Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action Friday. Wissahickon/Lower Moreland photos courtesy of Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos. (PW/Springfield Twp photos provided courtesy of Cindy Manero/PW baseball). All SOS photos for BASEBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
SOL Liberty/Freedom
Wissahickon 9, Lower Moreland 8
Wissahickon went from down one to up two to down three in a wild game that saw the two teams combine for 17 runs, 15 hits, 10 errors and eight walks.
Fortunately for the Trojans, they had the last at-bats. Jack O’Donnell’s RBI single scored Nate DeVincent for the game-winner, as Wissahickon rallied with five runs in the bottom of the seventh for the 9-8 victory.
“We traded punches and battled through some adversity with a tough Lower Moreland team,” said Trojans coach Andy Noga, whose team scored seven runs in the last two innings. “Jack O’Donnell and Nate DeVincent led the way offensively. Nate got the last inning started with a double and O’Donnell came up with a clutch hit to finish off the game. O’Donnell was clutch for us earlier in the week and continued again today, cashing in with runners in scoring position.”
O’Donnell went 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and four RBIs. DeVincent and Finn Olszewski had two hits each, including doubles.
Trailing 8-5 after Lower Moreland rallied to score five runs in the top of the seventh – thanks to three Wissahickon errors and singles by 
Aidan Ricciardi and Andrew Dorval – the Trojans started the bottom of the seventh with a one-out double by DeVincent.
Josh Palutis scored a run with a sacrifice fly that was played for an error, Morgan Wilson singled, a run scored on another error to make it 8-7, and then O’Donnell’s single to center scored the tying and winning runs in walk-off style.
Wissahickon starter Reed Bram was solid, not allowing an earned run, with six strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings, before being removed after 96 pitches.
Dorval and Matt Wenger had three RBIs each for Lower Moreland.
Wissahickon improved to 4-4 with the win (3-3 SOL). It plays a nonleague game at Father Judge on Monday. LM (2-5, 1-4 SOL) plays at MaST Charter on Saturday.
Lower Moreland 000 201 5 – 8 5 6
Wissahickon 020 003 4 – 9 10 4
Hatboro-Horsham 18, Cheltenham 4
Tied at 2 through three innings, this wasn’t the start first-place Hatboro-Horsham was hoping for, but over the last four innings, the Hatters more than made up for their slow start.
They scored 16 runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings combined, including eight in the seventh, to blow this one wide open to remain unbeaten in SOL play.
“It was a tight game for about four innings,” said H-H coach Pete Moore. “Cheltenham held us down and we didn’t play up to what we expect to. But the last couple of innings, we came around and put together quality at-bats.”
First things first, tied at 2-2 and two runs already across the plate in the bottom of the second, Cheltenham was threatening to do more damage with the bases loaded and nobody out. Moore moved Ryan Toporowski from shortstop to the mound, and he got out of the jam, inducing harmless popups to the infield out of the first two batters he faced and striking out the third.
“He didn’t allow any more runs,” Moore said. “He pitched five innings, gave up one hit, no walks and struck out seven, and picked up his first league win.”
H-H scored 18 runs on 13 hits and took advantage of 12 bases on balls.
Trey Porter had a home run and five RBIs. Zach Greenberg was 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs. Will Brunce had a double and three RBs. Cole Fisher had three runs scored and two RBIs, and Kyle Dittus went 2-for-2 with four runs scored and an RBI.
The Hatters are now 8-0 in the SOL (9-2 overall).
“We’ve got to be able to come out and execute at all times,” Moore said. “We just had to stay focused and control what we can control. We’re going to get opportunities to put things together, and as talented as we are, we knew we could turn it around.”
Nate Quigley went 2-for-4 for Cheltenham, while Eon Nelson had a triple and two RBIs.
Cheltenham (2-6, 0-5 SOL) hosts New Hope-Solebury on Monday, while H-H hosts New Hope on Tuesday.
