North Penn advanced to the District 1 6A final while Pennsbury & Hatboro-Horsham earned berths in the state tournament. Check out the recaps. UD/Radnor photos courtesy of Kim Supko & Neshaminy/WC Henderson photos courtesy of Greg Lindsay. Check back for galleries of both games.
District 1 5A final
#2 RADNOR 2, #4 UPPER DUBLIN 1
Austin Dahl vs Austin Havertine
In a classic pitchers’ duel that also happened to be a battle of the Austins, it was Austin Havertine eking out the win in Tuesday’s District 1 5A title game. The Raptors won it in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the
seventh when Teddy Monahan delivered a base hit that plated Will Selbach, who drew a one-out walk and stole second.
“It was a great game between two really good pitchers who battled to the end,” UD coach Ed Wall said. “I’m really proud of our team, and it’s time to turn the page to get ready for states next week.
The Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the top of the third. Eric Berman led off the inning with a single, and Eddie Stoffel drew a walk. Both runners advanced when Dahl laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Berman scored when Gavin Litten delivered a sacrifice fly.
Radnor evened the score on a passed ball in the bottom of the sixth without collecting a hit and then won it with a run in the seventh.
Havertine allowed three hits and one run while striking out nine and walking four. Dahl also turned in a gem, allowing 4 hits and two runs (one earned) while fanning seven and walking four.
Up next: Upper Dublin (16-7, 11-4 SOL) will face the District XII champion in Monday’s opening round of the PIAA 5A State Tournament.
Upper Dublin 001 000 0 1-3-0
Radnor 000 001 1 2-4-2
#11 HATBORO-HORSHAM 4, #1 CHICHESTER 0
The implications of Tuesday’s game at Chichester were simple – win and earn a state berth or lose and go home. For senior Jamie O’Neill, who had the starting nod on the mound, it was pretty close to a perfect scenario.
“It was amazing – I love those types of games where you’re in or you’re out,” O’Neill said. “I love the big moments – it kind of creates who you are. This was probably the best I’ve ever felt warming up. I just knew it was going to be one of my better games.
“The team was just super excited. The bus ride down was amazing – the vibes were high. It was great.”
O’Neill had all of his pitches working and allowed just five hits in six shutout innings while striking out seven. Conner Cataldi closed it out with a scoreless seventh.
The Hatters scored all the runs they would need in the top of the third and then added two more in the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, Chichester used a walk and double to put runners on second and third with one out, but the Hatters delivered an inning-ending double play on a fly ball to Yeager in right field. Twelve outs later, the Hatters had punched their ticket to the state tournament.
“It feels great,” O’Neill said. “The team’s very excited, but we’ve still got to lock in. We’re going to try to go as far as possible.”
It’s not a bad outcome for a Hatters squad seeded 11th out of 12 teams in the tournament.
“We were all getting a little worried – wondering if we were going to make it into the playoffs or not,” O’Neill said. “We’ve had a lot of confidence. From the beginning of the season, we knew what type of team we would be.
“We knew we would be good. We struggled a little bit, but we knew the strengths of the team, and it just took us a little bit to find it and get it going. In the playoffs, the team came out and showed what we could really do, and we’ve just been having a blast.”
If there was a turning point in the regular season, O’Neill pointed to the team’s final series against Abington.
“The series before that, we really struggled, and we were getting worried,” O’Neill said. “But our last series against Abington, the bats really picked it up, and our pitching was looking good. We were a completely different team than we were earlier in the season.”
Cole Incudine, Chris Yeager and Kenny Lutz led the Hatters’ attack with two hits each.
By the numbers: Hatboro-Horsham: Jamie O’Neill (W) (6.0 IP, 5H, 0R, 3BB, 7K), Conner Cataldi (1.0 IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB 1K)
Cole Incudine (2-for-4, 2RBI), Chris Yeager (2-for-3, 2R), Kenny Lutz (2-for-2, 2B, 1R), Jamie O’Neill (2B)
Key innings: Top of third: Yeager led off with a single, and Lutz followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Yeager scored on a wild pitch, and Incudine singled to left, plating Lutz for a 2-0 Hatters’ lead.
