Bensalem defeated PCL power La Salle 5-4 in eight innings to advance to Friday’s PIAA 6A state title game at Penn State University. Photos provided courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. CLICK HERE to go to our gallery of photos.
By Scott Huff
Aston – The Bensalem mascot is the Fighting Owls, and the Blue and White needed every ounce of fight to rally back from a 4-1 deficit against PCL power and District 12 champion La Salle.
Bensalem – both the SOL National and District One champion – overcame that seemingly cavernous three-run deficit to advance to the PIAA 6A championship game this Friday at Penn State University.
The Owls will play District 7 champion Canon McMillan after claiming a thrilling 5-4 victory in eight innings over the Explorers on the diamond at Neumann University.
The Big Macs advanced to the title game with a 4-1 victory over the No. 2 seed from District One – Council Rock North.
The Fighting Owls needed key plays in the field, on the base paths, at the plate – and on the mound to end the season for what many believed was the favorite to win the 6A title.
Key defensive play No. 1 came with La Salle leading 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Explorer standout Anthony Cossetti singled and John Ruch followed with a blistering hit in the gap in right centerfield.
Cossetti rounded third and was sent home – but a wonderful relay from Owl centerfielder Keith Parrish to first baseman Nick Fossile to catcher Scott Rooney nailed Cossetti at the plate and kept the game at 4-1.
“We practice that every day in practice,” said Parrish. “We are taught what to do when the ball is hit in the gap like that, and I just find the cutoff man.”
“Keith made a strong throw and I just turned and made my throw,” said Fossile. “It was a bang-bang play at the plate – I wasn’t sure we got him, but I’m glad we did.”
Key defensive play No. 2 came in the bottom of the sixth inning with La Salle still holding that 4-1 lead. The Explorers had runners on first and second with two outs when Andrew Cossetti drilled a ball in the gap for what appeared to be a two-run extra base hit.
Parrish – as he has done all season – turned on the jets and ran down the rocket for the final out of the inning.
“I’m done with him,” joked Bensalem head coach Harry Daut. “There are balls that he has caught all season that I can’t believe he gets to.”
Bensalem used its aggressiveness on the base paths to knot the score in a way that almost defies explanation.
La Salle ace – lefthander Joseph Miller who entered the game with an 11-0 record and a 0.50 ERA – lost control in the Bensalem half of the sixth inning.
Miller – who had not issued a walk in the first five innings – walked the bases loaded with bases on balls issued to Jon Revell, Rooney, and Dominic Grady. He was taken out of the game and replaced by hard-throwing Gavin Moretski.
Moretski coaxed Fossile to hit into an RBI groundout that closed the score to 4-2. Rooney and Grady advanced to second and third base with two outs.
And then came not one – but two – wild pitches on consecutive throws to the plate to score Rooney with the third run and Grady with the fourth and tying run.
“I have seen a lot of baseball games, but I have never seen that,” said Daut. “We talked all season about being aggressive when we are on third base – anything in the dirt be ready to go.”
The Bensalem bats were quiet most of the game as the Owls collected just six hits. In fact, the game-winning run was scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Fossile in the eighth inning.
Damon Lavender led off the inning with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Dave Barnett. Rooney was safe on an error – and Grady placed a nice sacrifice bunt to move the runners along to second and third.
Fossile lofted a medium fly ball to left field that allowed Barnett to score what proved to be the game winner.
“We call Nick our quiet MVP,” said Daut. “He made the nice throw to get the kid at the plate, and he put the ball in play to get the winning run home.”
The Owls would also need strong pitching to send them to the 6A title game.
Stephen Aldrich was victimized by misplayed balls in the sun to go along with some balls that were not hit that hard as the Owls fell behind 3-0 after the first inning.
Aldrich allowed just a single run after that and kept the Owls within striking distance.
Nick Dean – who is headed to the University of Maryland – earned the win with two innings of shutout baseball. Dean, however, had to pitch out of a bases loaded situation in the eighth inning.
“This has been such an unselfish group of players,” said Daut. “When we went down 4-1, I wasn’t too sure whether we were going to be able to come back, but my players knew they could do it.”
“When we went down 4-1 there were no worries,” said Aldrich. “We expect to come back.”
“These guys have become a really close family,” said Parrish. “We play hard for each other.”
“These next few days are going to be awesome,” said Fossile. “We have practice tomorrow, graduation on Thursday, and the state finals on Friday.”
“The last month of this school year has been bittersweet,” said Rooney. “We know it is going to end – but we don’t want it to end.”
And one thing is for certain – those Fighting Owls will battle to that very end.