Hatboro-Horsham 110 251 8 – 18 13 0
Cheltenham 020 000 2 – 4 6 3
Plymouth Whitemarsh 12, Springfield Twp 1 (5 innings)
An early run by Springfield didn’t deter host PW, which tied the game in the bottom of the first and then scored six times in the third and five times in the fourth to finish this one off in five innings and
the 10-run mercy rule.
“We had a goal coming in to today of getting three wins for the week, and I think that helped these guys to really stay focused on coming out and giving their best effort,” said Colonials coach Chris Manero. “(Jesse) Jaconski, (Mike) Miller, (Lincoln) Sharpe, and (Ray) Tomassetti have all started to hit balls harder this week, and it has been a huge boost for our run production. Adding Luke Gartland to that multiple hits mix today helped us to spread the offense up and down the lineup.
Jaconski went 2-for-2 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and two RBIs out of the leadoff spot. Tomassetti hit a two-run home run in the five-run fourth inning. Miller was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Gartland was 2-for-3 with two runs and Sharpe was 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs.
Matt Krawitz earned the win on the mound, throwing four innings, allowing one run (unearned) on two hits and two walks, while striking out four. Johnny Giordano pitched a scoreless fifth to end the game.
“Matt did basically everything we wanted him to do on the mound for us today, and it was nice to get Johnny Giordano an inning to finish it out,” Manero said. “When we have these three-game weeks stacked against each other, we know our pitching depth will be important and we saw that today.”
Dan Matthews went 2-for-3 for Springfield.
PW (7-3, 4-3 SOL) is next in action Monday, on the road at Quakertown. Springfield (1-5, 1-4 SOL) is off until Thursday when it hosts Hatboro-Horsham.
Springfield Twp 100 00 – 1 3 4
Plymouth Whitemarsh 106 5x – 12 10 2
Abington 12, New Hope-Solebury 3
The Galloping Ghosts scored nine runs in the first three innings to take command in this one and never looked back in an impressive offensive effort on the road Friday.
Anthony Ehly went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, four runs scored and two RBIs. His solo homer in the top of the fifth made it 10-0.
Also for Abington, Matt Worek went 2-for-5 with a triple, three runs scored and three RBIs. Alex Dardaris also had two RBIs. As a team, the Ghosts had 10 hits and took advantage of nine walks and four errors.
L.J. Wolff earned the win on the mound, allowing just two runs (both unearned) over 4 1/3 innings, scattering four hits and five walks, while striking out six. Pat Barrett allowed just one run over the final 2 1/3 innings.
Matt Jermyn, Josh Shiller and Brooks Saft had RBIs for New Hope.
Abington (4-4, 2-4 SOL) plays again Saturday, a nonleague game at Dock Mennonite. New Hope (3-2, 2-2 SOL) is at Cheltenham in another SOL game on Monday.
Abington 342 010 2 – 12 10 2
New Hope 000 020 1 – 3 5 4
SOL Colonial/Patriot
Souderton 9, Pennsbury 7 (8 innings)
Souderton trailed 6-3 going into the top of the seventh.
It scored four runs to take the lead and then proceeded to surrender the lead in the bottom of the seventh. In extra innings, however, the Indians added two more and would go on to the 9-7 road win at Pennsbury on Friday.
Ethan Warner went 2-for-4 with four RBIs. His two-out bases loaded single scored two and capped a two-out rally in the eighth.
Those heroics wouldn’t have been possible if not for the improbable top of the seventh.
“This was definitely a crazy one, that’s for sure,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said.
A walk, an error and two hit batters cut Pennsbury’s lead to 6-4 with one out. After a strikeout, a misplayed flyball by Hunter Weitzel cleared the bases, scoring three runs to put Souderton in front 7-6. Childs explained.
“Balls carry really well at that field, and it’s downhill,” Childs said. “We had bases loaded and Hunter Weitzel comes up and hits this high ball. The ball keeps carrying out, keeps carrying and carrying and carrying. It was a high sky. Their left fielder kept going back, back, back, and their center fielder came over and I guess he thought he was going to hit the fence, and all of a sudden, the ball hits the ground.
“We had bases loaded and the guy on first – before the ball ever hit the ground – was already past third. That’s how high the ball was, and it just kept carrying out. They misplayed it, and we take a lead, 7-6.”