Top of fourth: Ryan Thomas drew a leadoff walk, and Chris Yeager hit a one-out single. A walk to Kenny Lutz loaded the bases. Incudine’s line single to left plated a run, and Chase Canney’s sac fly brought home a second run, and the Hatters led 4-0.
Hatboro-Horsham coach Bill deBoar:
The journey: “We started this journey, this quest, whatever you want to call it, in basically December with some workouts in the weight room and some agility training and stuff. You just to try to get their feet wet. And you roll that through January and February of doing two nights a week at one of the academies to get swings in and get pitchers’ pitch counts up and their arm in shape for when you eventually take the field, and then you get to the field in March. When we had tryouts, I felt rolling in – ‘We’ve got a chance to win this Liberty Division’ because they changed the format to three games against the same team in the same week, so I didn’t have to face (Upper Dublin’s) Austin Dahl twice. I thought it was going to really work into our favor because our team was so young last year. I had nine or 10 sophomores that were playing varsity because we only had five seniors and then we had 10 juniors that are now this year’s 12 seniors. I thought – ‘We are set,’ and we didn’t even come close to battling for that title against the teams in our division. They’re so good that you have to be on your game every game.
“We got out of the gate pretty good, and we won two out of three from PW. That’s a good sign. Our pitching looked good. We needed to work on swinging the bat a little bit, putting the ball in play more instead of taking third strike calls and things like that, which is tough when it’s 42 degrees and drizzly out, so you almost don’t want to swing the bat because it’s so cold. It almost hurts your hands when you do hit the ball, but I’ll tell you what, I thought we would be a much higher seed.
“But it worked out the way it worked out, and I just don’t think this team is an 11 seed. I just think there was a period of time during the season and a little bit of a streak where we played like an 11th seed. We’re lucky to get in. But then there were other times that we looked really good, and we just had to find that little gray zone of where we’re not too up, we’re not too down, we’re not too fast, we’re not too slow – that type of stuff, We figured it out, to be honest with you, the last week of the season. At least that’s where I kind of saw a bit of a turnaround where they started to just buy in and realize – Hey, we’re at the end of our rope here. We better tie a knot and hold on for dear life to get into this tournament so that we can maybe show ourselves there. And, you know, it’s wonderful, and all those seniors understand how to win now. Whereas last year, they were juniors and having to carry the load, and we just hadn’t figured out how to get that one run or two runs against those good teams to be more competitive and maybe win some of those games.
“So it’s really bizarre, and somebody wrote something about a Cinderella story or whatever. I don’t feel like we were a Cinderella team, to be honest with you. These guys are really good, and they just found a way to click almost on their own.”
–The turnaround: “I didn’t change anything. They just figured it out amongst themselves towards the end, and it’s like they bought into – hey, let’s put the ball in play, run the bases hard, play great defense, and we already have great pitching, and let’s see where we end up. You throw Jamie O’Neill out there, and that’s the cherry on top, as they say, and to have the ability to throw him out there once a week makes us that much better of a team.
“They’re so tightly knit right now, and (O’Neill) is just a complete bulldog. Especially when he gets in a bind, and he was in a few of them today. First and third one out, we get a fly ball to right field. Chris Yeager makes the catch, does it mechanically perfect. He’s got momentum towards the plate when he catches it. He throws the ball right on the line to the first baseman. He catches it and makes the perfect throw to Kenny Lutz at the plate. And the ball just carried him right into the tag and the umpire called the kid out.
“And whether it was safe or out, it was mechanically so sound that it made me proud. It just felt so good to watch some of these young guys that I’ve been a part of their lives for four years. And never in the past have I been able to because I always coached JV. And then when Pete (Moore) left after 10 years, I went from JV to taking the varsity team, so I knew these guys all their years, where usually I’d get them for a couple and then I’d never see them again. So, this has been interesting to experience on my part. Last year was a little bit funky, and I think we were a little bit young, and I conceded to that a little bit more than I maybe should have.
