Check out the recaps for SOL baseball teams in action Friday. (Photo courtesy of Cindy Manero/North Penn baseball)
SOL Colonial Division
NORTH PENN 7, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1
The season has been a roller coaster ride of sorts for the Knights, and that trend continued. Twenty-four hours after absorbing a 9-3 loss to a Council Rock North squad that shares the top spot in the Patriot Division, the Knights soundly defeated a West team that is battling for the top spot in the Colonial.
“We had a tough week and needed a win today to stay in this thing,” NP coach Kevin Manero said. “This is a tough group of first-rate kids who aren’t just going to give up. Bounce-back wins like today say a lot more about who we are than ugly losses like yesterday.
“We’ve been inconsistent overall. When we win, we play great, but when we lose, they’re frustrating losses. It’s that time of year when we need to be more consistent and string ‘em together.”
Playing a starring role in Friday’s win was Jack Picozzi, who earned the complete game win on the mound in a rare start. He scattered seven hits and allowed just one run while striking out nine. He did not walk a batter.
“Jack Picozzi was absolutely outstanding today,” Manero said. “He stepped up in a big way. Jack’s been in relief for us this year, but with a heavy week, today was his day, and he was terrific.”
The Knights broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the top of the fourth. