SOL Colonial Division
HATBORO-HORSHAM 3, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 2
The Hatters rode the strong pitching performances of Stephen Plefka and Cole Fisher to eke out a win in a key early season division battle.
“Stephen Plefka was a freshman that gave us really good innings last year,” Hatters’ coach Pete Moore said. “As a freshman, he pitched a lot for us in big moments. He’s just not fazed by a moment.
“By the high school rules, Cole Fisher, our ace, could have started today, but he just threw Saturday against Wissahickon. As much as Cole wanted the ball, I told him, ‘We have faith in Plefka, we’re going with him, and if it gets to the point later in the game where we need an inning or two, you’ll be the guy.’ It worked out great for us.”
Plevka threw five strong innings, allowing one hit and one run while striking out four and walking one. Fisher closed it out, allowing three hits and one run, striking out three and walking two.
“Plefka came in after the fifth inning and was still strong and looked me in the eye and said, ‘Coach, I have more in me,’” Moore said. “I said, ‘You did your job. We’re going to give Cole the ball right now.’ In my opinion, I don’t think there’s any chance we play (Thursday) because of the weather that’s coming. It would have been Cole’s bullpen game today. He went out and threw two innings and ended up getting the save. Plefka got the win out of it, and we walked out of there 2-0, so it was great.”
There wasn’t a whole lot of hitting on either side. Both pitchers mowed batters down through three innings. In the top of the fourth, the Hatters benefitted from several miscues and a walk that set the stage for Zach Greenberg’s two-run double to left.
The Colonials made it a 2-1 game in the bottom of the inning when Joe Redmond delivered a clutch two-out RBI single that plated Jesse Jaconski, who drew a leadoff walk. The Hatters got that run back in the top of the fifth when Ryan Toporowski, who also drew a leadoff walk, scored on a two-out single by Nick Katherine to go on top 3-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jaconski, who singled, scored on a wild pitch. The Colonials stranded a pair in the inning and also left a pair on board in the seventh.
“It was two really good high school baseball teams, but I think Chris (Manero) would agree – I don’t think either of us played close to our best game,” Moore said. “It was sloppy defensively. The intensity was there, the pitching was there, but I just don’t think we played as clean a game as either of us would have liked.
“From my perspective, we were able to walk out of there not playing a good game at all and got a big league win for us. I think you could look every one of my guys in the eye and say, ‘Do you think your team played well?’ and overall, they would say, ‘No.’ But we got a big league win out of it.”
PW’s Ray Tomassetti threw the first five innings, allowing three hits and three runs – only one earned – while striking out five and walking four. Matt Krawitz did not allow a hit in two scoreless innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
The two Colonial Division powers had the opportunity to play a game Wednesday when most couldn’t since PW has a turf field.
“Originally, our game was scheduled for yesterday at our house,” Moore said. “In the fall when the schedule came out, Chris (Manero) knew Plymouth Whitemarsh had their Disney trip, and he has a lot of kids on that.
“We have a Disney trip as well. None of our kids went on the Disney trip. They reached out and asked if we could push the game back one day. Back in the fall, nobody has any idea what the weather’s going to be.
“With the weather this week, we said, ‘Can we move the game to your place since you have turf,’ so he was good with that, and no one wants to get backed up this early in the year. It worked out well that we could play from both perspectives.”
Hatboro-Horsham (2-2, 2-0 SOL) is schedule to play Abington on Thursday, and Plymouth Whitemarsh (3-1, 0-1) will host Upper Dublin on Thursday.
Hatboro-Horsham 000 210 0 3-3-2
Plymouth Whitemarsh 000 101 0 2-5-4
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