Will McCausland entered the game in the bottom of the seventh to close it out, and the game again took an improbable turn.
“He’s all fired up – he’s our number one pitcher, and he strikes out the first guy, strikes out the second guy and then walks the third guy (Callan Fang),” Childs said. “He gets called for a balk to move to second base and then overthrows the catcher to move him to third and then overthrows the catcher again to score the run. That’s super unlike Will. He struck the first two kids out like nothing.”
It looked as though it was going to be an uneventful eighth for the Indians when their first two batters struck out, but Chris McKenna kept the inning alive with a two-out single, and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Warner.
“He hits a line drive with a 3-2 count over the third baseman’s head, scores two runs,” Childs said.
Joe Tiroly singled to open the bottom of the eighth, but that’s where the Falcons’ potential rally ended. McCausland struck out the next batter, Tiroly was erased at second on a fielder’s choice and McCausland put an exclamation point on the wild win with a strikeout.
“It was absolutely insane,” said Childs, whose team was coming off back-to-back losses to Council Rock North and Truman. “It showed me big time even last Thursday – we battled back against North Penn away, and now to battle back against another good team against their number one pitcher – these kids are fighters. It’s awesome to watch.
“They’re starting to develop. We had a couple of down games this week. If we would have lost this one, we would have said, ‘Let’s just move on. It is what it is.’ I tore into them a little bit Wednesday about losing the game to Truman, and I came out Thursday at practice and said, ‘You know what, this game is actually really fun, and when you realize it’s a game, the stress just goes away.’ And we did it.
“Facing a kid who’s going to Elon – he’s a good pitcher, and our kids said, ‘We have no fear, we’re going to battle up, we’re going to step up.’ It was definitely, without a doubt, a team win. I was subbing guys in and out. We had guys off the bench filling positions. We have 21 guys on the team, and I used everybody but three guys. It was absolutely crazy.”
After the you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it ending, it was easy to forget that the Indians found themselves in a 5-1 hole after just one inning.
“We didn’t play well, and Jackson Morrisette then settled in the second inning and was great through six,” Childs said. “The plan was that Will (McCausland) was going to come in only if we needed him to close if we were winning.”
Luke Pollock went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Shanley Wall had a double and three runs scored.
Pennsbury’s Justin Mitrovich went the first 5 2/3 innings, striking out 12 and allowing just one earned run himself.
Offensively, Tiroly went 3-for-4 for the Falcons. Fang and Jordan Czerniak had doubles.
First-place Souderton (5-3, 4-2 SOL) hosts Lansdale Catholic in a nonleague game Saturday morning (10:30 a.m.). Pennsbury (8-2, 5-2 SOL) has a nonleague game against Hopewell Valley (N.J.) at Trenton’s Arm & Hammer Stadium on Sunday night (7 p.m.).
Souderton 100 020 42 – 9 8 2
Pennsbury 500 010 10 – 7 7 3
Central Bucks West 5, Bensalem 3
Three runs in the bottom of the fifth, including an RBI single by Matt Carr and an RBI double by Aidan Quinn was the push CB West needed to pull out this Colonial/Patriot crossover game in Doylestown on Friday.
“This was a big game, and both sides played really good, sound baseball,” said Bucks coach Brian Weaver. “(Bensalem coach Kurt Sowa) has had his guys in every game this year, with big plays coming from all across his lineup, so our message, consistently, was that we needed to find a way to keep pressure on and not think for a second that any lead was safe.”
Carr led the offensive attack, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and that one RBI in the fifth. As a team, the Bucks had just five hits, but they came at opportune times.
“Offensively, we put together a good day from top to bottom,” Weaver said. “Aidan Quinn continues to anchor things, and Matt Carr had another big day for us. We also ran the bases well today, especially Carr, Quinn, and (Bill) Zentmayer. Matt McCarthy, who is one of our assistant coaches, has had a big impact with our guys, helping them have a good mindset and technique on the bases, and today a lot of those things clicked.”
