CB East & PWboth advanced to the District 1 6A semifinals with wins on Friday. CB East/Neshaminy photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f899671345 (PW/Spring-Ford photos courtesy of Cindy Manero/PW baseball)
District 1 6A semifinals
#7 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, #2 NESHAMINY 2
Neshaminy brought an impressive nine-game winning streak into Friday’s District 1 6A quarterfinal game with its last loss at the hands of Central Bucks East on April 22, and for the second time in as many meetings this season, the Patriots edged the Redskins.
Damian Frayne was in complete command for six innings, allowing four hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out four and walking one.
“(One of the keys today) was the energy that we built off of our pitcher,” East senior Chase Harlan said. “Damian had an awesome game. That was one of the best games I’ve ever seen him throw.
“They scored first (in the fifth inning), and we came back in the dugout, and we’re like – ‘One run, that’s nothing. We’re built for situations like this. We’re not going to go down without a fight,’ and that was the mindset.”
With the win, the Patriots not only advanced to the district semifinals, they also punched their ticket to the PIAA 6A State Tournament for the first time in program history.
“It’s unbelievable,” East coach Kyle Dennis said. “The last time CB East had a team playing on Friday (in the quarterfinals) was 2013. We got rained out on Friday, and my daughter was born on Saturday, so I didn’t get to coach in that game. We ended up losing to Coatesville, who had a really good pitcher that year, and there were no playbacks at the time. Only four teams got in, so that was tough.”
Advancing to the state tournament was a goal for this year’s squad.
“You look at the past four years that I’ve been a part of the program – we’ve had a lot of ups and downs,” Harlan said. “To finally
achieve something like we did – being the first team to make states in East history, that’s pretty special, and I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group of guys.
“I’m just so grateful for the hard work we put in this year – this was one of our goals. The ultimate goal is to win the state championship, but to make it there is one step in the right direction.”
Asked what made it work this year for a Patriot squad that also captured the SOL Colonial title, Harlan pointed to the team’s chemistry.
“We’ve always had good team chemistry in the past, and at the end of last year when we went on that little win streak (winning five of six to close out the regular season), there was something that clicked with our team chem, and that was the biggest thing for us – just playing with each other,” Harlan said. “Not having anyone that is worried about how they’re doing versus how the team is doing because if you want to win and have success, it’s gotta be as a team. It’s a team sport at the end of the day. I think that’s been the biggest thing for us is just the team chemistry part of it.
“We’re all great friends. The core group of guys on our team – we’ve all been playing with each other in the past. We all played little league together, we grew up in the game with each other. I think this year is that final click. We have a lot of seniors, and we all want it really bad because this is it, this is our last chance. Everyone has bought into that winning mindset, and we want to do it this year. It’s a great group of guys that we have.”
In Friday’s quarterfinal showdown, pitching was the name of the game for both squads.
“We knew Dame was going to throw well – he’s been phenomenal all season,” Dennis said of Frayne. “He’s been undefeated, and we knew he was going to do a great job competing and trying to hold them down.”
Jason Abert, who entered the game with a runner on first and no outs in the seventh, earned the save with a shutout inning in relief.
The Redskins capitalized on a two-out East error to plate their first run in the bottom of the fifth.
East answered with three runs in the top of the sixth. Reece Moody drew a leadoff walk, and Nolan Behm followed with a line drive single to left field. Harlan’s double to center plated Moody, and the Patriots’ second and third runs scored on a pair of sacrifice flies – the first by Jack Mislan and the second by Chase Fulford that put the Patriots on top 3-1.
“We’re very confident at the plate,” Dennis said. “Our guys are swinging really, really well. The first five innings, their pitcher – Steven Martin – shut us down.
“Their starting pitchers are very good. We weren’t sure what their bullpen was like. We wanted to get to their bullpen, and we did, and we did damage there.
“Our guys did a great job at the plate to score on sac flies. We got runners on, and we executed our offense. We didn’t try to do too much.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Jake Plebani and Noah Wallace opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Both runners advanced on Adam Hunter’s bunt, and Plebani scored on Anthony Trommer’s ground out. With the tying run on third, Abert came up with a strikeout for the game’s final out.
