Jarrad Saffren recaps all of Friday’s District One 6A Tournament games featuring SOL squads. Neshaminy/CR South photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
By Jarrad Saffren
Pennsbury, Neshaminy and North Penn won and earned state tournament berths on Friday.
Council Rock South and Hatboro-Horsham lost and were relegated to the District One Class 6A playback bracket. The winner of the four-team playback bracket earns the fifth and last state tournament bid from District One Class 6A.
Upper Moreland already qualified for the PIAA Class 5A Tournament, on Wednesday, with a 1-0 win over Holy Ghost Prep. But the Golden Bears fell short of the District One Class 5A championship on Friday, losing a semifinal to Marple Newtown.
So four Suburban One League teams have earned state tournament bids, so far. And two others are still in contention.
Learn how we got to this point below.
District One Class 6A Quarterfinals
#4 Pennsbury 5, #12 Downingtown East 4
Pennsbury trailed 4-0 going into the bottom of the seventh. The Falcons had no hits. But Downingtown East starter Hutch Gagnon was up to 88 pitches.
Pennsbury coach Joe Pesci huddled his players before the inning and outlined a strategy:
“The whole inning, every batter, we were saying, ‘You’re taking until you get a strike,’” Pesci said.
Pesci and the Falcons wanted Gagnon to hit 100 pitches, so he would have to come out…
Ryan McCarty led off, took a strike, then a ball and then singled to right. Nick Price came up next and walked on four pitches.
Gagnon was only at 95 pitches. He could have gotten through at least one, maybe two, or even three, more batters. Pitchers can start a new batter if they are under 100 pitches, even if they are at 99. If they cross 100, they can still pitch until they finish the batter, according to the PIAA rule.
The Cougars’ coaches still opted to pull Gagnon.
“I was shocked that they didn’t let him go one more,” Pesci said. “Absolutely shocked.”
Downingtown East brought in junior right hander Scott Jewett.
“He threw hard but was a little wild. And in the kid’s warm-ups, we saw he was a little wild,” Pesci said. “We said, ‘We have to continue to take.’”
Jewett got Josh Tesarck to hit a grounder to third. But the third baseman made an error, loading the bases with no outs.
Jewett then walked RJ Huth, forcing in McCarty. Pennsbury was on the board. Vaughn Ward stepped in and lined a two-run single to left, making it 4-3.
The Cougars brought in their third pitcher of the inning, sophomore Josh Domeier. Then Tyrone Hodges grounded into a fielder’s choice to short, moving the runners to second and third.
Billy Bethel walked to reload the bases. Huth scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Justin Massielo walked to reload the bases.
Domeier struck out the next batter. Then McCarty came up again. Pennsbury had batted around.
McCarty singled to left. Hodges raced home. Pennsbury walked off.
McCarty started the game on the mound. He allowed a three-run homer in the fifth that broke a scoreless tie.
“He comes back and becomes the hero. That’s sports, right?” Pesci said. “He also came back and broke up the no-hitter. He’s the guy you want up there. He worked a 3-1 count. And you know the kid doesn’t want to walk in the winning run. So Ryan was geared up and ready to go. It was redemption.”
Pennsbury earned a state tournament spot for the second time in three years. It is also two wins away from a district title.
The Falcons will host SOL National rival Neshaminy in a district semifinal on Tuesday. They split their regular season series.
“There’s a relief that you know you’re in. But we have a huge game and a rubber match against Neshaminy,” Pesci said. “Knowing one of us is going to the district title game is awesome. Knowing we both are going to states is great, too.”
Downingtown East 0-0-0-0-3-1-0 4
Pennsbury 0-0-0-0-0-0-5 5
#8 Neshaminy 4, #17 Council Rock South 1
In the bottom of the third, Jacob Jones drilled a two-run homer over the left field foul pole, putting Neshaminy up 3-1. It never trailed again.
Brian Nicolas scored on the play. He singled to center to lead off the inning. He was also partially responsible for Jones’ home run.
“Brian Nicolas saw that (South starter Zach Mayer) was leaving his two-seam fastball inside. For a lefty, it’s supposed to cut back outside,” Jones said. “So I backed off the plate a little, and he left it in.”
Neshaminy extended its lead to 4-1 in the fourth. Zach Tredway slammed a double over the left fielder’s head. Cory Joyce scored from first.
“The coaches told me to look for a fastball, and he threw one,” Tredway said.
Both of those hits, and Eddie Parry’s RBI single in the first, came with two outs. So Neshaminy scored all four of its runs with two outs.
CR South left nine runners on base.
Neshaminy starter Evan Matthews allowed no earned runs in 5.2 innings.
“With guys on, I threw to contact and let my defense make plays,” Matthews said.
And they did. In the third, Parry caught a line drive and tug first, doubling off the runner, ending the inning. South left the bases loaded and failed to break a 1-1 tie.
