North Penn’s memorable postseason run came to an end with Monday’s 2-0 loss to La Salle. Photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
PIAA 6A semifinal
#12-1 LA SALLE 2, #1-3 NORTH PENN 0
Bear Stadium at Boyertown High School was all but empty, and with Monday’s PIAA 6A semifinal pitting North Penn against District 12 champion La Salle in the books, the grounds crew was preparing the field for its next game.
North Penn coach Kevin Manero was holding his final postgame interview in front of his team’s dugout. The fact that the Knights’ season ended one game shy of the state title game at Penn State on Friday was not his focus. Instead, the Knights’ coach spoke passionately about a squad that had clearly earned his respect.
“It was 100 percent a team that bought into the word team, and in baseball today at the youth level – that is dying,” Manero said. “It is a dying thing because it’s all about social media posts, individual recognition and telling people you committed to a college, and that’s fine. There’s a time and a place for that.
“But, man, these guys learned how to play the game, and they loved playing the game. It’s like going back 50 years and getting on a baseball field with a team. I don’t know because I’m not 50, but I imagine it’s like going back 50 years. Just watching guys like that play and being a part of it is – I know it’s a cliché, but it was really, really special.”
Seeing it end was not easy for anyone in a Knights’ uniform.
“These guys have been my brothers for the last two years, and knowing that I won’t be able to play another game with them really hurts,” NP senior RJ Agriss said. “Especially knowing that most of these guys I’ve grown up playing with since we were little. This is my childhood, and these are my guys right here, and it’s definitely going to hurt knowing we don’t get another game together.”
The Knights would have like their chances if they’d been told they’d hold an Explorer squad that scored 12, 14 and 21 runs in its three preceding state playoff games to just two runs, which is exactly what Mike Lennon did.
“That’s how Mike Lennon’s been pitching for us all season,” Manero said. “You get to a state semifinal you let up two runs – you’re going to win that game most of the time.”
The Knights’ senior ace allowed just six hits while striking out five and walking one in six strong innings.
“The biggest thing for me was just try and keep the ball down in the zone and trust my preparation throughout the whole entire season we’ve been working on,” Lennon said. “If I trusted my preparation and kept it down in the zone, then I knew I’d be okay.
“I’m very proud of every single one of these kids on this team. We’ve come a long way since the beginning of September when we first came together as a team to get ready ever since COVID.
“(After) last year, you can’t take anything for granted because you’re not going to always have a season. This year it felt great to go back out there and play.”
The Knights were 5-4 after nine games but 15-3 the rest of the way.
“The biggest thing for us was we knew we had to get our energy up because our energy was not as high,” Lennon said of the Knights’ turnaround. “This whole entire year – the biggest thing for us was just to get better every single day.
“That’s what our plan was to get better every single day, and we did. That’s what turned our switch around. We had guys step up and do a lot of good things for us.”
The Knights appeared poised to strike first in Monday’s game after Jeff Sabater and Evin Sullivan collected back-to-back singles in the top of the first, but a double play ended that threat.
In the third inning, Agriss and Sabater both singled with two outs, but both were stranded.
The Explorers got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Jephson Hadson-Taylor and Jake Whittlinger opened the inning with consecutive singles. Both scored on sacrifice flies by Eric Shandler and Mason Sermarini.
Pitcher Ryan Marler, who earned the complete game win, made that 2-0 lead hold the rest of the way, allowing only a leadoff single to Sabater – who was a perfect 3-for-3 - in the sixth but then retiring the next six batters he faced to close out the game.
“We really thought we were going to come back down 2-0,” Manero said. “We had a lot of guys in the lineup that can make that happen.
“Give credit to their pitcher. He really settled in and really made great pitches late in the game. I’ve seen guys on our team do that all season long, and I know how important that is to winning – making those big pitches when it really counts.”
The Knights’ road to Monday’s title game included one big win after another.
“In districts, we had to knock off the number one seed in District One (Spring-Ford), and we did,” Manero said. “We got into states, and we had to knock off a team (Hazleton) that was 22-0, and we did. Then we had to beat the team that won the District One title (Neshaminy) – even the District One title, that means you’re definitely one of the top teams in the state because District One is tough, and we did that.
“Then we came in today and we put Mike (Lennon) out there to face the District 12 champion, a team that only has two losses all year, and he went out there and threw six innings and he gave up two runs. There’s no more you could ever ask for out of a high school pitcher than that.”
Manero had nothing but praise for his team’s effort in its final outing.
“It was a huge crowd, it was probably the best brand of high school baseball you’ll see – really good defense, strong pitching, a lot of guys going up swinging the bats, aggressive base running,” the Knights’ coach said. “I watched our guys hit balls back to the pitcher’s mound and run as hard as they can through the bag.
“You see both sides doing that, and you see a very big private school and a very big public school battle it out – a lot of kids that live in the same neighborhood as each other but never played high school baseball together, and you expect a game like this. Anybody that came here today to watch baseball wasn’t disappointed.”
North Penn closed out its successful season with a 20-7 record. The Knights were 11-6 on their way to the SOL Colonial Division title.
North Penn 000 000 0 0-6-1
La Salle 000 020 x 2-6-0
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