Check out all of Wednesday's SOL baseball action. To view photos of the CB West/Hatboro game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Scott Huff
The stage is set for a first place Suburban One League Continental Conference showdown on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Hostelley Field in North Wales as both North Penn (4-1 conference) and Souderton (6-2, 3-2) won key games Wednesday.
“We have a huge community and it gives our middle school kids a chance to come out and see a high school baseball game,” said North Penn head coach Kevin Manero of Friday’s Community Night game. “It is a great venue to see a baseball game, and it should be a good match-up against a good Souderton team.”
“It gives our students, athletes and parents a good opportunity to see us play,” said Souderton head coach Michael Childs. “There could be around 500 people at the game, and that creates excitement for the entire team.”
North Penn (8-1, 4-1) had its battery charged by catcher Eddie Posavec and pitcher Bryce Mengel as the Knights marched to a 13-0 five-inning - mercy-rule victory over host Quakertown (2-6, 1-4).
Posavec had three hits – a homerun – and five RBI to fuel the 12-hit North Penn offense. Two-hits game were registered by Casey Clauss, Matt Davey, Nate Heller, and Ryan Erskine. Clauss blasted a homerun and scored four runs.
Mengel threw a complete game for the Knights and collected nine strikeouts.
“Bryce threw a phenomenal game today,” said Manero. “It was without question his best outing of the season.”
North Penn Knights 104 62 -13 12 1
Quakertown Panthers 000 00 - 0 2 5
Souderton (6-2, 3-2) broke open a 1-1 tie late in the game as the Indians secured a 6-3 victory over visiting Pennridge (6-4, 1-4).
“The bats came out late, but at least they came out,” said Childs as the Indians scored two runs in the fifth inning and three runs in the sixth inning. “Cory (Capaldi) threw very well considering it was only his second outing of the year. He is a four-year starter, and this game should do a lot for his confidence.”
Capaldi threw the first five innings for the Indians, while Ozzie Moyer threw the final two innings to close out the win.
Steven Hink delivered the key hit to give Souderton the lead in the fifth inning. Hink smoked a two-run – two out – double for the Indians.
Pennridge Rams 000 010 2 -3 9 1
Souderton Indians 100 023 x -6 7 1
Central Bucks West (7-2, 4-1) remained in a first place tie for the SOL Continental Conference lead as the Bucks scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Hatboro-Horsham (6-3, 3-2) – 4-3.
Marty Martens knocked home the game-winning run in the last of the seventh inning with an RBI single that scored Nick Heller. West trailed the Hatters 3-0 after the first two innings.
John Fitz was awarded the win for the first place Bucks.
Hatboro-Horsham Hatters 120 000 0 -3 8 2
Central Bucks West Bucks 001 200 1 -4 7 2
Central Bucks South (5-2, 2-2) and Central Bucks East (4-4, 1-3) played an exciting suspended game that concluded with the teams tied at 5-5. The game was called due to darkness after nine innings and will be resumed at some point next week.
CB East had taken a 5-0 lead, but the Titans rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to tie the game. John Mullin delivered the key blow with a 2-run, 2-out single.
Central Bucks South Titans 000 020 300 -5 9 6
Central Bucks East Patriots 111 200 000 -5 9 1
Suburban One League National Conference
Bensalem (7-0, 5-0) remained unbeaten in the conference as the Owls scored 11 runs in the fifth inning and soared to a 14-1 mercy-rule victory over host Abington (2-7, 1-4).
“At this point of the year, we have won as many league games (five) as we did all of last year,” said Bensalem head coach Rick Lee, whose team was 5-9 in SOL play last year. “We play Council Rock North on Friday, and that will be a huge test to see how good we really are. Everybody says (CR North) fell back a little, but I don’t believe it.”
Bensalem led 3-1 with a runner on and two outs in the fifth inning. Eight hits, three walks, and one error later the Owls had scored 11 times to rip the game open. Rob Diamond had a double and a single with four RBI in that inning alone. Eric Ruud hit two triples to fuel the 13-hit Bensalem attack.
Zach Hizer threw the first four innings to earn the victory for the Owls – Rick Romano pitched the fifth inning.
Bensalem Owls 200 1(11) - -14 13 1
Abington Ghosts 000 1 0 - - 1 4 4
Council Rock South (9-0, 6-0) remained unbeaten in the conference as the Golden Hawks edged district rival Council Rock North (4-4, 3-2) – 3-2.
