Council Rock North was a winner in SOL baseball action Wednesday.
SOL National Conference
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 13, WILLIAM TENNENT 0 (5 innings)
Nate Abbe turned in a glittering two-hit performance in Wednesday’s abbreviated game. The senior hurler struck out six and walked one to lead the Indians to their second conference win of the season.
“He’s been a varsity pitcher two years, and he was with us last year for the real high, great season, and he’s wearing this season on his shoulders but in a good sense,” coach Matt Schram said. “He’s very positive and just has a wonderful, wonderful attitude.
“He went on the mound today, and I know a lot of guys are looking at the district rankings. We just took the attitude today – we’re just going to play baseball today with a fun attitude. No pressure, no this, no that. Nate took the ball, and all he did was throw strikes. He executed his pitches real well.”
The Indians played flawless defense behind Abbe.
“One of our biggest struggles this year is defense,” Schram said. “Literally, we have a new third baseman, a new shortstop, a new second baseman. We’re moving these guys all over the place just to find the right match.
“Today there wasn’t one error, and we had plenty of opportunities. We took care of all the opportunities. We rolled a double play. It was nice for Nate to have the defense behind him making plays. It made it so easy executing pitches.”
Sophomore Alex Estrada led the offense with a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate that included a double, three RBIs and two runs scored. Junior Andrew Mancini was 2-for-2 with two doubles and two runs scored.
“Both of these are young pups, and they had good games,” Schram said. “Alex Estrada wasn’t even in the lineup against CB South yesterday because he wasn’t feeling good.
“It’s just how we’ve been doing it – moving them in, moving them out, next guy up. It was good day for both of them.”
The Indians scored all the runs Abbe would need in a five-run second. Highlights of the inning included a leadoff double by Mancini and a two-run double by Estrada. They added six more runs in the third. Mancini again led off the inning with a double, and Estrada and Pat Kusters both had RBI singles.
In addition to Estrada and Mancini, Ryan Stalker was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Kyle Dearie and Collin Manel both had a single, drove in a run and scored two runs.
For Tennent, the loss came on the heels of Tuesday’s upset of Neshaminy
“It’s a double-edged sword when you have such a high win like they did yesterday against Neshaminy,” Schram said. “We got trounced yesterday (10-0 loss to Central Bucks South). We were in the bus in an hour-and-a-half, and (Tennent) was blood, sweat and tears and probably celebrated like they won the Super Bowl. Rick (Penecale) is a great coach. I didn’t feel badly because we were on that side of the coin yesterday, so I know what it feels like.
“This was definitely a trap game for them. It’s tough to bounce back after you expend as much as they did yesterday, and we were fresh because it doesn’t take a lot of energy to get your butt kicked. We’ll take any win we can, and we will enjoy it. Even if we don’t win, we’re going to enjoy it because the kids are doing a nice job.”
With the win, the defending district runner-up Indians are 2-6 in conference play (5-10 overall).
“People look at stat sheets and say, ‘Oh, you’re struggling, you’re booting the ball, you have errors,’” Schram said. “Our kids work their tails off, they really do.
“They love being together. Our practices are crisp, and they are working amazingly hard. The record is what it is, but their hard work is so much higher than what shows on the stat sheet and the record sheet. That’s been the greatest part of this season. I’m not joking when I say that we’ve had more fun being below .500 than we ever thought we would.”
With five sophomores in their starting lineup, Schram knew there were going to be some growing pains.
“At the end of the day, they’re still kids. They feel the highs, they feel the lows, and so do the coaches,” Schram said. “It’s a good perspective thing for us from not only a coaching standpoint but for the community. People are asking questions – ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ The answer is: we’re in a tough league, there are no days off. You’ve got to be at your best, and you have to get the players seasoned to the level of play we have in our league, and we are working on it.
“They’re young, they’re new on the team, they’re new on the field, and it takes time. I’ll never say we were rebuilding or reloading, but at the end of the day, it takes a lot of time, and these kids are working their tails off. It felt good to be on the opposite end of the coin today just because of the hard work they put in for it.”
Council Rock North (2-6, 5-10 SOL) will travel to Bensalem on Thursday, and William Tennent (1-8, 5-9) will be on the road at Council Rock North Thursday.
Council Rock North 056 02 13-11-0
William Tennent 000 00 0-2-3
About the Author
