Council Rock South, a 6-2 winner over Frankford, was the lone SOL baseball team to complete its PIAA Class AAAA opening round game on Monday. CB South, Upper Dublin and Hatboro-Horsham all will see action on Tuesday.
By Scott Huff
Royersford - Better late than never.
Council Rock South (1-2) had to endure a one hour and 45 minute rain delay prior to the beginning of its PIAA Quad-A opening round state tournament game, but it was definitely worth the wait as the Golden Hawks soared to a 6-2 victory over Frankford (12-2) in a game played at Spring-Ford High School.
The win propels Rock South in the state quarterfinal game on Thursday (time and site TBD) against surprising Coatesville (1-5). The Red Raiders made the trek west to Fredericksburg and shocked District 3 champion Cedar Crest (3-1) in nine innings by a 4-1 margin in their opening round game.
Ironically, the Golden Hawks and Coatesville met in the PIAA District One quarterfinals. Rock South mercy-ruled the Red Raiders in that meeting – 10-0.
Last season the Golden Hawks also reached the state quarterfinal round with an 8-3 win over Monsignor Bonner. CR South was ousted from the state tournament last season in the quarterfinal round when Spring-Ford scored three seventh inning runs to hand the Hawks a heartbreaking 6-5 loss.
“The seniors on this team have been ready to play this game since June,” said Council Rock South head coach Greg Young in reference to the Golden Hawk state quarterfinal date. “We will be ready.”
Council Rock South had plenty of time to get ready for Frankford.
The rains came hard prior to the 3 o’clock game time and pitching mound and home plate area were covered – close to an hour later – the rains subsided and the field was diligently worked on and ready for play.
And before the first pitch of the game was thrown - the second deluge of rain came.
“I thought after the second delay we might be getting back on the bus,” said Young. “But I have to give credit to the people here at Spring-Ford for doing a great job of making the field playable.”
The Golden Hawks sent Brian Donnelly to the bump in the critical opening round game against the Philadelphia Public League champion Pioneers, and the gutsy senior did not disappoint with a complete game victory. Donnelly allowed just a single earned run – allowed just two hits – and collected seven strikeouts.
“I was really hoping that we would be able to get the game in,” said Donnelly sporting his new ‘golden hawk’ hair cut. “We were already here, we were ready to play, and I just decided to get ready slow.
“Before the game started, I could see that something (bad weather) was coming,” added Donnelly. “I just went about doing what I have been doing all season – just a little slower.”
Donnelly handled the Pioneer bats for the entire ballgame, and the Golden Hawks put together enough offense to make it comfortable at the end of the game.
CR South opened by scoring two runs in the first inning with only a single hit.
With one out, Donnelly walked and advanced to second on a walk to Bret DeStefano. Both Donnelly and DeStefano raced home on a blistering two-run double off the bat of Jeff Miller.
The Golden Hawks added a single run in the third inning. Donnelly singled – stole second – and scored with two outs and a ringing RBI double by Zak Gross.
Rock South finally put the game out of reach with a three run sixth inning. Steve Wright opened the inning with a double and scored on a single by Zac Fitzgerald. One out later, DeStefano smoked a double to plate Fitzgerald. DeStefano scored what proved to be the final Golden Hawk run on a sacrifice fly by Dan Callahan.
“We have the ability to score runs from the top to the bottom of our lineup,” said Young. “Even though we scored the two runs in the first inning, I thought we came out flat. We didn’t really swing the bats like we can.
“We don’t seem to have that one hitter who can hit bombs,” added Young. “But we are consistent, and we score runs by putting hits together and running the bases.”
The win over Frankford is now in the books – next up Coatesville in the state quarterfinal round.
“Our goal was to get back where we were last year,” said Donnelly. “And now we are finally there.”
Better late than never.
Frankford Pioneers 000 010 1 -2 2 0
Council Rock South Golden Hawks201 003 x -6 8 2
Suburban One League State Playoff Info
The three other Suburban One League teams did not complete opening round PIAA Quad-A state games.
Central Bucks South (1-1) was knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the first inning when the game was suspended due to rain. The Titans will have a runner on second base with one out when the game with Central Dauphin (3-3) is resumed Tuesday (6/5). The game will resume at 4 pm on the campus of Immaculata University.
Upper Dublin (1-4) warmed up in an effort to play its 1 pm gameagainst La Salle (12-1), but the rains came and there was not a single pitch thrown in the game. The venue for the game has been switched from Temple-Ambler to La Salle University – Tuesday (6/5) - 1 pm. La Salle has a turf field while Temple has a grass and dirt field.
Hatboro-Horsham (1-3) had its game postponed early as the Hatters did not have to take a bus ride for its scheduled game @ Parkland High School against Nazareth (11-1). Game time Tuesday (6/5) will be 4:30 pm. @ Parkland.
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