Quakertown, CB East, North Penn, Neshaminy & Upper Dublin were winners Wednesday in District 1 Tournament action. CB East/Garnet Valley photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko, and PW/West Chester Henderson photos courtesy of Michael Rice. Check back for galleries of both games: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f899671345
Class 6A
#1 Quakertown 4, #16 Avon Grove 3
To go 14-2 in the SOL Liberty, win a league title and earn a top seed in the district playoffs, Quakertown has found a lot of different ways to win games this season.
Chalk another one up Wednesday night.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Caleb Everitt singled home Cole Reich and Matt Marsten, as the Panthers came from behind to win their second-round game over #16 Avon Grove by a 4-3 final score.
“What a game,” said Quakertown coach Jon Pallone. “Avon Grove is a very good team, and they had a great pitcher on the mound. They’ve got some really good players on that team.”
After Reich drew a one-out walk, Cooper Natisin singled. A runner was picked off base for the second out, but then Matt Marsten and Gunner Rahn both drew walks to load the bases, setting the stage for Everitt to deliver the game-winner.
“We got together before we hit and said, ‘We’re the home team, with home-field advantage. The game’s not over and we’ll play for one run,’” Pallone said. “My college coach, Tim Neiman, used to tell us, ‘One’s a must, but two’s a plus’ whenever a runner is on first with less than two outs. I took that and told the guys one run is a must, but two is a plus.”
A lot of the damage in this one was done early.
Avon Grove, which knocked off Souderton on Monday, scored on an RBI double in the top of the first.
Quakertown countered with two in the bottom of the first. Danny Qualteria walked, stole second and scored on a throwing error. Everitt hit an RBI double to give the Panthers the 2-1 lead.
A triple and a single tied it at 2 in the top of the second, and that’s where the game stayed for the next five innings.
Quakertown pitcher Marsten settled in after the slow start and shut Avon Grove down. He ended up going 6 1/3 innings, until relieved by Natisin with one out in the seventh.
Avon Grove scored a run in the top of the seventh, however, on a triple and a single and looked in good shape to pull off the upset, only to see the host Panthers pull it out in walk-off style in the bottom half of the inning.
“Matt Marsten did a great job stranding runners on base,” Pallone said. “I’m so proud of our guys tonight, never giving in. Cooper Natisin was able to go out there, finish the inning, and then leg out a single.”
Everitt (2-for-3, 2B, 3 RBIs) and Natisin (2-for-4) accounted for four of their team’s five hits.
Quakertown (16-5) will host #8 Downingtown East, a 7-0 winner over Wissahickon, in the quarterfinal round on Friday.
Avon Grove 110 000 1 – 3 10 2
Quakertown 200 000 2 – 4 5 0
#2 Neshaminy 10, #15 Haverford 2
Senior Luke Schweiker stepped up with a huge performance on the mound, and offensively, Neshaminy pounded out 10 runs on 13 hits and also drew six walks, to blow past visiting Haverford in a second-round game Wednesday.
Schweiker briefly had a bit of trouble in the top of the second when Haverford, which defeated #18 Pennridge Monday, scored two runs to take a lead. But from that point on, he shut the Fords down and ended up going six innings, scattering three hits and four walks, while striking out nine. Steve Martin finished the game off in the seventh.
“Luke Schweiker had another dominant performance on the mound,” said coach Dan Toner. “He had one inning where he lost his command for a minute, but he was able to make some adjustments and be lights out the rest of the game.
“Luke went from being a non-league starter and late relief guy in the beginning of the season, to a top of the rotation guy by the end and into the playoffs. He has stepped up for his teammates as much as anybody could.”
Offensively, the Neshaminy batters gave their pitcher plenty of run support, with three in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth to blow the game wide open.
“We needed some different players to step up today, and not only did those individuals step up, the entire team did,” Toner said.
“We played an excellent, complete baseball game. We made a couple of errors, but they were a result of being a little over aggressive. We hit, we ran the bases, we pitched and played defense at a very high level today.”
Danny Nocito led off the second with a double, and later in the inning, Adam Hunter drove in a run with a single, Anthony Trommer picked up an RBI with a ground out and a Stone Powell single with bases loaded made it a 4-2 game.
Noah Wallace had an RBI double, and Hunter another RBI single in the third.
Then in the fourth, Joel Bonner had an RBI double, Powell an RBI single.
Trommer, Chase Bonner, Powell, Wallace and Hunter each had two hits.