Brian Donnelly threw the first six and one-third innings to record the win for Rock South. Donnelly also had a two-hit game for the Hawks – as did Bret DiStefano. The Hawks scored all three of their runs in the second inning to secure the win.
Nate English was the tough-luck loser for the Indians. Will Terry managed the only two hit game for Rock North.
Council Rock North Indians 010 100 0 -2 6 0
Council Rock South Indians 030 000 x -3 8 0
Pennsbury (3-8, 2-4) slugged season-high 16 hits as the Falcons soared to a 7-2 victory over Truman (1-8, 0-5).
“We spread out the scoring, and we were also able to spread out the hits,” said Pennsbury head coach Joe Pesci. “And Paul Gosselin threw another good game for us.”
Gosselin threw a complete game and had five strikeouts.
Chris Romano, Matt Ferry, Tyler Pennett, Brendan Campbell, Justin Jacko, Brendan Garrett, and Jake Lindahl each had two hits for the Falcons. Pennsbury had six extra base hits among the 16 hits.
Pennsbury Falcons 100 231 0 -7 16 1
Truman Tigers 001 010 0 -2 9 2
Suburban One League American Conference
Cheltenham (5-4, 4-3) put itself in the position of ‘winning the week’ as the Panthers clawed to a 5-3 victory over visiting Upper Dublin (7-3, 6-3).
“We play this long 18-game schedule, and we want to be able to say we won more games than we lost during the course of the week,” said Cheltenham head coach Frank Decembrino. “We lost on Monday to Norristown (10-2) and came back with a nice win today, and now we have to go out and try and beat Wissahickon on Friday.”
Cheltenham had a fine pitching effort turned in by junior starter Matt Lawlor and senior closer John Craig. Lawlor collected the win throwing the first six and one-third innings, but allowed a pair of hits in the seventh inning and was lifted for Craig. Craig stranded both runners with a fine closing effort.
The Panthers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The big hit in the frame came from junior Matt Myers who smoked a two-RBI triple to deep center field.
“This was one day that I wish we had a fence in center field,” said Decembrino. “Matt crushed the ball, and in almost any place we play that would have been a homerun.”
Upper Dublin Cardinals 012 000 0 -3 6 0
Cheltenham Panthers 400 100 x -5 10 0
Wissahickon (4-6, 4-4) scored five runs in the third inning as the Trojans captured an 11-6 victory over visiting Norristown (1-9, 1-8).
Wissahickon pounded out 13 hits on the day and was sparked by a homerun by Peter Bogdon. Randy Frankenfield and Greg McDonough each collected two hits for the Trojans.
Frankenfield – who had an impressive 11-strikeout performance – was the winning pitcher. He allowed just one earned run and threw the first six innings for the winners.
Norristown Eagles 100 110 3 -6 9 3
Wissahickon Trojans 105 302 x -11 13 5
On Tuesday, Plymouth Whitemarsh (7-4, 7-3) scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Colonials marched to a 3-2 come from behind win over Upper Merion (1-8, 1-7).
The tough-luck Vikings took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the final inning, but PW received a pair of key triples to spark the win. Adam Piacetelli opened the inning with a three-bagger and Steve Wallace followed with a three base hit to score the game tying run. Three walks later, the Colonials collected the win.
Rob Pecharo notched the win for Plymouth Whitemarsh in relief.
Upper Merion Vikings 000 010 01 -2 6 2
Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials 000 100 02 -3 7 1
‘On Deck’ in the Suburban One League
SOL American Conference- Friday (4/20/12)
Upper Dublin Flying Cardinals @ Upper Moreland Golden Bears
Upper Merion Vikings @ Norristown Eagles
Wissahickon Trojans @ Cheltenham Panthers
SOL National Conference – Friday (4/20/12)
William Tennent Panthers @ Abington Ghosts
Truman Tigers @ Neshaminy Redskins
Council Rock North Indians @ Bensalem Owls
SOL Continental Conference – Thursday (4/19/12) & Friday (4/20/12)
Hatboro-Horsham Hatters @ Central Bucks South Titans – (Thurs)
Souderton Indians @ North Penn Knights (Fri)
Quakertown Panthers @ Central Bucks East Patriots (Fri)
Central Bucks West Bucks @ Pennridge Rams (Fri)
- Log in to post comments
