Upper Dublin captured the program’s first ever District One 5A title with its come-from-behind win over Strath Haven. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos. All SOS photo galleries for BASEBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
District One 5A Championship
#1-2 UPPER DUBLIN 3, #1-5 STRATH HAVEN 2
They’d given glimpses that they were winners before they even set foot in high school, and this year’s seniors never lost that drive to win.
“Going back to my eighth grade year for middle school baseball – we went undefeated up until our last game against PW,” senior Kyle Rizzo said. “Ever since then, we’ve just been hungry, we wanted to win every single game from that point on.
“This year we have 13-14 seniors and over half of them start, so we knew this year was going to be a really good year. Practicing all winter every single day with the boys – I knew this year was something special.”
And in the sweltering heat at Neumann University on Tuesday, the Flying Cardinals made history, doing what no Upper Dublin baseball team before them had done, rallying for the come-from-behind win to capture the program’s first ever district championship.
“This entire year – first my goal was to win a district championship in football,” senior Tristan Cairnes said. “I got one last year in football, but I always knew I wanted one for baseball. I saw that Upper Dublin’s never had one. It’s unbelievable now we’re part of history. I think it was a 67-year drought. We were going to have a state game anyway, but it was really important for us to win this game.”
Granted, it didn’t look all that promising when the Panthers broke a 1-1 tie with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, but the Cardinals had an answer, rallying for the walk-off win on a Strath Haven miscue on Ethan Madnick’s two-out grounder to second with bases loaded, allowing Austin Dahl to score from third and setting off a jubilant celebration.
“This was definitely something we thought about early in the season because we knew we had the talent to go out and do it,” Madnick said. “That was our goal pretty much the whole season, and we were able to do it.
“It feels awesome. We have talent on our team, but we don’t have any D-1 commits. We beat teams with 3-4 D-1 commits apiece coming into this. It just shows how tight-knit of a group we are, and we truly believe we’re the tightest knit group in the state.”
The Flying Cardinals could have been deflated after seeing the Panthers take a lead in the top of the seventh in a contest where runs were hard to come by. They weren’t.
“The mindset was pretty much – if we’re going to go out, we’re going to go out fighting,” Madnick said. “We put balls in play, we let them make mistakes. When you put balls in play, good things happen, and they did for us.”
The inning began with Cairnes reaching first on an error, and Aidan McCarthy following with a sacrifice bunt. That brought pinch hitter Austin Dahl to the plate, and he line a one-strike pitch to right field for a single that put runners on the corners.
“When Aidan dropped that bunt to move to second, I knew we were in good shape to at least put it in extra innings,” Cairnes said. “The freshman (Dahl) to come up and get a hit was unbelievable. It was his first varsity at-bat.”
Rizzo’s ground single to left knotted the score.
“It’s definitely mentally tough being in that situation,” Rizzo said. “In the 95-degree heat it’s also physically draining. Me being behind the plate – I’m exhausted, but I just have to put 100 percent of my effort into it.
“We walked into that game, and we were prepared to win. There was not a single thought in anyone’s head that we were going to lose that game because we made it this far, and we’re going there to win a game.”
The Cardinals weren’t finished yet, and with two outs, Leo Soriano was safe on an error, loading the bases for Madnick and the walk-off win.
“Coming back into the dugout (after Strath Haven scored in the top of the seventh) – I liked where we were,” Wall said. “We had conviction, we were ready to answer, we had the right guy starting the inning off with Tristan (Cairnes). He put pressure on that infield. Honestly, I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen him run. He started it off, and we moved station to station almost.
“It got to the point where I was excited - we had the top of the lineup. Kyle Rizzo had the tying RBI. Austin Dahl prior to that turned the lineup over with a huge pinch-hit single that got us in position
to score there. Without him doing that and Kyle knocking in that first run, that rollover ground ball by Ethan (Madnick) would have been a much easier out for the second baseman. All the things fell into the right place for us. It was a matter of our defense holding.”