“This year, I think these guys realized that this is our team. If we’re going to do anything, it’s going to be us. I’m going to bring a plan. If you guys work this plan, we’ve seen it work in the past. We focus on certain things and then I do a little evaluation and see where we can pick it up a little bit, and it just becomes fun for them, but yet they’re improving in some of the aspects of the game. And it’s really showing right now in our defense. I mean, we had an error today. We worked around it, but we went error-free against West Chester East, Upper Moreland, and Radnor, and that just keeps us in games. Pitching-wise, we’re very sound. And we grind out at bats.
“Today, I think we only had two strikeouts. And that’s what we try to do, put pressure on the defense by putting the ball in play. We had four walks today to two strikeouts. To me, that’s a pretty good ratio. I’ll take that every time.”
Up next: Hatboro-Horsham (10-13, 6-9 SOL) will face District XI champion Bangor in the opening round of the PIAA 5A State Tournament on Monday. Bangor, the tournament’s fifth seed, rallied from a 7-0 deficit to defeat #2 Whitehall 12-8.
Hatboro-Horsham 002 200 0 4-8-1
Chichester 000 000 0 0-5-1
District 1 6A semifinals
#8 NORTH PENN 4, #4 COATESVILLE 2
Trevor Lugara has got to be every pitching coach’s dream.
The Knights’ senior ace consistently throws strikes, and he needed just 76 pitches – 54 of which were strikes in Tuesday’s complete game win. He was still going strong in the seventh, striking out the first two batters he faced in a 1-2-3 inning.
“I was just attacking the zone, and they were just putting the ball in play,” Lugara said. “My pitches were being executed the way I wanted them to, and we were getting outs, so, that’s all we’ve got to do.
“Everybody knows I don’t have that kind of blow-away velocity. So, I’ve got to do what I can to get outs, and that’s the way I’ve got to do it.”
Lugara, according to coach Kevin Manero came oh so close to throwing an immaculate inning – striking out three batters on just nine pitches.
“I’ve never seen a pitcher throw an immaculate inning, but today he was eight pitches into an immaculate inning when a kid hit a ground ball to shortstop, so he just missed it,” NP coach Kevin Manero said. “The kid is just super efficient. The strike zone today was not the most liberal strike zone in the world either, so all things considered – to throw 76 pitches is nuts.”
Lugara doesn’t need extra motivation to go out and get the job done on the mound. But just in case did, the senior standout hadn’t forgotten his last outing in the district semifinals as a sophomore in the Knights’ 14-1 loss to Central Bucks West.
“This was a bit of a redemption on the game,” Lugara said. “Not so much the team, but the game itself. It was definitely a thought after winning the last game and me knowing that I get a chance to go back and win the game that I couldn’t a couple years ago.
“But after today, that feeling is just great. Now we get to go play in a game that nobody on our team has ever even been to, so this is awesome.”
Making the trip to the district final even more special is the fact that many of this year’s seniors have played together for a long time, including the battery of Lugera and catcher Chase Jones.
“Me and Chase work great – we’re best friends,” Lugara said. “We played little league together – we grew up together. Me and him are always on the same page, and we always have this little saying – every time I’m pitching, it’s like, ‘This is our game today.’ It’s great having him back there, and I know he’s always got my back.”
The Knights needed a seventh-inning rally to win this one. They trailed 2-1 but with starter Sean Kinzler done for the day after reaching his maximum number of pitches, the Knights rallied. Christian Barnes and Ben Grattan once again were in the middle of action – both had RBI singles in the inning.
Earlier, North Penn went ahead 1-0 in the top of the fourth when Mason Coyne, who led off with a double, scored on a single by Barnes. Coatesville answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning and took that 2-1 lead into the seventh when the Knights staged their comeback.
It’s been eight years since the Knights were in the District 1 6A final. That’s not long for most teams, but North Penn has won three state titles since their last district title win in 2008, so by the Knights’ standards, they were overdue.
“Coach Manero has been talking about it since playoffs started,” said Grattan, whose 3-for-3 day led the Knights. “It would be cool to win states, and that is the main goal and the end goal, but North Penn hasn’t played in a district championship since 2017 (a loss to Pennsbury), and we haven’t won one since 2008 and just how cool it would be for all of us – a group of guys that have been playing together for a long time – to go out and do something that hasn’t been done at this school in over 10 years. It would be awesome, and I know it would mean a lot to me and all the guys.”