Central Bucks East (16-6, 12-4 SOL) will travel to #6 Downingtown West for Tuesday’s District 1 6A semifinal contest. Neshaminy will host Spring-Ford in a playback game on Tuesday.
Central Bucks East 000 003 0 3-4-1
Neshaminy 000 010 1 2-5-0
#5 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 5, #13 SPRING-FORD 4
It could have been – according to PW coach Chris Manero – a recipe for disaster.
With a prom the night before the big game and then a day off from classes for students – it was certainly not the usual routine for the players.
“We had a great win Wednesday, and we knew we wanted to keep going, and we had to be careful last night,” senior Cooper Jones said. “Right after school (Thursday), all the seniors that
were dismissed – we went up to hit, and I think that was big because it shows we wanted it.
“We all stayed safe the night before, didn’t do anything crazy because we knew this game was important not just to us but the rest of the team and the coaches. We had a great time last night – we were all together having fun and came together today for a great win.”
Before either team had found their rhythm in Friday’s contest, the visiting Rams put a pair of runs on the board in the top of the first inning.
In the bottom of the inning, the Colonials benefitted from four walks – including a walk with the bases loaded to Johnny Giordano – and an RBI single by Chase Fisher to score two runs of their own.
“I was really impressed with how our guys came up in the bottom of the first and just stayed really patient. Sometimes you get down, and you get up there and you try to do it all yourself. Our game plan coming in was to be patient against their pitchers, make them throw strikes, and we did that. We got guys on base – we left guys on base in the first inning. I think we would have really liked to have had more, but to just even it up after falling behind, I think that was a major turning point.”
In the bottom of the third, Gavin Moore was safe on a two-base error to lead off the inning. He scored on Giordano’s single to right field that gave the Colonials a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Gabe Caucci drew a one out walk, Chase Olszyk was hit by a pitch, and Moore stroked a single to center to load the bases. Fisher’s single to center plated a run, and Christian Strunk lofted a sacrifice fly to right field that plated Moore for a 5-2 PW lead.
“The pace of the game was kind of strange,” Manero said. “It was an uncomfortable game. You got a sense that nobody was going to take over.
“In the fourth inning, we went up 5-2, and that was big. I think that made us a little more comfortable, and it broke a little bit of stalemate because after that two-run first inning exchange, we just sat there for a few innings, and no one really took advantage of anything. Once we went up 5-2, I think we felt good.”
Chase Fisher started and threw 3.1 innings for the Colonials, and Cooper Jones won the game in relief. Both pitchers allowed two runs.
“We have a lot of pitching depth this year,” Manero said. “Chase Fisher got the start today, and we really wanted to see what we got out of him, and he kept us in the game for three innings.
“Cooper Jones came in in relief, and he pitched tough. He let up two runs, but it was just a couple of pitches that missed their spots. His performance in the sixth and seventh inning in a game like this to get us to states and get us into the district semifinals, it was a performance you would want out of a senior. He’s one of the four guys that split all our innings this year, and I think every single one of them would have loved to have thrown more, but they all shared this
role – starting pitchers, relief pitchers, whatever we needed. It was a gutsy performance by him.”
Jones knew he had to be ready to come out of the bullpen Friday.
“I was sent down in the bullpen in the middle of the first inning, so I knew I probably was going to come into the game pretty early, so I had to stay too ready,” Jones said. “I was able to stay hot, and I knew I was coming into the game (with the score) 3-2, runners on first and second. It was a big moment. I knew I just had to execute and do what I did all year, and I got the outs. I didn’t have to get strikeouts, I just got groundouts or flyouts to get out of it with my team.”
Fisher’s 2-for-4 effort with an RBI led the Colonials, who collected just five hits. Giordano was 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs.
Manero also pointed to a significant contribution off the bench.
“Right now, because we called a couple of JV guys up – we have like 25 guys on our roster,” the Colonials’ coach said. “Of all the teams that I’ve coached, this team is so unselfish. Everybody who has a minor role or a major role – they just all seem to be on board whatever we need.
“We brought Johnny Giordano off the field today in the sixth inning because we wanted him to get loose in case we needed him to come in and pitch, so we brought in Tommy Baron, who’s a junior outfielder who hasn’t played a lot for us this year, but we like him. We know he’s good. We just really haven’t had the places for him.
