CR North, Pennridge & Springfield were winners in district playoff action. Jarrad Saffren recaps all three games.
By Jarrad Saffren
I was talking to a Downingtown West scout at the Council Rock North-Upper Dublin game on Friday.
(He offered to buy me a bottle of water, an extremely nice gesture. This has nothing to do with anything. But he deserves to be recognized as a solid human.)
As the Indians obliterated baseball after baseball, I asked him what he thought. “These Suburban One teams, they scare me,” he said. “Those leagues are so strong.”
I can’t sum up Friday any better than that.
The results and recaps are below.
District One Class AAAA Playoffs
#6 Council Rock North 10, #3 Upper Dublin 0 (6 innings)
Considering the importance of the game and the quality of the opponent, Council Rock North played its best game of the season on Friday.
The Indians pounded 13 hits, scored in every inning, and did not make an error. Their pitchers—sophomore Gavin Ferrandino and senior CJ Kilgarriff—combined for one Matt Hand outing. Ferrandino tossed four shutout innings and Kilgarriff two.
“It felt like we were back into the swing of things. The hitting became contagious. And everybody stayed within themselves,” North coach Matt Schram said. “Hitting balls to the middle of the field. Hitting it where it was pitched, not chasing pitches.”
Upper Dublin starter Conor McFadden had a nice season in the Suburban One League American Conference. But North was a bad matchup for the tall righty. McFadden pounds the strike zone with fastballs and changeups.
When Schram told his players the scouting report on McFadden, they licked their chops like hungry dogs about to eat people food.
“We’re used to seeing curveballs and other off-speed pitches,” North senior Seth Leuz said. “To get a pitcher that throws consistent fastballs was a good thing.”
“First-pitch fastball is the easiest pitch in the at-bat to hit,” North senior Chase D’Arcangelo said. “And it was even easier because we knew every pitch was going to be around the zone. So we keyed in on that.”
McFadden retired the first two North batters of the game. But then Jared Schram and Matt Hand walked.
Leuz singled to right center to make it 1-0. D’Arcangelo scorched the ball up the middle to load the bases. Tyler Nowmos rocked the ball to center to make it 3-0.
Leuz’s second RBI single—in the second—chased McFadden from the bump. He gave up six runs in 1.1 innings.
D’Arcangelo said hey what’s up hello to McFadden’s reliever—Jason Greene—by hitting a sacrifice fly to center.
North scored again off Greene in the third. Matt Shenot slammed the ball to left center as James Closser bolted home.
In the fourth, D’Arcangelo rocketed a fastball to the left field corner, scoring Hand. Jared Schram poked an RBI single to left in the fifth. Closser barreled a sacrifice fly to deep center in the sixth.
That put North up 10-0 and the mercy rule into effect. Kilgarriff pitched a 1-2-4 bottom of the sixth. (Putting one guy on. Such a reliever move.) He struck out two batters on high fastballs. The righty has finished both of North’s district playoff games.
“CJ is a bulldog. An absolute bulldog,” Matt Schram said.
He did not actually say this after Friday’s game. There was too much else to talk about. But he said it after every other Kilgarriff relief appearance. And I have not used it yet. So, at some point, Kilgarriff deserved to be recognized as a bulldog.
Anyway, back to offense. Every player in North’s batting order either scored or drove in a run. Five players—Cavan Tully, Jared Schram, Hand, Leuz, and D’Arcangelo—reached base multiple times.
Leuz and D’Arcangelo went 6-for-7. Leuz, Nowmos, and D’Arcangelo had two RBIs. Cole Olshavsky—who pinch-runs for Jared Schram—scored two runs.
Ferrandino used his lively fastball to get out of jams. Upper Dublin left six men on base and was 0-for-7 with runners on. Five of those outs came on Ferrandino fastballs.
“I didn’t have great control but I battled through it,” he said. “Those balls were usually right at someone. I got lucky today.”
Not all of the balls were right at fielders. Hand, Nowmos, and D’Arcangelo made running catches in foul ground. Hand dove and extended his arm as far as biology would allow.
His performance at shortstop raised an interesting question. Is North better with Hand on the mound or at short?
“I think he’s the best shortstop in our league,” Matt Schram said. “He makes our team so good defensively, where we don’t have to strike guys out. Just execute pitches, ground balls, and let these guys make plays.”
When Hand plays short, Tully, also a strong fielder, plays second.
North clinched a spot in the PIAA Class AAAA tournament for the second straight season. The Indians are two wins away from a second straight District One Class AAAA title. They have won seven consecutive district playoff games.
“Beating anybody by 10 runs on their field is a statement. And Upper Dublin is a well-coached team,” Matt Schram said. “It’s also a statement about our league.”
North won the SOL National. Upper Dublin won the SOL American.
The Flying Cardinals (14-6) have to win the four-team playback round to make the state tournament. The Indians (19-3) play No. 2 seed Downingtown West in a district semifinal on Tuesday.
