School: Council Rock North
Baseball
Favorite athlete: Chase Utley
Favorite team: Phillies/Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: “Going deep into states as a sophomore.”
Music on iPod: “Every kind”
Future plans: “Play college baseball and become a teacher”
One goal before turning 30: “Own my own house”
Scott Runzer showed promise the moment he stepped onto the baseball diamond at Council Rock North.
It took coach Dan Kusters no time at all to realize he had a winner after giving the then sophomore pitcher some innings during the Indians’ memorable post-season run in the spring of 2007.
“We finished fourth in districts, and we earned a spot in states,” Kusters said. “He came up with us, and we could see that he had a really sharp swing and had a real good idea what he was doing at the plate.
“He threw for us as well, and he just had a real nice poise about himself for a sophomore.”
The same could be said for Runzer as a senior. He’s poised and throwing well, and he also is ripping the cover off the ball.
After being limited to playing first base because of a nerve impingement in his shoulder last season, Runzer is back on the mound, and he has been delivering in a big way for a Rock North squad that was in the running for a National Conference crown until the final week of the season.
“He’s our number one right now,” Kusters said. “He’s thrown all of our big games.”
On the mound, Runzer is 4-2 overall and 4-1 in league play with a 2.24 ERA. In his most recent outing last Friday against Neshaminy, he scattered four hits and struck out 12 in the Indians’ 6-1 win.
“That was huge,” Kusters said. “That’s indicative of what he’s done.”
In 36 innings this season, Runzer has fanned 43.
“He’s really in the strike zone a whole lot,” Kusters said. “He doesn’t walk too many guys, and he has a nice fastball – 84, maybe 85 MPH. He’s got some nice little giddy-up on his fastball, and he does a real nice job of commanding the strike zone with his breaking ball, so he’s able to throw both pitches for strikes.”
Runzer has been equally productive at the plate where he boasts a .593 batting average - .614 in league play. In 12 league games, he is 27-for-44 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 24 RBIs with a slugging percentage of 1.136.
“If pitchers make a mistake, he doesn’t miss any mistakes,” Kusters said. “Any ball out over the plate, he hits really, really well. Even when he’s fooled, he gets his hands back, and he’s able to get his front foot down real quickly, so he’s in a good position to make contact.”
Runzer grew up playing baseball. He also played hockey, basketball and football, but eventually those fell by the wayside. He played basketball and football through 10th grade.
“When I was in middle school, baseball became my favorite sport,” he said. “I like it, and I was good at it.”
The summer before his junior year, Runzer injured his shoulder lifting for football.
“I was lifting the wrong way – my back wasn’t strong enough, and it caused an impingement in my shoulder,” he said.
Runzer had planned to play football that year, but he made a fall baseball team and opted to give it up. He has no regrets.
Runzer has played for as many as three teams during the summer months, including a legion and Tri-State Arsenal AAU squad out of New Jersey, During the fall, he plays for Big Leagues, and has travelled up and down the East Coast playing a sport he loves.
Last year, because of his injury, Runzer was unable to pitch, so he played first base.
“He would have been our number one (pitcher) last year as a junior, but he just focused on hitting,” Kusters said. “He used to play shortstop when he was younger, so he’s pretty athletic.
“He’s a pretty agile guy, and he has nice hand-eye coordination, so he has all the athletic elements.”
Last year, Runzer ended up hitting .580 and was a first team all-league and second team All-Southeastern Pennsylvania selection.
“He gets a ball middle in, he’ll pull it,” Kusters said. “If he gets a ball middle away, he’ll drive the ball to the opposite field. He really does a nice job of using the entire field, and he does a tremendous job really driving the ball gap to gap.
“He’s a pleasure to coach. He’s a real nice kid, has a nice way about him. Even though he does so well, there’s no pretense about him. He’s just an unassuming kind of kid. He’s definitely one of the guys on our team that everybody looks up to because of his ability.”
Runzer is heading to West Chester this fall where he plans to major in education and continue his baseball career.
“I wanted to play Division One, but they’re Division II, and they beat all the Division One schools around here,” he said of a West Chester squad that recently won the PSAC crown. “They’re projecting that I’ll be used as an infielder.
“The coach told me, ‘If you’re one of the best nine hitters, we’ll find a position for you in the field. In the fall, I can go out for pitching if I want to, but I’m not real positive I want to do that.”
In the meantime, Runzer is hoping his team can duplicate its post-season run of 2007.
“That was really fun,” he said. “We were traveling a couple of hours away for games. Hopefully we can do it again.”