“He came in today, just defensively, to play two innings while Johnny was there in case he needed to come in and pitch. Tommy made two catches – one was a tough ball right at him in the sixth inning, and he made a catch in the seventh inning of a ball back at the warning track that was just a huge, big time catch. To be able to bring a guy off the bench who hasn’t played a ton this year, put
him in a crucial situation in a district playoff game and have him come up with two big plays, it just speaks so much about how these guys are all ready. They’re ready when they get called, they’re ready for the opportunity. Like I said, it’s not just how much talent you have but who wants to keep playing and be there. I think today we saw that out of a guy that comes in out of the bullpen, out of a guy that comes in and plays right field. It was a good day to see how much depth we have in our roster.”
For the Colonials, this is their third trip to the state tournament in the last five seasons.
“I tell our guys the more you get here, the more you learn,” Manero said. “During the season, it’s probably 50 percent talent or maybe 60 percent talent and 40 percent heart, but to win in the postseason, it’s 60 percent heart and 40 percent talent.
“It’s the end of the school year, graduation is coming, the shore is looming, and you really have to want to be there, and as a team, you have to want to be around each other every day to win at this point. That’s what separates the really good teams from the teams that have good players.”
Getting to states, according to Jones, was a goal for the Colonials from the very beginning, and losing out on a Liberty Division championship that came down to the final game of the season only made the team more determined.
“That honestly was great motivation for us,” Jones said. “Defense and pitching has been our strength all year, and that was the one game that they weren’t at their best, but our offense was especially good. We knew going into playoffs that was going to be key for us to get our offense going, and that game was a great chance to do that.
“States was one of our goals. We were there last year, and we knew we wanted to get to the same spot or even further, and that was a big goal for us.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (17-5, 13-3 SOL) will host #8 Downingtown East in a District 1 6A semifinal game.
Spring-Ford 200 020 0 4-7-3
Plymouth Whitemarsh 201 200 x 5-5-4
#8 DOWINGTOWN EAST 6, #1 QUAKERTOWN 3
Downingtown East knocked off the district’s top-seeded team with its road win at Quakertown on Thursday night.
The Cougars put an unearned run on the board in the first and added two more in the fifth to go on top 3-0, but the Panthers battled back.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Gunner Rahn and Caleb Everitt hit back-to-back singles, and Tanner Clancy followed with a double that allowed both runners to score, With two outs Brady Martin lined a double to center. plating Clancy and knotting the score 3-3.
In the top of the sixth the Cougars scored three runs to take a lead they would not lose.
Leading the Panthers’ nine-hit attack were Rahn (2-for-3) and Martin (2-for-3, 2B, RBI).
Quakertown (16-6, 14-2 SOL) will host #14 North Penn in Tuesday’ playback game.
Downingtown East 100 020 3 6-7-1
Quakertown 000 003 0 3-9-3
#6 DOWNINGTOWN WEST 7, NORTH PENN 3
The Whippets used a four-run second to open up a lead they would not lose.
The two teams exchanged single runs in the first with Chase Jones accounting for the Knights’ first inning run.
The Whippets evened the score with a run the bottom of the first and four more in the second on their way to the win.
The Knights plated a run in the fifth when Ben Grattan, who singled, scored on a double to center field by Jones. In the seventh, the Knights added a run without collecting a hit.
Jones (2-for-3, 2B, HR, 2 RBIs, R) and Aaron Briggs (2-for-3) led the Knights’ six-hit attack.
North Penn (15-7, 10-6 SOL) will travel to Quakertown on Tuesday for a playback game.
North Penn 100 010 1 3-6-3
Downingtown West 140 110 x 7-8-2
District 1 5A semifinal game
#10 RADNOR 5, #3 UPPER DUBLIN 1
The Cardinals trailed 5-0 heading into the seventh inning of Friday’s district semifinal before they got on the scoreboard.
The Raptors scored three runs in the third and held that lead until the top of the fifth when they tacked on two more runs.
Will Gill’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh accounted for UD’s only run.
Eddie Stoffel was 2-for-3 with a double to lead the Cardinals.
Upper Dublin (15-7, 12-4 SOL) will host #4 Strath Haven for the final state berth on Tuesday.
Radnor 003 000 2 5-7-0
Upper Dublin 000 000 1 1-6-2
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