Check the bottom of the article for wraps of three other SOL contests.
By Scott Huff
It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame … Let’s play two! – Hall of Famer Ernie Banks
The home opener for the Central Bucks South Titans was played on a glorious sun splashed day on its spanking new on-campus diamond.
And the results were equally pleasing as South (1-0) captured a 10-5 nonleague victory over Plymouth Whitemarsh (0-1).
It was also the debut for Michael Schaefer as Titan head coach. Schaefer was the successful head coach at CB West from 2002-2005.
“We did a lot of good things today,” said Schaefer. “We swung the bats well and were very disciplined at the plate.
“We did some good situational hitting, and we ran the bases pretty well,” added Schaefer. “The good thing about this win was that everyone contributed.”
For the first three and a half innings, though, Plymouth Whitemarsh was the better team as the Colonials held a tentative 1-0 lead. Brett Haislup had an RBI single, and pitcher Eric Ellinger threw three scoreless innings.
“(Eric) looks like he has earned the number one spot in the rotation,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Bob Slagle who relieved Ellinger in the fourth inning. “We wanted to take a look at some of our other pitchers, but he did a good job of keeping them off balance.”
Ellinger went three scoreless innings – allowed just a pair of singles – struck out four – and did not issue a base on balls.
“For the first three innings, we didn’t have that feeling that it was going to be our day,” said Schaefer. “But we turned things around in that fourth inning.”
The Titans scored six times in that turnaround inning. Brian Happ drilled an RBI double, and Jeff Gyza followed with a two-run blast that screamed over the left field fence to give South a 3-1 lead.
“We work a lot in our hitting drills in trying to go the other way,” said Gyza – the powerful left-handed hitting third baseman. “This was a great way for us to start the season. It gave us a chance to see what we can do.”
The next three Titan runs came in a most unusual manner in that fourth inning. Joe Mullin, Doug Prikockis, and Tim Thompson all reached base and all three scored on wild pitches.
“We had the bases loaded – two outs – and we were one out away from a 3-1 game,” said Slagle. “But those three runs on the wild pitches proved to be the difference in the game.”
The teams exchanged single runs in the fifth inning as PW scored on a RBI by Haislup, and CBS scored its fourth run of the game on a wild pitch.
South had a three-run sixth inning to stretch the lead to 10-2. Gyza collected his fourth RBI of the game with a single, while Happ and Joe Arnold also collected an RBI each.
Plymouth Whitemarsh tacked on a three spot of its own in the seventh inning.
Catcher Bobby Slagle singled – Matt Mondimore was safe on an error – and Taylor Runyen blasted a 3-run homer in dead center.
“I felt like we were in a zone offensively,” said Coach Slagle as PW finished with nine hits. “Runyen showed why he is our number four hitter, and I thought we hit the ball well in the middle of our lineup.
“We played six sophomores today, and that’s not to make an excuse, but the fact is that we lost 14 players from our team last year,” added Slagle. “We came here to win, but we know that it is all part of a process.”
CB South is loaded with seniors – 11 to be exact.
“We are very excited to get the season underway,” said Gryz – a senior. “We know that we are in a tough league, but we are going out there and play the games on the schedule.”
Even it they don’t play double headers in high school.
Sorry Mr. Cub.
Around the SOL Horn Wednesday
Hatboro-Horsham (1-0) scored nine runs in the fifth inning to register an 11-9 non league win over Spring-Ford (0-1). Nick Riccione led the hitting attack with a double and a homerun. The winning pitcher was Matt Schoettle.
Souderton (1-1) scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra innings and scored a solo run in the bottom of the tenth inning to defeat Pennsbury (0-2) – 5-4. Corey McGinn collected a two-out RBI single for the game winner. Corey Calpaldi notched the win in relief for the Big Red.
Pennridge (1-0) opened its season with a 7-4 non-league victory over Christopher Dock (0-1). Kyle Myers notched the win on the mound.
PW-CBS boxscore
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 - 5
Central Bucks South 0 0 0 6 1 3 x - 10
Hitting Stats: AB R H RBI
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Minneola 3 1 0 0; Slagle 3 2 1 0; Mondimore 4 1 1 0; Runyen 4 1 2 3; Haislup 4 0 1 2; Ellinger 4 0 2 0; Weikert 4 0 2 0; Mascio 3 0 0 0; Connor 0 0 0 0; Chow 0 0 0 0; Wallace 1 0 0 0. Totals 30 5 9 5
Central Bucks South: Trunk 2 1 1 0; Kush 1 1 0 0; B. Happ 4 1 1 2; Gyza 3 2 2 3; Mullin 2 1 1 0; Arnold 2 0 1 1; Prikockis 2 1 2 0; Fantuzzo 1 0 0 0; Thompson 1 1 0 0; Delgado 2 0 0 0; Weaver 3 1 2 0; D. Happ 2 0 0 0; Moler 1 1 1 0; Glassman 1 0 0 0; Kelly 1 0 0 0. Totals 28 10 11 6
Pitching Lines: Inn. H R ER K BB
PW: Ellinger 3 2 0 0 4 0; Chow (L) 1 5 6 6 3 0; Wallace 1 0 1 1 1 2; Mascio 1 4 3 3 0 1. Totals 6 11 10 10 8 5.
CBS: Wasson (W) 4 4 1 1 6 2; Dundon 2 2 1 1 0 1; Delgado 1 3 3 2 2 0. Totals 7 9 5 4 8 3.
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