Early on, the Panthers used a walk, single and sacrifice fly to plate a run in the top of the first. The Cardinals answered with a run in the bottom of the inning when Madnick ripped a triple to left field that plated Leo Soriano, who reached base on a fielder’s choice.
Neither team scored until the seventh when Strath Haven’s Alex Verano delivered a booming two-out RBI triple.
“Strath Haven’s (Alex) Pak threw a gem, a really quality game by him keeping our bats quiet, so hats off to him,” Wall said. “I knew that’s what it would come down to – who’s going to make a mistake?
“Number 22 for them -Verona – absolutely crushed a ball over our heads. In our scouting, we were not prepared for him to hit a ball like that. He really stepped up for them. In the handshake line, he said that was his second hit all season. It was amazing, it was an amazing game.”
Cairnes notched the complete game win, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out five and walking one.
“Tristan with another amazing game,” Wall said. “Another complete game win by him. Just amazing.
“We had opportunities throughout the game, and Pak just really did the job and got us out. He found a way out of situations. He just came up with a big strikeout or big groundout, a way to minimize the damage and escape. It was a battle, that’s for sure.”
Cairnes has a simple philosophy heading into games, no matter how high the stakes.
“Just that it’s another game,” the UD mound ace said. “The motto we picked up going into the playoffs right before our Hatboro game – which was a big win too – was just to win every inning.
“It’s just to keep it as simple as that – to try and win every inning. We went down today in the top of the first, so in the bottom of the first we got a run back. Obviously, we didn’t win the inning, but still, we’re trying to never lose innings – that’s the biggest thing. Just to keep it as simple as that.”
Perhaps no one appreciated Cairnes’ performance on the mound more than his long-time friend and batterymate.
“I love the kid on and off the field – he’s a great person,” Rizzo said. “He’s very respectful, he’s humble, he’s just an all-around great guy, and when he’s on the mound, he’s locked in. He wants that 
‘W.’ He wants to be the guy to strike everybody out, throw a complete game.
“He’s just doing stuff that’s unheard of. The bond that we have pitching and catching – it’s just amazing. We worked all winter together, we’re constantly communicating – what should we do here, what should we do there. I think being friends with him since middle school when I first met him – our relationship has really grown since then. I trust him with my life, and I’m sure he’d trust his life with me. It’s more than just baseball with him and I.”
And Rizzo’s emotions after the dramatic win?
“With any big thing when it comes to myself personally, it takes me a while to digest what just happened,” he said. “I was kind of in disbelief that we did it because it was, in fact, Upper Dublin’s first baseball district baseball championship. That’s a lot of weight we had to carry on our shoulders, and it’s just an amazing feeling.”
Making Tuesday’s district title win even sweeter was UD’s enthusiastic student section that made the trip to Neumann and made their presence felt.
It was great,” Madnick said. “We don’t get a ton of fan support during the regular season, but for them to come out especially for a game 40 minutes away – it was awesome. They helped rile us up, they were part of the team today.”
“It’s amazing,” Rizzo said. “The first playoff game we had a big turnout for the student section – they were cracking some jokes and some chirps, and we were having a great time with it.
“Baseball doesn’t get too much support, so just having all of our friends and family there is huge motivation to get that win even more.”
This was a win to savor for everyone involved in the baseball program.
“It’s unreal,” Wall said. “With the group that I knew we had coming back and back-to-back playoff berths -we won one game last year in districts, and going into it, I was really confident.
“We had really high expectations and that started with the players and what they wanted to accomplish, what they thought they are working towards, and they all did it, they did it. It’s awesome. We got a little bit of help. The baseball gods were on our side, and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
Upper Dublin (16-6, 13-3 SOL) is off until Monday when the Flying Cardinals will take on District 3’s fifth place team in the opening round of the PIAA 5A State Tournament.
Strath Haven 100 000 1 2-6-3
Upper Dublin 100 000 2 3-6-0
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