Souderton & Harry S Truman were winners in SOL baseball action Wednesday.
SOL Continental Conference
SOUDERTON 2, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
It was another day and another shutout for Souderton’s stellar pitching staff. This time it was Luke Taylor scattering six hits, striking out eight and walking none in the complete game shutout.
If it’s starting to sound like a rerun, it is. Wednesday’s shutout was the sixth in 10 conference games for the Indians.
“It’s unbelievable,” coach Mike Childs said. “Our pitching staff right now is absolutely tremendous.”
Tremendous hardly covers it. In their last seven conference games combined, the Indians’ pitchers have allowed a grand total of four runs. If Childs has a problem, it’s trying to find enough innings to go around on a staff with four quality starters.
“I usually don’t tell them until the day before who’s starting, so they’re all on pins and needles,” Childs said. “They all want it.”
Last week, the team’s ace – Jordan Morales – did not throw one inning.
“There are no egos,” said Childs. “They’re excited for each other, they’re cheering for each other.”
And all of this with Seton Hall commit Aaron Groller throwing just one inning this season and still working his way back.
“We’re playing defense behind them,” Childs said. “And the pitchers are making their own plays.
“Today East had a man on first, nobody out, and a kid hits a lightening line drive – Luke Taylor sticks his glove out, catches it and throws the guy out at first. Not only are they pitching well, they’re fielding their position. There’s nothing negative to say. They’re just having fun, and that’s what it’s about.”
The Patriots looked as though they might be onto something when Colin Weber and Jack Nugent opened the second inning with back-to-back singles. Taylor brought an emphatic end to that threat with three consecutive strikeouts.
The Indians scored the only run Taylor would need in the bottom of the second when Frank Pollock, who had a leadoff single, scored on a two-out error. In the third inning, Bill Norbeck led off with a single and was replaced by courtesy runner Dean Shaw, who stole second and scored on Conlan Wall’s single. That 2-0 score held the rest of the way.
Souderton was led by the two-hit efforts of Norbeck and Taylor, whose ERA dropped to 0.43 after Wednesday’s outing. The senior pitcher has 44 strikeouts and just three walks this season.
Nugent’s 2-for-3 effort at the plate led the Patriots.
Nick Bitsko, who absorbed the loss, pitched well enough to win on most days, allowing five hits and two runs (one earned) in four innings. He struck out five and walked none. Aidan Weaver and Jack Hamilton both threw a scoreless inning in relief.
Souderton (13-2, 10-0 SOL) will be on the road at Upper Dublin for a non-league game Friday, and Central Bucks East (7-9, 3-7) will travel to Wissachikon for a non-league game Friday.
Central Bucks East 000 000 0 0-6-1
Souderton 011 000 x 2-8-0
Non-league Crossover game
HARRY S TRUMAN 8, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 7
Wednesday’s crossover win didn’t come easily, but then again, nothing has for a Tiger team that has endured its share of close losses. The Tigers took an 8-4 lead into the seventh inning only to watch the Bucks pull to within one with the bases loaded when the final out was recorded.
“We had confidence that our pitcher was going to throw strikes and was going to put us in a position that we would have an opportunity to make the play to end the game,” Truman coach Tim Monaghan said. “Dylan Jackson is a guy that fills up the strike zone, he pitches to contact, and he’s a senior who doesn’t get flustered by tough situations.
“In that moment, we had full confidence that Dylan was going to give us the best chance to win. Obviously, he deserved a little bit better. We kicked the ball around that inning, and we made it more difficult for ourselves, but in the end, we were able to finish.”
Four of Truman’s losses this season have been by one run.
“It’s been a struggle – we’ve been walked off on three times,” Monaghan said. “We’ve had the lead last at-bat against Pennsbury, against Council Rock South and against Bensalem in games that we had complete control of and we couldn’t finish.
“It’s been a theme for us this year. On Tuesday, we lost a 2-1 game to Neshaminy that was very well played. We’re right there, but we just can’t seem to get that big hit or make that one play that can be the difference.”
It looked as though the Tigers might be in for another heartbreak when they committed a pair of costly error in the seventh. Singles by Dylan Smith and Matt McCarthy combined with the miscues, a walk and a hit batsman could have spelled disaster, but the Tigers survived. Jackson notched the win, allowing just two hits and no earned runs while walking one.
“It would have been very easy as that inning was kind of spiraling out of control to say – oh, here we go again – and allow ourselves to lose another heartbreaker,” Monaghan said. “But the fact that we were able to overcome those things and get the win is the most important thing – wins are hard to come by in our league.
“We’ve been very competitive, and I know that we’re a tough out every time we go out there. I’m just happy for my guys that we were able to get a win and keep us afloat to a point and keep us mathematically alive and still have things to play for for one more week. We’re just trying to take it one game at a time and keep playing the way we’ve been playing but just try and make that one big play or get that one big hit so we can overcome some of these late-inning obstacles that have plagued us all year.”
The Tigers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with Michael Finsel’s two-run double the big blow in a three-run first. Jackson had an RBI double in a second inning that saw the Tigers plate a pair.
The Bucks made it a 5-2 game with two runs in a fifth inning that included a leadoff double by Brian Gilvary and an RBI single by Tommy Comes. They added two more in the sixth to pull to within one. Rhys Nicholas led off the inning with a solo home run, and Tyler Dalzell contributed an RBI double.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers gave themselves margin for error when they plated three runs. Jackson had a two-run single in the inning.
Evan Profy was 2-for-3 with a double and three runs scored out of the leadoff spot for the Tigers, and Jackson was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Rinsel’s three RBIs led the Tigers.
McCarthy (2-for-3) was the lone West player with more than one hit.
Harry S Truman (5-8, 3-5 SOL) will face Neshaminy on Sunday (1 p.m.) at Trenton Thunder’s Arm & Hammer Park. Central Bucks West (6-9, 3-6) will host North Penn on Tuesday.
Central Bucks West 000 022 3 7-7-4
Harry S Truman 320 003 x 8-8-5
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