Springfield Twp came up short in its District 1 5A title game on Friday. Springfield/Holy Ghost Prep photos courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f899671345
District 1 5A semifinal
#2 HOLY GHOST PREP 7, #4 SPRINGFIELD TWP 3
Playoff baseball is often a matter of execution.
Teams that can put the ball in play consistently usually generate runs. Teams that make the plays in front of them in the field often get out of innings quicker. Teams that have pitchers who hit their spots on a regular basis can narrow the margin for error.
Heading into the postseason, Springfield Twp had looked like a team able to do all those things.
“We had defense and pitching this year, and toward the end of the season, we started to hit the ball,” Spartans coach Dennis Primavera said. “All of those things didn’t happen today. It was one of those games, but hats
off to Holy Ghost, they put it in play and made us have to make the plays.”
Friday afternoon, the Spartans were held to five hits. They committed four errors in the field. Starting pitcher Nolan Kidwell battled on the mound, but even his command was just a little less precise than his gutsy seven-out save in Tuesday’s semifinal.
“Errors and defense, the defense was just not there,” second baseman Mike Capoferri said. “We had four or five errors, four of their runs were unearned, we have to clean up the defense but also work on hitting throughout our lineup.”
Capoferri, a sophomore, led the way offensively for the Spartans. The second baseman was 3-for-3 at the plate with a trio of singles, driving in a run and scoring another.
While the rest of the lineup didn’t get much off Firebirds pitcher Bam McNab, who threw a complete game and only had one fly ball out, Capoferrri seemed to have the right-hander figured out.
“I was looking mostly for the fastball,” Capoferri said. “I tried to key on that and tried to be aggressive on it.”
Holy Ghost Prep, which captured its third district title in four years, including a win over the Spartans in 2021, scored in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. Springfield Twp got it back right away. Senior Brett Smith hit an infield single, took second and moved up on Capoferri’s first hit before coming in on Nate Levy’s RBI groundout in the second.
Two costly errors in the third led to three runs for the Firebirds. The Spartans got a force out at home with the bases loaded, but a throw to first trying to get an inning ending out was off line and let Holy Ghost take the lead before a miscue brought in two more.
Kidwell, who threw 6.2 innings, was able to fight through and end things there, and an RBI single by Capoferri in the top of the fourth scored Matt Caruso to halve the lead.
“I think we worked and worked hard,” Capoferri said. “It was just the team’s energy, really. We’ve been playing together for a long time, at least most of us have, so I think it was that and we started to be more
aggressive.
“At the start of the year, we were a little flat with the bats.”
The big hit came in the bottom of the fifth when Holy Ghost Prep’s Matt Riendeau hit a two-run single in an inning extended by another Springfield error. A passed ball in the sixth allowed the final Holy Ghost Prep run to score.
Capoferri singled with one out in the seventh, advanced on a ground out and then scored on Jon Matthews’ RBI single for Springfield Twp’s final run.
“It was a team season, it really was,” Primavera said. “If it wasn’t one guy stepping up, it was somebody else. We could put rallies together that way, just not today.”
Smith and Levy, along with Ethan Shore, David D’Amico and Jack McKittrick graduate from a Springfield Twp program that has played in three district finals in the last six years (2019, 2021, 2024). While the rest of the team is slated to return, Primavera said it’s always hard to see the seniors go and gave props to this class for always putting the team first.
“We start in January, I see these kids once a week until the season starts then I see them every day,” Primavera said. “We spent four months together. We had two team dinners this week, so I’m going to miss them all.
“They’re all good kids, the ones who didn’t play as much didn’t complain, it was always for the team.”
Springfield Twp closed out its season with an 11-9 record overall and a 9-7 record in SOL action. The Spartans captured the SOL Freedom Division title.
Springfield Twp 010 100 1 3-5-4
Holy Ghost Prep 103 021 x 7-5-1
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