By the numbers: North Penn: Trevor Lugara (W) (7.0 IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K)
Kevin Brace (2-for-4, 1R), Mason Coyne (2-for-3, 2B, 2R), Christian Barnes (2-for-4, 2RBI), Ben Grattan (3-for-3, 1RBI).
Key inning: Top of seventh: Brace led off the inning with a line single to center and advanced to second on a passed ball. Pinch hitter Kyle Bonner laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Brace scored the tying run from third on wild pitch. Chase Jones drew a walk, and Coyne was hit by a pitch. Barnes and Grattan followed with back-to-back RBI singles, and the Knights had a 4-2 lead.
North Penn coach Kevin Manero on the game: “Their starting pitcher (Jayden Guiseppe) was very good, and we knew that going in today. I will give our guys a lot of credit. We grinded out a lot of very tough at-bats and worked a lot of deep counts. We tell the guys – when you play good defense and you get good starting pitching, you’re going to be in every game you play at the high school level, and if you can get in somebody’s bullpen and you’re within at least a run or so, you’re going to have a chance late to get a win, and that script pretty much played out today.
“Trevor was just outstanding on the mound, gave them very little, and we had the right part of our lineup up in the seventh inning. They went to their bullpen and we took advantage.”
–Offense delivers: “Kevin Brace had two hits in the leadoff spot, and Barnes and Grattan combined for another five hits. Mason Coyne had two hits today, so our four, five, six hitters combined for seven hits. Luke Chartrand had one.
“We had opportunities. We had baserunners and had the opportunity to do small ball execution here and there, and we weren’t very prolific with that for a lot of the game, but in the seventh inning, we got a good bunt down, took advantage of a couple free 90s, a couple of clutch hits and put together a real nice inning.”
North Penn senior Ben Grattan on:
–The production from the Grattan/Barnes spot in the lineup (the duo is 15-for-20 in the postseason): “I think the biggest thing is confidence at the end of the day. Once you string a couple hits together, you start feeling good and you start trusting yourself. But I’d say the biggest thing with me and Christian is just the work that we’ve been doing this season. We’re are two of the hardest workers on the team, and we put in a lot of hours. So, I think we’re just able to go out there and really trust ourselves and trust all the work that we’ve put into this season. And it kind of frees our mental side up to just go out there and have fun and play baseball. We’re both pretty high-energy guys, and we just love the game of baseball. So, when he goes up there and smacks a base hit and is fired up on the bases, it fires me up for sure.”
–Playing behind Lugara: “It’s awesome. Trevor’s been my best friend since like first grade. And we’ve played baseball together our entire lives. So, to play behind him, you know, someone that’s as skilled as he is and just to be able to go out there and know that – hey, I got my guy on the mound, and I believe in my guy, and if we can just generate a couple runs on offense, I trust my guy to go out there and throw a good game. So, it feels amazing to have him on the mound.”
–Rallying from behind in the seventh: “When it’s a pitchers’ duel like it was today – even though it was only 2-1, it just feels like so much more because when you have two good arms on the mound and you’re both just fighting for that one run, it feels a little worse than it actually is, but you just have to re–center yourself and know that, hey, let’s scrap one or two runs here, get back on the board, and that’s exactly what we did, so it was great. W.”
Up next: North Penn (18-5, 10-5 SOL) will face #7 West Chester Henderson in Thursday’s District 1 6A title game at Villanova Ballpark in Plymouth Township.
“Everybody’s confident, everybody’s excited, and we know what we’ve got ahead of us for this week,” Lugara said. “So, we’re ready.”
North Penn 000 100 3 4-10-1
Coatesville 000 200 0 2-3-0
#7 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 3, #6 NESHAMINY 0
The Redskins held a 7-4 advantage in hits but came up short the only place it mattered – on the scoreboard.