“I wouldn’t say we went cold on offense at the end of the season, but our hitting wasn’t as dominant as it has been the last two games before playoffs. We had a lot of time to refocus and get back to our approach, and today we had a familiar result that we were waiting for. We are hoping it continues throughout the playoffs.”
Neshaminy (18-2) hosts #7 Central Bucks East in a quarterfinal game on Friday.
Haverford 020 000 0 – 2 3 3
Neshaminy 132 310 x – 10 13 3
#5 Plymouth Whitemarsh 5, #22 West Chester Henderson 1
A strong start and dominant pitching throughout was just the start to the district playoffs that Plymouth Whitemarsh was hoping for, as it rode the pitching of senior Colin Brady to a 5-1 win over visiting #22 West Chester Henderson Wednesday.
Brady set the tone early and never let the Henderson offense get untracked. He pitched six shutout innings, until being removed in the seventh, allowing just one earned run on three hits and three walks, while striking out seven.
Jake Rauscher came out and recorded the final three outs to finish the game off.
“Colin gave us everything we hoped for on the mound today,” said PW coach Chris Manero. “He worked all of his pitches well and made the game more comfortable for us from the start.
“He has really impressed us this season in each of his outings. Since his sophomore year, he has primarily been our first baseman and we haven’t been able to get him on the mound a ton. But this year, he got his slot in our rotation and has been a major factor in our success.”
Offensively, PW pounded out 10 hits, as the top four hitters in the lineup combined to go 9-for-12 with four RBIs.
And it started early, as leadoff hitter Gabe Caucci led off the first with a double on the first pitch. Two batters later, Gavin Moore singled him home for the game’s first run.
Two innings later in the third, Caucci led off with a single, Chase Olszyk followed with an RBI triple to center, and Moore then singled to make it 3-0.
In the fifth, Chase Fisher had an RBI double, and Christian Strunk an RBI single.
“The top of our lineup today was about as good as it’s been all season,” Manero said. “Gabe Caucci got that started early for us by leading off the bottom half of the first with a double, and the four guys who followed were hitting balls hard all day.
“Winning after the first-round bye is obviously significant, and I liked the way we came out today. These guys definitely took the first with a purpose and it made for a nice day at the yard.”
Caucci’s 3-for-3 effort with a double and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot led the Colonials. Olszyk was 2-for-3 with a triple and RBI, Moore was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Fisher was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored.
The Colonials (16-5) move on to the quarterfinal round Friday against #13 Spring-Ford, which knocked off Pioneer Athletic Conference rival #4 Owen J. Roberts in its game on Wednesday. That game will be at PW at 3 p.m.
West Chester Henderson 000 000 1 – 1 3 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 102 020 x – 5 10 1
#7 Central Bucks East 10, #10 Garnet Valley 7
It was going to take a lot of offense to win. CB East knew that and was confident it was up to the challenge.
The Patriots scored 10 runs in the first three innings, which ended up being needed as they were
pushed late before closing out the 10-7 home win in its second-round game on Wednesday.
“We kind of knew,” said CB East coach Kyle Dennis. “Garnet Valley plays a lot of stats close to the vest, but we knew they’re an offensively driven team. They outscored us this year by 20 or 30 runs.
“We knew we were going to have to score to win. That’s an obvious statement, but the guys did just that. They put really good swings on pitches. To have the middle of our order producing the way they did today, we’re going to score a lot of runs.”
With two outs in the bottom of the first, Chase Harlan set the tone with a double to center field. The next man up, Jack Mislan, crushed a home run
to right field for the early 2-0 lead.
In the second, Sean Hill singled home a run first, and then Harlan followed with a three-run homer to right.
“It’s hard not to know who Chase Harlan is in our lineup,” Dennis said. “He was able to connect on some fastballs and hit the ball hard. You know he’s going to have a good day when he went out in the first and hit a line drive up the middle.
“Our guys were locked in, driving the ball up the middle and putting balls in play.”
It wasn’t just the big guys at the top of the lineup doing the damage either. Colin Lynch was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Hill finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. In all, the Patriots scored 10 runs on 12 hits and also drew five walks.
On the mound, Sam Bliss started and allowed one run in three innings, before departing the game for relievers Tim Mahony and Matt Scafidi.
When Garnet Valley rallied to get it to 10-7, closer Jason Abert came in and recorded the final two outs to earn
the save.
“In the third inning, Sam Bliss took a line drive off of his throwing hand,” Dennis said. “He was able to finish out the inning, but we went to the bullpen a little more than we normally would, just to be safe.
“Garnet Valley is a team that can flat out hit. They were desperate and were able to put up a few runs.
