The Suburban One National/BAL scored a pair of ninth inning runs to earn a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 win over Olympic Colonial in Carpenter Cup action Friday.
Joe Pesci admits he didn’t give a whole lot of thought to his squad’s batting order when he handed in his lineup changes prior to the sixth inning of Friday’s Carpenter Cup contest against Olympic Colonial.
“I just made straight changes,” said Pesci, the co-coach of the SOL National/BAL with Dave Torresani. “What happened was – in the fifth inning, I went up to the booth to give them some changes, and it was a four-pitch inning.
“I couldn’t really talk to the coaches about changes. There was no playing with the lineup, it was just straight changes.”
In an interesting twist, the SOL National/BAL squad’s fate rested squarely on the shoulders of Pesci’s Pennsbury players.
“In the bottom of the ninth inning, Billy Bethel, Justin Massielo, Tyrone Hodges and Ryan McCarty from Pennsbury High School were four of the five hitters due up,” said Pesci, whose team trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the last inning. “It looked like I did it on purpose, but it was totally coincidental.”
And what a productive coincidence it turned out to be for the defending Carpenter Cup champions.
Bethel led off the frame with a single to right, and Massielo – in his second at-bat of the game – followed with a bunt down the first base line.
“The pitcher tried to scoop and shovel it, and it was a bad shovel,” Pesci said. “Billy went first to third and Justin reached (base).”
With runners on first and third and none out, Hodges worked a walk to load the bases. Cavan Tully (Council Rock North) drew a walk that brought Bethel home with the tying run, and when Ryan McCarty laid down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze, Massielo raced home with a run that gave the SOL National/BAL a dramatic 3-2 walk-off win.
As a result of its win, the SOL National/BAL will face the Philadelphia Catholic League in Tuesday’s Carpenter Cup semifinal contest at Citizens Bank Park. The PCL was a 5-2 winner over Delaware South on Friday.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Council Rock North's CJ Kilgarriff, who threw a scoreless top of the ninth and 
earned the win. “Going to play at Citizen’s Bank Park - it’s something every kid wants to do.
“The fact that I get to be part of it – I can’t wait. Obviously, you want to win it, but you just want to get to Citizens Bank Park and be able to play on that field once or twice.”
For Kilgarriff, the SOL National/BAL’s strong showing – and a trip to Citizens Bank Park – is helping to relieve the sting of the Indians’ disappointing season-ending loss to Marple Newtown in the state quarterfinals.
“After that Marple game, it left a bad taste in our mouth,” Kilgarriff said. “Even though we can’t go back, this is a good way to end our high school careers and end the season on a good note.
“Everyone is really into it. In the last inning when we started coming back, the entire bench was up and on the fence. It just felt like high school baseball again. Nothing can quite compare to North’s run. You can’t get that feeling back, but this was pretty close to that.”
While the Falcons and Tully stole the spotlight with a high drama ninth inning rally, pitching was once again the story of the day. Five SOL National/BAL pitchers allowed just five hits in nine innings – only one after the fifth. Their standout performance came on the heels of a four-hit shutout in an opening round win over Jersey Shore.
“Billy Meyer from Neshaminy threw three innings the first game, and he threw three innings today,” Pesci said. “Greg Troyer and Paul Poppert from Abington threw (three) scoreless innings, and CJ Kilgariff came in and threw the ninth and earned the win.
“Zach Mayer also pitched. He gave up a run, but he also had a really good second inning that he pitched. We threw a bunch of guys, but from the (fourth) inning on, the pitchers shut them down, so that was huge.”
Meyer – who started both games – allowed two hits and one run in three innings to open the game while Zach Mayer (Council Rock South) gave up two hits and one run in two innings. Mayer threw a scoreless fifth, and then Greg Troyer tossed two shutout innings, allowing just one hit. After a one-two-three eighth by Paul Poppert, Kilgarriff retired the side in order in the top of the ninth.
“It’s kind of cool playing with different guys from different teams – catchers from different teams and meeting new people,” Kilgarriff said. “It’s fun that way. You’re not playing against them, you’re playing with them.”
