitching from Temple, who is now 5-1 on the season, and tremendous defense in the infield – first baseman Dalton Turner, second baseman Matt Yauger, shortstop Joyce and third baseman Tyler Jones.
“Championship games, you’re definitely going to see a great team, especially (CB South) – they’re a great hitting team,” Joyce said. “You’ve got to be on point on defense. Max, he didn’t have his best stuff, but he was able to work through situations and we had his back.
“Really, all playoffs, letting up four runs in four games, that’s unreal pitching from (Temple) and Danny (Errigo), and Jake (Fehrle) to come out and finish it.”
Offense was hard to come by for both teams, although there were plenty of hard-hit balls that were right at fielders.
Neshaminy started the scoring in the bottom of the second. Jones led off with a double to right field, and the next batter, center fielder Gus Natelli followed with a double to almost the same exact spot in right field, which allowed Jones to score.
In the top of the third, CB South tied it 1, starting with a one-out walk by Ryan Rieber. Two batters later Jake McKeown drew a walk, and shortstop Joey Loynd followed with an RBI single.
Neshaminy, however, then intentionally walked designated hitter Jake Trachtenberg, and Temple was able to record the final out of the inning to avoid further damage.
Trachtenberg, who entered the game hitting .448 with 22 RBIs, was intentionally walked again in the fifth, and again, Neshaminy was able to navigate around a potentially big inning.
CB South wouldn’t score again and ended up stranding seven runners on base.
“They made some nice plays,” Titans coach Brian Klumpp said about Neshaminy. “The second baseman (Yauger) made a really nice play. The third baseman (Jones) made a really nice one as well.
“I mean, that’s baseball. You hit the ball and hopefully it doesn’t find a fielder, but unfortunately, for us today, it did.”
In the bottom of the fifth, Tommy Pease led off with a single up the middle. Chris James then bunted Pease to second, and with the top of the Neshaminy lineup coming up, Klumpp opted to pull lefty Rieber and insert sophomore Owen Petrich.
After recording the second out, Petrich had an 0-2 count on Joyce, who then singled to left to drive in Pease for the go-ahead and what would be the winning run.
“Coming from the right, instead of the lefty, (Petrich) started me off with two really good curveballs,” Joyce said. “So, I was looking for a fastball. I was a little bit early and I was able to sneak it through the infield.”
Fehrle relieved Temple in the sixth and retired all five batters he faced to pick up the save.
“It was a great baseball game,” Klumpp said. “It kind of stinks to be on (the losing) end, but hats off to (Neshaminy). They got the key hit when they needed it. It was just a good, clean baseball game for seven innings.”
CB South (16-7) does advance to the PIAA Class 6A State Tournament, and will open Monday night (7 p.m.) against District 11 runner-up Emmaus at Boyertown’s Bear Stadium.
Neshaminy (16-6) will look to keep it going Monday (4 p.m.) at Widener University against District Three runner-up Hempfield.
“We want to keep it going,” Joyce said. “Pitching, hitting, in the field, just keep playing well, playing with energy and having fun.”
Central Bucks South 001 000 0 1-5-1
Neshaminy 010 010 x 2-6-0
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH (1) – Brock Veit 3-0-1-0; Jake McKeown 2-0-0-0; Joey Loynd 3-0-2-1; Jake Trachtenberg 1-0-0-0; Bryan Rossi 3-0-1-0; Connor McKeown 3-0-0-0; Owen Petrich 3-0-1-0; Michael Marino 2-0-0-0; Dakota Beck 1-0-0-0; Ryan Rieber 1 -0-0-0; Zach Steinberg 0-1-0-0; Carter Hinds 1 -0-0-0; TOTALS 23-1-5-1.
NESHAMINY (2) – Matt Yauger 3-0-0-0; Cory Joyce 2-0-1-1; Joe Kaleck 3-0-0-0; Dalton Turner 3-0-2-0; Zach Bowman 0-0-0-0; Tyler Jones 2-1-1-0; Gus Natelli 3-0-1-1; Andrew Mays 2-0-0-0; Max Temple 1-0-0-0; Tommy Pease 2-1-1-0; Chris James 1-0-0-0; TOTALS 22-2-6-2.
LOB – CBS 7, Neshaminy 5. 2B-Joey Loynd, Tyler Jones, Dalton Turner. SAC-Jack McKeown, Chris James, Tyler Jones.
IP H R ER SO BB
Central Bucks South
Ryan Rieber (L) 4.1 4 2 2 3 1
Owen Petrich 1.2 2 0 0 0 0
Neshaminy
Max Temple (W) 5.1 5 1 1 1 5
Jake Fehrle 1.2 0 0 0 1 0
Save-Jake Fehrle.
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