“We just didn’t have it at the plate today,” Neshaminy coach Dan Toner said. “Henderson’s pitcher did a great job keeping us off balance, but we also failed to stick to our game plan or make any adjustments. Even though we outhit them, there were no big hits in clutch moments. We didn’t get a leadoff runner on base until the sixth inning. It was very frustrating.”
Chase Bonner and Matt Gryn pitched well enough to win most days. Bonner started and threw 4.2 innings, allowing four hits and two runs. He walked three and struck out seven. Gryn did not allow a hit – but one unearned run – in 2.1 innings in relief.
“Chase Bonner and Matt Gryn both pitched a great game,” Toner said. “We didn’t help them much in the field and definitely not at the plate. We made some detrimental mistakes on defense that led to them scoring some runs.”
Henderson scored all the runs it would need in a two-run fifth and added a run in the seventh.
Bonner also led the Redskins at the plate with a 2-for-2 effort that included a double.
“We will be working to get back on track and prepare for the third/fourth place game and the state tournament,” Toner said.
Up next: Neshaminy (15-7, 11-4) will travel to #4 Coatesville for Thursday’s third place game.
WC Henderson 000 020 1 3-4-0
Neshaminy 000 000 0 0-7-3
District 1 6A playback
#5 PENNSBURY 4, #1 HAVERFORD 0
Keller Bradley was in a league of his own Tuesday.
The Vanderbilt commit was nothing short of brilliant on the mound in the win-or-go-home playback, turning in a masterful two-hit shutout and making life easy for his defense. Bradley fanned 17 in 6 2/3 innings – a high in his high school career, and Mason Keith recorded the final out – on the 18th strikeout of the game – when Bradley reached his maximum number of pitches.
“Honestly, it feels great,” Bradley said. “I like being in the pressure environment. I perform better in pressure, and it just feels great to be able to win a game and finally go to states.
“Our goals were to hang a banner for the SOL and then to make it to States. So, now we completed both our goals, and now we’re just going to keep going on and see how far we can go in States.”
Pounding the zone – according to junior righthander – was the key to his overpowering performance.
“My arm felt amazing today, so I was able to run it up with the velocity,” Bradley said. “And all of my pitches were working. I was able to throw them all for strikes. So, they struggled on my pitch selection.
“Just based on the first throws of the day, my arm felt amazing. It hasn’t really felt that good in a while. So, I knew that I was going to be able to go out there throw hard and perform.”
Dylan Hirsh – who calls most of the pitches for the Falcons – had the best vantage point to see Bradley at work Tuesday.
“Catching someone like Keller is just unreal,” the Bloomsburg-bound senior catcher said. “I mean, he throws 94, but a big thing that people don’t see is how good his curveball and slider are. We can just bounce right off those. He’s just amazing to catch. He makes the game a lot of fun.”
The Falcons appeared to have a daunting task, facing the tournament’s top seed in a playback game with only the winner surviving.
“ I love competing against the best players,” Bradley said. “It feels great to be able to win against the best players. I love it, and it feels amazing.”
Bradley didn’t need a whole lot of run support, and he got more than he needed in a four-run fourth highlighted by a two-run single by Pierce Perry and the first home run of sophomore Brendan Zuckerman’s varsity career – a two-run shot to left field that put the Falcons on top 4-0. Both Perry and Zuckerman had two hits, accounting for their team’s only hits of the game..
By the inning: Pennsbury: Keller Bradley (W) (6.2 IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 17K), Mason Keith (0.1 IP, 1K)
Pierce Perry (2-for-3, 2RBI, 1R), Brendan Zuckerman (2-for-4, 2RBI, 1R)
Key inning: Top of fourth: Evan Hawkes drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Ryan Webber was safe on an error, and Hawkes advanced to third. Webber moved up to second on defensive indifference, setting the stage for a two-run single by Perry. Zuckerman followed with a two-run home run to left field, and the Falcons led 4-0.