In the sixth, Neshaminy catcher Eric Gale threw out a runner leaning off first, ending the inning. South had men on first and second.
Neshaminy also did not make an error after the first inning.
Joe Shragher scored CR South’s only run. Josh Kim got on twice, including a double to left-center.
Neshaminy will play Pennsbury in a district semifinal on Tuesday. CR South will play in a playback game on the same day at Hatboro-Horsham.
Council Rock South 1-0-0-0-0-0-0 1
Neshaminy 1-0-2-1-0-0-X 4
#6 North Penn 8, #3 Spring-Ford 4
North Penn scored four runs in the top of the first and led the whole way. The Knights added three runs in the fourth and took a 7-1 lead.
That was enough for starter Matt Stevenson, who battled through six innings.
North Penn pounded nine hits. Five of the first six batters in North Penn’s order—Tyler Siddal, Ryan Bealer, Zack Miles, Billy Collins and Joe Picozzi—all produced.
Siddal and Bealer both scored two runs. Miles scored two runs and drove one in. Collins and Picozzi both scored a run and knocked one in.
“That’s exactly what we need. Those guys to get hot again. Siddal and Miles had some of their best swings of the year today,” North Penn coach Kevin Manero said. “Siddal was real hot at the beginning of the year and he got back to that. He stayed on top of the ball and drove it to the middle of the field.”
Spring-Ford made four errors, allowing North Penn to score four unearned runs. “Their starter is really, really good. He was having a hard time with the strike zone. We worked deep counts and did a good job putting the ball in play,” Manero said. “We don’t strike out a lot. And when you put balls in play in high school, good things happen.”
North Penn earned its fourth state tournament berth in the last nine years. The Knights won state titles in each of those previous three state tournament appearances, 2009, 2013 and 2015. They have won 12 straight state tournament games.
“It’s awesome. These guys have put a lot of time in. It’s great to know we’ll have a chance to keep the season going for a while,” Manero said. “It’s good for guys to know about that standard. It makes our teams feel like they can really do something when they start winning during the season.”
North Penn will host #7 seed Perkiomen Valley on Tuesday in a district semifinal.
North Penn 4-0-0-3-1-0-0 8
Spring-Ford 1-0-0-1-1-1-0 4
#7 Perkiomen Valley 2, #2 Hatboro-Horsham 1
Perkiomen Valley starter Tyler Strechay allowed one unearned run in seven innings. Hatboro-Horsham starter Colin Kennedy allowed two unearned runs in seven innings.
“Their kid was good. Colin was very good too. Colin is Colin,” Hatters’ coach Pete Moore said. “We just needed a few more hits with men in scoring position.”
Perkiomen Valley took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Brock Helverson stroked an RBI single to left. Another PV run scored on a passed ball in the top of the third.
In the fourth, Brian Edgington singled to left, scoring Ryan O’Donnell. But that was all the Hatters could muster.
“Strechay was down in the zone. He was effective in changing speeds with fastball-changeup,” Moore said. “Working down at the knees that much was impressive, especially for a sophomore.”
Hatboro-Horsham will play CR South in a district playback game on Tuesday. Moore is still confident that his team can make states.
“The kids grasp that this year is the last time these kids will play together. They want to reach their goal,” Moore said. “It was a good sign when we talked to our captains after. Their senior prom is tonight. Then they have their post-prom until five or six a.m. I was ready to give them the day off tomorrow. They said, ‘No coach we don’t need a day off.’ So we will have practice at noon tomorrow.”
Perkiomen Valley 0-1-1-0-0-0-0 2
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0-0-1-0-0-0 1
District One Class 5A Semifinal
#6 Marple Newtown 8, #10 Upper Moreland 3
Upper Moreland trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the second. Pitcher Dawson Ruggles retired the first two batters. But the third reached on an error.
The next batter singled. The one after that walked. Then a run scored on a passed ball.
The next batter hit a two-run single. Marple Newtown ended up scoring four runs in the inning.
“We should have been out of the inning. But we made one error and they capitalized,” Golden Bears coach Dan Heiland said. “Plus Dawson’s pitch count went way up. He was at 10-12 for the inning. The error caused him to throw at least 15-20 more. That was why he was unable to go in the sixth inning.”
Upper Moreland scored three runs over the next two innings to cut Marple Newtown’s lead to 5-3. But then Marple Newtown added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“They are a very good team. They hit very well,” Heiland said. “Dawson did a great job keeping the ball down and hitting spots. When he did make mistakes, they capitalized and hit it hard.”
Upper Moreland’s Brandon Kohn went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Sean Casey had a double and an RBI. Matt Wister had a hit and an RBI.
Upper Moreland will play Upper Merion in the third place game on Tuesday.
Upper Moreland 0-0-2-1-0-0-0 3
Marple Newtown 1-4-0-0-0-3-X 8
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