On the mound, Connor Dobos went the first 4 2/3 innings for West, allowing just two earned runs. Sam Greer picked up the win out of the bullpen with 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. He retired all seven batters he faced and struck out five.
Tyler Fisher went 2-for-4 for Bensalem, while Ryan Brown and Mike Kramer picked up RBIs.
With the win, CB West is now 5-3 on the season (3-1 SOL). It hosts Council Rock South on Monday. Bensalem (4-5, 3-4 SOL) plays at CB South on Saturday.
Bensalem 001 200 0 – 3 6 0
CB West 101 030 x – 5 5 0
Central Bucks South 3, Central Bucks East 2
CB South didn’t have much luck through five innings against CB East and Patriots starter Brett Young. But in the sixth, with one swing of Jack Carver’s bat, the game change completely in the Titans’ favor.
Carver hit a three-run home run, and Owen Wheeler came on in relief of starter Robby Porco in the top of the seventh for the dramatic one-run win over the visiting Patriots.
“They hit us in the mouth early and put up two runs in the first inning,” said CB South coach Kevin Bray. “Then Robby dug in and he was Robby Porco, the guy we expected him to be out there. He didn’t give up any more runs, he tallied 11 Ks and kept their bats quiet. We needed that to stay in the game.
“Brett Young did a great job for them on the mound. He really kept us off balance.”
Sophomore Chase Harlan got things started for CB East in the top of the first with a leadoff single. Max McGrady later delivered a two-out single to drive in one run, and Reese Moody then made it 2-0 with an RBI single of his own.
Young allowed just three hits through the first five innings, but in the fifth South, JT Anderosky led off with a single, and Wheeler followed with a double. Carver’s homer to right field gave the home team the 3-0 advantage.
Porco retired the first two batters in the seventh before hitting the 100-pitch limit. Bray brought in Wheeler who recorded a strikeout to end the game, the fourth straight win for the Titans.
“It was tough,” Bray said about his team’s early season struggles. “We didn’t get out to the start we wanted to. We had to regroup as a team and convince them that we are a quality baseball team. They believe in themselves, the bats started the roll and the pitching has been consistent the last few games. They’re a confident bunch and are playing really well right now.”
CB South (4-4, 3-3 SOL) concludes a four-game week with a home game against Bensalem on Saturday (noon). CB East (4-3, 2-3 SOL) has a nonleague game at Penn Charter on Saturday (2:30 p.m.).
CB East 200 000 0 – 2 4 1
CB South 000 003 x – 3 7 1
Neshaminy 12, Pennridge 2 (6 innings)
Neshaminy needed to end a four-game losing streak and needed to do it any way it could.
Six runs in the bottom of the first set the tone, and six more in the bottom of the sixth finished the game off early, as Neshaminy finished off Pennridge via the 10-run mercy rule.
“Today was an extremely important, must win game,” said coach Dan Toner. “We needed to build off of our offense from the last game and also get a win to get back on track. In our previous game, although we lost, we showed a lot of progress on offense. And, today was a nice ‘breakout’ game for us, where a lot of players contributed.
“The entire team worked extremely hard this week. I’m proud of them that they were able to make the adjustments and get a win, while at the same time feeling successful on offense.”
Neshaminy pounded out 12 hits – 10 singles and doubles by Bobby Hansen and Anthony Trommer. Hansen, Jake Kozlowski, Luke Hardnock and Gaige Ryan had two hits each. Ryan had three RBIs.
“Our pitching and defense played very good today, also,” Toner said. “Ryan Kasper and Evan Kripple did a fantastic job on the mound, and I was glad I was able to witness one of the best high school catches I have ever seen from Gaige Ryan in center field.”
Kasper pitched the first four innings, allowing just one earned run and scattering four hits and two walks to earn the win. Krippel did not allow an earned run over the final two innings.
Neshaminy (3-3, 3-3 SOL) is off until Tuesday when it plays at Souderton. Pennridge (3-5, 1-5 SOL) lost its fifth straight SOL game, and will attempt to snap that streak Tuesday at Council Rock South.
Pennridge 001 010 – 2 6 3
Neshaminy 600 006 – 12
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