Pennsbury coach Joe Pesci on the bounce-back win: “It hurt losing to Coatesville (in the quarterfinals). We gave up two runs in the first, and then it was nothing, nothing the rest of the way. But we just didn’t hit well. We had three hits, but we just didn’t string them together. Whereas today, we had four hits, and we strung them together in the one inning. Hawkes and Weber got on, and then Perry had a big two-run single. And then Zuckerman came up right after that and hit a two-run home run. So, within a couple batters, we had four runs. We threatened again in the fifth inning with bases loaded and one out, but we didn’t score.
“So, I felt good about the way our team made adjustments at the plate and really just tried to play to their pitchers. So, it was a good day, and even though we only had four hits, we roped a couple balls. Mike Sognass hit a really deep ball to left that was caught.”
–Bradley all but untouchable: “The story of the day was obviously Keller. I hate to say this, but I think we won the battle before the game started because he was locked in in the pen. Just warming up, their team was kind of peeking down there, and you’re hearing the glove pop. Haverford has a really funky backstop. It’s really tight, so both teams are right on top of the backstop, and then the backstop’s right on top of the batter. I think Keller just overmatched them. They had two hits on the day. They had two groundouts to second base and one swinging bunt groundout to the pitcher, and that was it. Seventeen strikeouts don’t lie.
“He threw the max with 6 2/3, and we brought in Mason Keith, and he got the 18th strike out of the day. Having a kid like Keller – I always say that three runs should win you a high school game. His only loss came 3-2 to Bensalem when we didn’t hit – we had three hits in the game. When he threw the first round of districts for us, we scored seven runs. I didn’t challenge him particularly. I always say – ‘Let teams know they don’t belong on the field with you.’ And today I said, ‘We’re the five, they’re the one. We need to prove that we belong here.’ I said to Keller, ‘You want to be the guy? You’ve got to prove that you’re the guy.’ No knock on them because they were the number one seed, and they obviously won where they had to, but Keller was a man amongst boys today and he’s 16 years old and had 17 strikeouts.”
–Props: “Give (catcher) Dylan Hirsh a ton of credit – he calls probably 90 percent of the game. Sometimes more. We’re calling pitches here or there, but, Dylan does a great job as a senior catching Keller and kind of controlling the game that way. So, hats off to obviously Keller and Dylan.
“Mason Keith is a starter all year. and we bring him in that situation to get that extra strikeout there, which was great because who knows what role you’re going to be in come state time. I’m proud of those guys, but the story for me was watching our kids make adjustments.
“We had four strikeouts, which is fine, but watching our kids try to make adjustments and learn the pitchers little by little at the plate was really big for us.”
Pennsbury senior Dylan Hirsh on calling pitches: “A lot of schools around the league, their coaches call the pitches, and I’m just grateful that my coaches decided to let me call because I think that’s a really important aspect of my game – I understand the game a lot, and I call those pitches. Me and coach (John) Crane talk probably a good 10–15 minutes before every game and every practice on what we’re going to do. He’s been coaching Keller for about two, three years now, and this is my first year catching him. He’s an easy kid to call. He doesn’t shake off a lot of pitches, and he trusts me, which is a big thing.”
–The pressure of a win-or-go-home game: “There’s definitely pressure, but that’s the reason we play the game. That’s why I’m going to continue playing in college. Pressure is what we play for. I want to be that guy up with bases loaded, two outs. And Keller is the guy that we want (on the mound). Coming into the beginning of the year, if you said it’s all or nothing and you’ve got to pick one person to go out there and throw a complete game and get us to the next step of the season, I would pick Keller 100 out of 100 times. But that’s why we play the game. That’s why baseball is so fun to me is there’s a lot of pressure, and it’s a team sport but also individual. And guys have got to step up when they need to.”
–Playing with a lead: “All of our losses this year have been 1-0, 2-0. So, we always say when Keller goes out there pitching, we honestly need two, three runs, and today we had two sophomores (Perry and Zuckerman) step up who have been huge for us all season and decided to keep doing that today. I mean, we go up two runs – it’s always a one-swing game, but not a lot of guys are going to come out and do that against Keller.
Up next: Pennsbury (16-6-1, 11-4 SOL) will travel to #3 Perkiomen Valley for Thursday’s fifth place game.
Pennsbury 000 400 0 4-4-0
Haverford 000 000 0 0-2-2
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