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By Scott HuffIt wasn’t the heat or the humidity.
It was the Spring-Ford Rams.
Council Rock North could not overcome a 14-hit onslaught as the Indians failed to defend its PIAA District One title in a 9-3 loss to Spring-Ford in a sweltering district semifinal game played at Upper Dublin High School.
Not to worry.
“Our main goal was to be state champions, and the best part of this (format) is that we can come back – correct our mistakes – and still be state champions,” said Council Rock North senior catcher David Pine. “Things really fell apart for us today, and they jumped on us early in the game. That was a good hitting team that we played today.”
The Rams – champions of the Pioneer Athletic Conference – broke open a 1-0 game with a four-run third inning. And Spring-Ford did it all with two outs and no base runners.
“Getting that four spot with two outs was a huge turning point of the game,” said Spring-Ford head coach Brian Brobost. “This is something we have been doing all season – coming up with clutch two-out hits.”
The biggest hit for the Rams in the inning came off the bat of third baseman Cody Clarke who absolutely crushed a bases loaded triple to dead center field.“I can’t thing of a single place with a fence where that isn’t a homerun,” said Brobst. “Cody and Ryan (Conway – double) really got the good part of the bat on the ball.”
Council Rock North did not go away quietly into the scorching afternoon sun. The Indians scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning to draw within 5-3.
Pine lead off the inning with a base on balls – the only free pass issued by Ram ace Mike Oczypok. Pine stole second base and scored on an RBI single by Ryan Hartley. Hartley would score later in the inning on a fielder’s choice grounder by Benn Parker, and Parker would score the third and final run of the inning on an RBI single by Mike Tentilucci.
“We got ourselves back in the game,” said Council Rock North head coach Matt Schram. “We needed a shut down (fifth) inning after that, but it didn’t happen.”
Spring-Ford scored two more runs in the fifth inning and tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning to cruise to the win.
“(Spring-Ford) plays in perhaps the toughest league (Pioneer Athletic Conference) in the area,” said Schram. “For them to be the best team in that league speaks volumes about how good a team they are. I’m not too sure we didn’t play the best team in the state today.”
Not only did the Indians have to overcome a hitting barrage by the Rams, Rock North had to deal with perhaps the finest pitcher in the area in Mike Oczypok. ‘Oz’ – who is headed to the University of Alabama next year on a baseball scholarship – limited the Indians to just six hits and had 10 strikeouts.
“Oz finishes every game he has started for us,” said Brobst. “I was wondering how he would hold up in this heat, but he didn’t seem to have any trouble.”
“Oczypok is something special,” said Schram. “For us to be able to get back into the game was a positive. But he shut us down when he had to late in the game.”
“He (Oczypok) had some real zip on the ball,” said Pine. “And he kept us off balance with his curve. He threw a nice game.
“This was just a bad day for us – it happens,” added Pine. “We still have games to play, and we can still get where we want to go.”
To win a state championship.
Spring-Ford Rams 014 022 0 - 9 14 2
CR North Indians 000 300 0 - 3 6 2
Spring-Ford –
Medley lf - 5 0 1 1; Grablewski 2b – 4 0 2 1; Grorrell ss – 4 0 0 0; Hoff c – 4 0 3 0; Oz p – 4 1 1 0; Clarke 3b – 4 1 3 4; Conway dh – 3 1 2 1; Larkin 1b – 3 1 1 0; Kratzkowski rf – 4 0 1 0. Totals 35 9 14 7.
(WP) – Oczypok– 7 innings; 3 runs; 1 earned run; 10 strikeouts; 1 walk
Council Rock North –
Festa 3b – 4 0 0 0; Pine c – 2 1 1 0; Hartley ss - 2 1 1 1; Denton lf – 3 0 0 0; Parker rf – 3 1 1 1; Sable 1b-p 3 0 0 0; Tentilucci cf - 3 0 1 1; Rubino dh – 2 0 0 0; Terry – 1b – 1 0 0 0; Henritzy 1b – 3 0 2 0. Totals 26 3 6 2.
(LP) Lauer – 3 innings; five runs; five earned runs; four strikeouts; three walks.
O’Leary – 3 innings; four runs; four earned runs; five strikeouts; three walks.
Sable – 1 inning; no runs; no earned runs; no strikeouts; no walks.
Golden Hawks Lose Heartbreaker
Council Rock South had been breaking hearts with thrilling one-run wins over Downingtown East and Marple Newtown. The Golden Hawks scored two runs in the last of the seventh inning to defeat the Cougars, and took 14 innings to overcome the Tigers.
This time it was the Hawks turn to have a broken heart as Conestoga scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk off with an 8-7 victory.
“Just another exciting playoff baseball game,” said Council Rock South head coach Greg Young. “We had runners on base every inning, and we hit the ball hard the entire game. Zach Fitzgerald, Justin Thomas, and Jeff Miller all had good games at the plate. We scored enough runs to win, but we could have scored even more.
“I am proud of the way we battled back in the game,” added Young as the Hawks trailed 4-1 but scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead. “But we just couldn’t finish the game.”
CR South pitcher Bret DeStefano threw the first six innings for the Hawks.
“Bret kept us in the game, but we felt that he didn’t have enough to finish the game in the seventh,” said Young. “Give Conestoga credit – they hit the ball hard the whole game.”
Conestoga finished the game with 12 hits, while the Hawks collected 11 hits.
“Now we get to play CR North for third place,” said Young. “The game will be played at North – and we will flip a coin to see who the home team is going to be. It should be a great game.”
Council Rock South Hawks 001 041 0 - 7 11 2
Conestoga Pioneers 300 110 3 - 8 12 3
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