Hand will start.
Council Rock North 4-2-1-1-1-1 10
Upper Dublin 0-0-0-0-0-0 0
#17 Pennridge 13, #9 Marple Newtown 9
Pennridge beat a higher seed for the third straight game and clinched a berth in the state tournament.
“Is this the most talented team I’ve ever had? I wouldn’t say so,” Pennridge coach Tom Nuneviller said. “But when you play as a team, special things happen. One thing we liked about this group from the beginning was that they get along very well. You hear about team chemistry a lot in sports and think, ‘Oh it’s overrated.’ But there’s something special about a group with a common goal and that sacrifices for one another.”
Pennridge last reached the state tournament in 2013. The Rams lost to North Penn in the semifinals. They had beaten the Knights three times that season, twice in the regular season, once in districts.
The Rams are also two wins away from their first district title since 1987. Nuneviller was a senior center fielder on that team. He is now in his 19th season as a coach at Pennridge. In other words, he is the Jim Boeheim of Pennridge.
Now to Friday’s game.
“It was a crazy game,” Nuneviller said.
The Rams scored two in the first, one in the second, and three in the third.
“By the end of the third we were losing 7-6,” Nuneviller said.
Down 6-2, Marple Newtown loaded the bases. The next batter hit a grand slam.
“I thought we were cruising,” Nuneviller said. “The next thing I know we’re down by one.”
Pennridge answered with five runs in the fourth and never trailed again. Riley Hager hit a home run, double, and single. Dan Long had a single and two walks. Andrew Horn ripped two doubles. Andrew Fantaskey had two hits, including a bases-loaded, two-out single up the middle.
Pennridge starter Andrew Mayhew exited with a cramp in the third. Long came in, pitched 4.2 innings, and earned his first playoff win.
He saved Pennridge’s first two playoff wins.
“His fastball and breaking ball were on today. We extended his innings more than we wanted to. We wanted to save his arm but he wanted this game,” Nuneviller said. “He has a couple days to rest now over the holiday weekend. He’s a competitor. He likes the situation and playing for something. Getting into the state tournament is something he really wanted to do.”
Nuneviller exhaled after the win.
“It was a big relief. Being able to answer back,” the Rams’ coach said. “We were happy to get to this point and jump on them early. We were feeling good about ourselves. It was an exciting win.”
More to come, perhaps.
Pennridge (16-7) plays No. 5 seed Boyertown in a district semifinal on Tuesday.
Pennridge 2-1-3-5-1-1-0 13
Marple Newtown 0-0-7-1-0-0-1 9
District One Class AA Playoffs
Springfield 3, New Hope-Solebury 2
Springfield beat New Hope-Solebury in the district semifinals for the third straight year.
In 2014, Martin Pauwels hit a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth. In 2015, Julian Salzer threw a no-hitter.
On Friday, Springfield ace Nick Pave struck out three and walked none in seven innings.
The Spartans turned two double plays with the bases loaded. In the fourth, left fielder Colin Criniti caught a line drive in the corner as a runner dashed home from third. Criniti heard teammates yelling, “Three! Three! Three!” He fired to third and doubled off the runner.
“He’s a good defensive left fielder,” Springfield coach Dennis Primavera said of Criniti. “I don’t know why the runner went home but he did.”
In the sixth, Pave forced a 6-4-3 double play to keep Springfield up 3-2.
“It was a hot day. That got to Nick a little but he pitched well,” Primavera said. “The defense was there.”
Pave out-dueled New Hope ace Matt Benda.
The Spartans scored one run in the first and two in the second. “We had chances the whole game,” Primavera said. “But after scoring three, that was it.”
In the second, Jack Cornely squeeze bunted a run home. Then Chris Kelly cranked an RBI double, the winning run.
Springfield won for the fifth time in six games.
“The kids are hitting, playing good defense, and we are getting good pitching,” Primavera said. “We play in a competitive league. It’s tough for us to get started early. But in the last three or four years, we put it together late.”
Primavera said his team keeps beating New Hope for a simple reason: Springfield plays in the SOL American with six AAAA schools and a AAA school. New Hope plays in the Bicentennial Athletic League with all A, AA, and AAA schools.
“That prepares us. It does,” Primavera said. “This year was a good game. They have good coaching, good players. But playing in our league gives us an advantage. We are not in awe of anyone.”
“Upper Dublin, Wissahickon, and Upper Moreland were all high seeds,” Primavera said. “These are the teams we play all year. It is tough to deal with when we are losing, though.”
Springfield (7-10) won the district title in 2014 and lost to Devon Prep in 2015.
“Now we get a rematch,” Primavera said.
Devon Prep beat Bristol 12-1 on Friday. Matt Gauss will pitch for Springfield. He has thrown two complete games during Springfield’s two-week tear. Gauss did not walk a batter in either game.
Springfield 1-2-0-0-0-0-0 3
New Hope-Solebury 0-0-0-1-0-1-0 2
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