Bensalem 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 1 * 5 6 1
La Salle 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 * 4 11 2
Bensalem: Brian Swentkowski 4 0 1 0; Keith Parrish 4 1 1 0; Nicholas Dean 4 0 1 0; Stephen Aldrich 4 0 0 1; Jon Revell 2 1 0 0; Damon Lavender 3 0 1 0; Nickolas Kiesling 1 0 0 0; David Barnett 0 1 0 0; Scott Rooney 2 1 1 0; Dominic Grady 2 1 1 0; Nick Fossile 3 0 1 2; Totals 29 5 7 3.
LaSalle: Eric Marasheski 4 1 1 0; Andrew Cossetti 4 1 2 1; Anthony Cossetti 4 1 2 1; Brian Schaub 3 0 2 0; Aidan Davis-Diaz 1 0 0 0; John Ruch 4 0 1 0; Shane Manieri 4 0 1 2; Owen Lawn 4 1 1 0; Christopher Faunce 0 0 0 0; Joseph Sortino 2 0 2 1; Matt Acker 4 0 1 0; Sean McCallum 0 0 0 0. Totals 32 4 11 3.
WP: Nick Dean
LP: Gavin Moretski
Council Rock North falls to Canon McMillan in state semifinal, ending historic run
By Jarrad Saffren
Council Rock North was rolling. The Indians beat their first two state tournament opponents—Frankford (11-1) and Cumberland Valley (10-1)—by a combined score of 21-2. Then they took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Tuesday, on Carson Shane’s rocket single to left.
Starter Eric Hoefer was rolling, too. Hoefer shut out Canon McMillan in the first two innings of the PIAA Class 6A semifinal. The Big Macs (surely not named after McDonald’s’ signature burger) were swinging late and hitting the ball softly the other way. CR North looked primed for a state championship rematch with SOL National rival Bensalem.
But it was not to be.
The Indians started making uncharacteristic mistakes at the wrong time. With two outs in the third, Hoefer let up a two-run single to right. With two outs in the fourth, a high throw pulled the Indians’ first baseman off the bag, allowing another run to score.
North also left three runners in scoring position between the second and fourth innings, one in each inning. It had a leadoff baserunner in both the fifth and sixth, but line drive double plays ended those threats as well.
Bottom line: Canon McMillan beat North, but North also beat itself.
“We made mistakes we don’t make usually,” said North senior Jason Walter said.
“We hit line drives, they didn’t fall. They hit line drives, they fell,” Hoefer said. “Sometimes that’s how it goes.”
The loss ended the deepest playoff run in North’s 16-year history. (The program started in 2003, when Council Rock South opened, splitting the district into two high schools.) And North is not some upstart program. The Indians were good for years under previous coach Dan Kusters, and have maintained that standard for the past eight years under current coach Matt Schram. This was the program’s third state tournament appearance in four years.
“That’s a credit to the team and how we worked. This team may not have had the greatest talent. But the chemistry, the brotherhood on this team, was the best,” Schram said. “These guys wanted to practice every day. They want to practice tomorrow still. That’s how bad they want to be together.”
“This is the closest group of boys you’ll find anywhere. From seventh grade on, we sat at the same lunch table, having a good time,” Hoefer said. “And it was always going to be about this grade. This grade was going to be that grade. We always knew we had this connection.”
“It’s amazing. We hung out four out of five days this week, I swear,” Tully said. “We love each other.”
They love each other so much that they are already planning another get-together.
“We go to Applebee’s after every win, so we’ll probably go sometime this week just to remember it all,” Hoefer said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Council Rock North 0-1-0-0-0-0-0 1-6-3
Canon McMillan 0-0-2-2-0-0-X 4-6-0
Council Rock North (1) – Cavan Tully 3-0-0-0, Nolan Hartwell 3-0-1-0, Matt Shenot 3-0-1-0, Jason Walter 3-0-0-0, Griffin Peterson 2-1-1-0, Ryan Stalker 3-0-1-0, Carson Shane 2-0-1-1, Pat Kusters 3-0-0-0, CJ Donofry 3-0-1-0, TOTALS 25-1-6-1.
Canon McMillan (4) – Brandon Kline 4-1-1-0, Cam walker 4-1-2-0, Ian Hess 2-1-0-0, Cam Weston 4-0-1-1, Nick Serafino 3-0-0-0, Brandon Rea 3-0-1-0, Zach Rohaley 3-0-0-0, Connor Flaherty 3-0-1-0, Cory Didler 1-1-0, TOTALS 27-4-6-1.
WP – Zach Rohaley
LP – Eric Hoefer.
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