By Scott Huff
WHITEMARSH – If you watch enough baseball games, there just may be something that you haven’t seen before. Evidence being that host Plymouth Whitemarsh edged Central Bucks East 6-5 in the eighth inning on a 350-foot....... single.
“I think it should go into the scorebook as a triple,” smiled Colonial senior Rafe Pilgrim who delivered the game winning hit.
The Pilgrim blast to right center field came with bases loaded and no outs. Dan Rosenbaum opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a throwing error. Kevin Burdick was walked, and Alex Klein was safe on a swinging bunt single to load the bases.
Pilgrim, though, wasn’t the only hitting hero on the afternoon. He shared the spotlight with both teammate Mike Graney and East third baseman Matt Tenaglia.
Graney – who stroked three hits – gave the Colonials a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning. Chris Quarino opened the inning with a single and scored moments later when Graney blistered a triple to the gap in right center to score Quarino.
Graney then scored on an RBI ground out by Shane Dolan to secure a seemingly safe two-run lead.
“We haven’t been doing much hitting early in the game,” said Central Bucks East coach Kyle Dennis. “We scored six runs in the sixth inning to beat Tennent in our first game, and we scored some late runs again today.”
The Patriots actually scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 5-4 lead.
Dave Davenport was safe on an error to open the inning and was replaced on the bases by Nick Lager. Catcher Mike DiVona singled to extend the inning; however, two outs later the tying runs were still on base.East shortstop Mike Damm worked a walk to load the bases, and a second PW error allowed a run to score and shave the Colonial lead to 4-3.
Next to the plate was Tenaglia – who is signed sealed and delivered to James Madison University next fall. And Tenaglia roped a two-run single to right to forge a 5-4 CBE lead.
“Who else would you want up in that situation,” said Dennis. “Two outs, bases loaded, the game on the line. I want the bat in Matt’s hands.”
The hero baton was then handed to PW’s Graney in the last of the seventh inning.
With one out, pinch hitter Taylor Runyen worked a walk and replaced on the bases by Matt Mondimore. Mondimore stole second on the first pitch to the plate, and after a second out Graney came up with the game on the line.
Graney scorched the two-out single up the middle to score Mondimore with the critical game-tying run.
“All I wanted to do was to get a hit somewhere so we could keep on playing,” said Graney. “I got a good pitch to hit – right down the middle.”
“Mike is the captain of the team and he was our lead-off guy all last year,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Bob Slagle. “He is one of our leaders, and we can expect that from him.
“We could have kept our heads down after giving up the three runs in the seventh inning,” added Slagle. “But as a coaching staff we tell them to forget the bad plays and not to let it effect the next play.”
The timely hitting stole the highlights from some rather decent pitching from both teams.Plymouth Whitemarsh starter Rosenbaum allowed just two earned runs over four innings, Pilgrim threw well and permitted just a single earned run in two frames, while Quarino earned the win by tossing the last two innings.
“I was really pleased to see them around the strike zone,” said Slagle. “They kept the ball down against some pretty good hitters.”
“I think we have a strong hitting lineup 1-9,” said Dennis. “And I thought our pitchers did a good job today as well.”
The Patriots received four strong innings from Brian Davis, while the tough luck loser was Craiger Eshleman. East did not showcase either of its top two pitchers – Tenaglia and Tim Wessel.
“This was a nice win for us,” said Slagle. “We like to schedule good teams – like East – and scrimmage good teams like North Penn and Conestoga. We want to see how we can play against the best.
“I really hate to give Rafe just a single on that game winning hit,” smiled Slagle as he glanced at the scorebook. “But that’s baseball.”
CBE 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 - 5 8 1
PW 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 - 6 11 2
CBE: Mike Damm ss 2 2 1 0; Ryan Sparks 2b 4 0 1 1; Matt Tenaglia 3b 3 0 1 2; Chris Zikmund 1b 3 0 0 0; Joe Hoy dh 4 0 0 0; Dave Davenport lf 4 0 2 0; Mike DiVona c 4 1 2 0; Ryan Pater rf 4 1 1 0; Mike Burgoyne lf 1 0 0 0; Tim Wessel 1 0 0 0; Sean Trymbiski 0 1 0 0. Totals 30 5 8 4.
PW: Mike Graney cf 5 1 3 2; Shane Dolan c 3 1 0 1; Dan Rosenbaum p 4 2 2 1; Kevin Burdick 1b 2 0 0 0; Alex Klein lf 3 0 1 0; Rafe Pilgrim 3b 4 0 2 1; Ryan Dolan 2b 3 0 1 1; Nick Guarino rf 2 0 1 0; Bob Luthy 3b 1 0 0 0; Taylor Runyen ph 0 0 0 0; Matt Mondimore 0 1 0 0; Chris Quarino ss 4 1 1 0. Totals 31 6 11 6.
E- CBE (1), PW (2). LOB – CBE (9), PW (12) 2b – Rosenbaum 3b – Graney.
CBE INN R ER K W
Davis 4 4 4 1 6
Eshleman (L) 3 2 2 3 4
PW
Rosenbaum 4 2 2 1 1
Pilgrim 2 2 1 1 1
Quarino (W) 2 1 0 2 1
- Log in to post comments
0