“We held on to win. A win is a win, we’ll take it. The offense was doing their thing, we played clean baseball defensively. Those are good things to take to Friday.”
CB East will play at #2 Neshaminy in the quarterfinals on Friday, in a rematch of a Patriots’ win from earlier in the season.
Garnet Valley 010 004 2 – 7 9 2
CB East 244 000 x – 10 12 0
#14 North Penn 2, #3 Methacton 1
Having a playoff-tested pitcher ready to go in a second-round game of the district playoffs is huge, and North Penn sophomore Trevor Lugara was in postseason form, as he shut down third-seeded Methacton, and then the Knights offense plated the winning run in the sixth for the 2-1 road win.
“Lugara was just so tenacious on the mound today,” said NP coach Kevin Manero. “Last year in states, he was matched up head-to-head with a Texas A&M commit and today a Wake Forest commit.
“There’s so little room for error in games like that, but Trev just knows how to execute.
“A 79-pitch, complete game in playoff baseball, on the road, is not a small feat.”
Lugara allowed just one run on seven hits, did not walk a batter and struck out three.
Offensively, the Knights were matched up against Methacton’s Evan Jones. They struck first with a run in the third, as Chase Jones and Ben Farley both singled, and a run scored on a RBI groundout by Kevin Brace.
After Methacton tied it in the fourth, North Penn retook the lead back in the sixth, as Josh Martinell’s sacrifice fly scored AJ Briggs from third, and that proved enough for Lugara, who set Methacton down 1-2-3 in both the sixth and seventh innings.
“Jones was very tough for Methacton and we knew we were in for a battle,” Manero said. “I thought we did a good job of putting pressure on though, and really grinding out some tough innings.
“A big arm, wind blowing in, it’s not a day to take big swings, and we really just tried to get good contact. But mostly we worked to create some chaos on the bases. Obviously, we didn’t do too much, but it was just enough on a day like today.
“Not issuing walks and playing pretty lean defense took us a long way today.”
Farley’s 3-for-3 effort at the plate led the Knights.
North Penn (15-6) next plays at #6 Downingtown West in a quarterfinal game on Friday.
North Penn 001 001 0 – 2 5 1
Methacton 000 100 0 – 1 7 1
#8 Downingtown East 7, #9 Wissahickon 0
Wissahickon had an emotional win on Monday against Council Rock North and had to use its top two pitchers. Two days later, the Trojans were on the road against a solid Downingtown East squad and saw their season come to an end by a 7-0 final score.
Downingtown East scored three runs in the third to break a scoreless tie, and then tackled on four in the fifth.
Wissahickon, meanwhile, managed just three hits on the day – two singles by Mark Selverian and a single from Justin Miller – and never managed more than one base runner in an inning.
The Trojans finished the season with a 15-7 final record.
Downingtown East plays at top-seeded Quakertown in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Wissahickon 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
Downingtown East 003 040 x – 7 6 2
Class 5A
#3 Upper Dublin 9, #6 West Chester East 2
Wednesday was a statement game for Upper Dublin.
The Flying Cardinals shook off a slow start and dominated the middle innings with an impressive offensive performance and also had ace Austin Dahl on the mound to finish off visiting West Chester East in a quarterfinal game on Wednesday.
“Today, our boys played our best game of the season thus far,” said Upper Dublin coach Ed Wall. “Eric Berman’s 13-pitch leadoff at-bat set the tone for how tough it was going to be to get us out today.
“Our guys did a fantastic job putting the ball in play with two strikes and much improved with runners on with two outs.”
Trailing 2-0, UD tied it with two of its own in the third.
Berman, who went 3-for-4 with two runs scored on the day, led off with a single, and after an error scored on an RBI sac fly by Dahl. With two outs, Bobby Keck singled home a second run.
Wilkins had an RBI sac fly in the fourth to make it a 3-2 game, and in the fifth, UD took advantage of two errors to up its lead to 5-2. The Cardinals then added four in the sixth, taking advantage of walks and bases-clearing, three-RBI double by Keck.
That was plenty for Dahl, who allowed just three hits and one walk – and two unearned runs – while striking out three.
“Austin Dahl showed why he’s a first-team Liberty Conference pitcher, allowing only two runs on three hits,” Wall said. “Our defense was electric today, focused on making the average play, but there was nothing average about our defense. Big-time plays were made all over the field, helping us to shut down innings.”
Upper Dublin (15-6) is on to the district semifinals on Friday against #10 Radnor.
West Chester East 200 000 0 – 2 3 4
Upper Dublin 002 124 x – 9 8 2
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