North Penn earned a spot in Monday’s District 1 6A state semifinals against Father Judge. CB West saw its magical postseason run come to an end. CB West/Father Judge photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f1073113899
District 1 6A Quarterfinals
#1-3 NORTH PENN 4, #11-1 LIBERTY 3
Jack Picozzi remembers it well, so does his coach.
Two years ago, Picozzi and Justin Egner were sophomores in the starting lineup of a veteran North Penn squad that advanced to the PIAA 6A state semifinals against District 12 champion La Salle. They are the only two players still in the Knights’ lineup.
“We have them batting one and two for a reason because they are the two guys that really should be the ones that are saying, ‘Hey, follow me, I’ll show the way. Let’s go,’” NP coach Kevin Manero said. “They have both been on base a ton the last two games.
“For Picozzi today, it was extra special because in the last game of 2021 (in the state semifinals) – he was due up in the order in the last inning when we were down by two, and I pinch hit for him because he was really overmatched that game, so in a key spot two years ago, we were not able to keep him in the lineup.
“Today, in a similar game at the same field, he went out there and had three hits and threw a complete game. If that doesn’t show you growth as a player and the maturity to perform in a big spot, I don’t know what does. I really believe having Egner and Picozzi back-to-back at the top is a big part of why we are where we are right now at this point in states.”
Where they are right now is one win away from next Friday’s state title game at Penn State University. In many ways, it’s gone full circle for Picozzi, overmatched no longer the way he was in the Knights’ 2-0 loss to La Salle two years ago.
“I feel like I’ve been playing for those guys that weren’t able to take it the whole way,” the Knights’ senior ace said of NP’s 2021 squad. “I think about that team almost every day still. It definitely feels like a full circle moment. I’ve seen it from both sides.
“I was the young underclassman who was looking up to those leaders, and now I feel like I’m one of those guys that’s helping take this team as far as we can go.”
As leaders go, they don’t get much better than Picozzi, who settled into a groove after allowing three hits and two runs in the top of the first inning. He allowed just three hits and one run the rest of the way, and if he needed a boost, he got one when the Knights answered with two runs in their half of the first.
“I was definitely able to settle in after that first inning,” Picozzi said. “There were definitely some nerves involved. I wasn’t as sharp as I should be in the first inning, but scoring those two runs in the bottom of the first gave me a ton of confidence because it felt like – if I give up a run, the offense is going to come right back and match whatever they did.
“I didn’t feel like I had to worry about being perfect on the mound. I could just do my thing and rely on everybody else.”
In the bottom of the first, Egner led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when Picozzi hit his first of two doubles in the game. The Knights put a pair of runners on the base in the third when – after a one-out walk to Chase Jones – Ben Farley singled, but a double play ended that threat.
Liberty took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, and again, the Knights answered. Picozzi got things started in the bottom of the inning when he ripped a leadoff double to right field.
“I’m always looking to get on base any way I can, but I’m also looking for a good pitch to hit, a pitch I can really drive,” Picozzi said. “I worked a fullcount, and he gave me a good pitch to hit, and I was ready for it. I didn’t try to do too much. I just hit it where it was pitched. It was on the outside part of the plate, and I took it to left center field for a double.”
With one out, Jones drew a walk, and then with two outs, James Mangine was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A second hit batter plated Picozzi, and Jones scored on a passed ball.
“It started out with us getting early baserunners, which I thought was the most important thing,” Manero said. “When Picozzi smoked that ball to start the inning, that set the tone. You get guys on base, and anything can happen. That’s what we did, but it happened because we had some early baserunners, and we were able to get them in scoring position with less than two outs, and then we capitalized.”
Picozzi did the rest, retiring six of the last seven batters he faced to finish strong.
“His performance today is just what it’s all about when it comes to being a senior, having your last shot and wanting to do everything you can to get your team as far as you can – there’s no question that throwing a complete game and having three hits is sort of super human at this stage of the season,” Manero said. “We played some pretty good defense, especially in the seventh inning. They started with their eight and nine hitters, and both guys hit the ball pretty well, but Henry Wetzel ran down a great catch in right field, and that was only topped by a ball that Mario Sgro ran down in center field for the first two outs of that inning.
“If we don’t have outfielders that are getting good jumps on balls and tracking those balls down, we might be having a very different situation right now. They stepped up and play good ‘D’ when they really had to. I think sometimes those things get lost, but it’s just about making plays. We can’t give up outs in this time of year, and we can’t give free bases away. They’re stepping up and making big plays when they have to.”
The Knights collected seven hits, led by Picozzi’s 3-for-4 which included two doubles, one RBI and two runs scored. Ben Farley was 2-for-3.
“We just look so locked in right now,” Manero said. “Against Hazleton, we put 10 runs up and we just looked like we couldn’t miss, and then today, we got down 2-0, but then we come right back and tie it. When you see a team react like that, you get a sense that everybody is ready to go through a wall. There’s just a high level of energy that you don’t see all the time.”
Picozzi echoed a similar sentiment.
“Everybody has been coming with a next-level energy in states, and that’s really been a key to our success,” he said. “When you’re on the mound or at the plate and you hear your teammates cheering for you, you know that everybody in that dugout has your back. It really motivates you to play for something bigger than yourself. When we have that success, it just feels that much better to see everybody fired up and excited.”
“This was an unbelievable game. This is a team where – while we do have a lot of young guys – everybody’s playing like an upperclassman. We have multiple sophomores in our lineup that have been killing it all year and have been huge parts of our success, so that definitely does make it a little bit easier to be one of the leaders when you know you can rely on the other guys on the team.”
The Knights have won three straight after falling to Central Bucks West 14-1 in the district semifinals.