Take away a two-out error with the bases empty in the third, and the SOL National/BAL played flawless defense.
EXTRA INNINGS: After Olympic Colonial scored a single run in the top of the first, the SOL National/BAL evened the score with a run of its own in the second. Tim DiLoreto (Christopher Dock) and Greg Delgado (William Tennent) opened the inning with back-to-back singles, and the bases were loaded when Shawn Stackhouse (Council Rock South) legged out an infield single. DiLoreto scored when Aiden Coyle (Abington) drew a bases-loaded walk. The Olympic Colonial scored the go-ahead run in the fourth, and that 2-1 lead held until the bottom of the ninth…After its second inning rally, the SOL National/BAL did not collect a hit again until the eighth inning…McCarty finished the day 2-for-2 with one RBI. He was the lone SOL National/BAL player to collect more than one hit.
OLYMPIC COLONIAL: Jack Herman cf 2-1-0-0, Chris Roan c 1-0-0-0, Nick Decker rf 3-0-2-1, Derek Wakely cf 1-0-0-0, Nolan Gerold ss 3-0-0-0, Dan Wilson 1b 1-0-0-0, Davis Schneider 3b 2-0-1-0, RJ Concepcion ph/lf 2-0-0-0, Jack Goan dh 1-1-0-0, Nick Divietro ph/dh 2-0-0-0; Eric Ainsley 1b 2-0-1-1, Joey Loperfido ph/ss 1-0-0-0, Jake Topolski 2b 2-0-0-0, Zach Evans ph/3b 2-0-0-0, Alex Gatinelli c 2-0-0-0, Bill Eisler rf 0-0-0-0; Lou Priolo lf 2-0-0-0; Matt Orlando 1-0-1-0, Drew Wilden p 0-0-0-0, Ben Rodier p 0-0-0-0, Jay Crusmire p 0-0-0-0, Antony DiMartino p 0-0-0-0, Nick Snyder p 0-0-0-0; TOTALS 30-2-5-2
SUBURBAN ONE NATIONAL/BAL: Aidan Coyle 2b 1-0-0-1, Cavan Tully 2b 1-0-0-1, Josh Kim 3b 2-0-0-0, Ryan McCarty 3b 2-0-2-1, Seth Leuz rf 3-0-0-0, Rashid Saint-Fleur rf 1-0-1-0, Tony Gallo lf 0-0-0-0, Owen Foraker lf 2-0-0-0, Matt Carter ss 2-0-0-0, Cory Joyce ss 2-0-0-0, Tim DiLoreto c 2-1-1-0, Justin Yerkes c 2-0-0-0, Greg Delgado 1b 2-0-1-0, Billy Bethel 1b 2-1-1-0, Paul McElroy dh 2-0-0-0, Justin Massielo dh 1-1-1-0, Shaun Stackhouse cf 2-0-1-0, Tyrone Hodges Jr cf 1-0-0-0, Billy Meyer p 0-0-0-0, Zach Mayer p 0-0-0-0, Greg Troyer 0-0-0-0, Paul Poppert p 0-0-0-0, CJ Kilgarriff p 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 30-3-8-3
Olympic Colonial 100 100 000 2-5-2
Suburban One National/BAL 010 000 002 3-8-1
E-Olympic Col 2, SOL N/B 1. DP-Olympic Col 2. LOB-Olympic Col 5, SOL N/B 11. 2B-Davis Schneider, Eric Ainsley. 3B-Nick Decker.
Olympic Colonial IP H R ER BB SO
Drew Wilden 2.0 3 1 1 4 3
Ben Rodier 3.0 0 0 0 1 1
Jay Crusmire 2.0 0 0 0 1 3
Antony DiMartino 0.0 2 0 0 0 0
Nick Snyder (L) 1.0 3 2 2 2 1
Suburban One National/BAL IP H R ER BB SO
Billy Meyer 3.0 2 1 1 1 0
Zach Mayer 2.0 2 1 1 0 3
Greg Troyer 2.0 1 0 0 1 1
Paul Poppert 1.0 0 0 0 0 0
CJ Kilgarriff (W) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0
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