“We’ve had a pattern this year where – as Manero puts it – we sprint to our goals,” Picozzi said. “We had a goal of winning the league championship, and when we did that, following right after, we seemed to lose our edge a little bit and took a pretty similar beating to wake us back up, and then we got into districts, we won our first two games and clinched a berth in states, and then right after we had a bad loss (to CB West). I think that woke us up for a second time. Now I feel like we’re really locked in a ready to go.”
North Penn (21-5, 13-3 SOL) will face District 12 champion Father Judge in Monday’s PIAA 6A state semifinal.
Liberty 200 010 0 3-6-0
North Penn 200 020 x 4-7-1
#12-1 FATHER JUDGE 1, #1-1 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0 (9 innings)
They walked off the field for the final time to sustained applause. Make no mistake about it – this West team earned it.
An extraordinary postseason had ended but not before the Bucks had rewritten their program’s record books, capturing its first ever District 1 6A title and advancing to the state quarterfinals. Their loss in Thursday’s classic battle to the PCL’s top squad could not tarnish their accomplishments.
“It’s been super magical,” senior Max McGlone said. “I said to a bunch of guys - it’s all hitting me now, everything we’ve done. Even after we won the district championship, I wasn’t looking back on what we did. It was kind of just looking forward.
“Now it’s all coming back, and it’s really nice to see that we were able to pull our school and our community all together over just baseball. I think it’s pretty special.”
“It’s been amazing,” Sam Greer said. “It’s been a great ride. Unfortunately, it ended today, but this team will be with me forever.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet (that it’s over). I’m sure on the way home it will. I’m sure over the next couple of days it will.”
Greer and McGlone formed the battery that shut out a dangerous Judge squad for seven innings with Greer allowing just four hits while striking out eight and walking one.
“We knew this was going to be our biggest challenge,” McGlone said. “I remember talking to all the guys, and we were like, ‘If we win this game, the state championship is ours.’
“Sam came out and he competed. It’s tough – the game ending like that, but the whole team did their jobs. Things just didn’t tilt our way.”
In the end, it was a ‘bleeder’ up the middle and a West miscue that allowed Nick Shiffler – who singled to lead off the inning – slide home safely from second with the game-winner.
“It was kind of like, ‘Now it’s our time,’” McGlone said of the ending. “We did it to so many teams. We sent so many teams home. I guess it was coming – unfortunately, it was our time.”
Crusaders’ ace David Rodriguez earned the complete game win, allowing five hits while striking out two and walking two.
“Rodriguez really settled down,” West coach Brian Weaver said. “He never blew his velocity by us. We were really expecting him to throw it harder, but he spotted up well.
“We wanted to attack him early in the count, and a lot of times we did. Again, it’s just a couple of bad breaks. We get a hit when we can’t string anymore together. That’s why – in the first inning, we get Kevin (Bukowski) on third, and we tried to squeeze him in because we know that scoring opportunities are going to be really limited. That’s been a good recipe for the playoffs, and we didn’t get that one down, but David’s a phenomenal pitcher and we know that coming in, so it’s no surprise that at the end he’s still standing.
“Sam matched him blow for blow. Sam Greer has just had a phenomenal playoff streak.
Our pitchers have thrown a bunch of scoreless innings this postseason. They’ve done just a tremendous job. Even the hit that beats us is just a bleeder that catches the web of a glove and sits as two guys overrun it because they’re working their butts to get to it. If that’s what it takes to beat us – a freak bleeder up the middle, you can hang your hat on that and be pretty proud of that.”
The Bucks had their best chances to score in the early innings. Kevin Bukowski lined a triple to right to lead off the first inning. He was erased at home plate on a suicide squeeze.
In the second inning, Alex Valdes and Quinn Illig hit back-to-back one-out singles. Both runners advanced on Matt Carr’s sacrifice bunt, but that’s where they were stranded. Bukowski led off the third inning with his second hit of the day – a single to left. He moved up to second on a sacrifice, and then McGlone drew a free pass. Back-to-back groundouts ended that threat.
The Bucks managed just one hit off Rodriguez over the final six innings – a two-out single by McGlone in the eighth inning.
“It’s a really nice representation of life that there are times you can play your guts out for nine innings, and in most of those nine innings be right there on the doorstep, and then sometimes it just doesn’t work out,” Weaver said. “If any sport teaches you about life, it’s this game.
“You want to walk that line between silver lining and saying, ‘It’s okay’ because these guys want to win. Only one team gets to win their last game this time of year, and we want it to be us, but you have to tell them – even if you don’t make it to the mountaintop, look back
down how close we are to the peak and how far we’ve come. Every other West flag is so far down towards the bottom. They’re at heights we’ve never reached before.
“This one hurts today, it will hurt tomorrow, it will hurt for a couple of days, but a banner still goes up in the gym, and that’s something no one would have thought possible. The seniors have turned this into a program to be proud of.”
Bukowski was 2-for-4 with a double out of the leadoff spot to lead the Bucks.
“Obviously, the result didn’t end the way we wanted to, but I feel our energy every game – we kept it up,” said Greer, who was not involved in the decision. “It was just a really good season.
“We thought we’d be good, but I don’t think we thought we were going to be this good. We won the district final – that’s the first one in West history. Overall, I don’t think anyone would have thought this is how it ended.”
“The game always finds a way to be creative and bring you to your knees,” Weaver said. “What a great heavyweight battle. It’s tough to look at that game and not think that was the state championship game. They’re a heck of a team. Max (McGlone) did a great job working around their lineup with Sam. Even the innings they got runners on base, we found ways to pitch around it up until the ninth.”
Central Bucks West closed out a successful season with a 20-7 record (10-6 SOL) and a District 1 6A title.
Central Bucks West 000 000 000 0-5-1
Father Judge 000 000 001 1-6-1
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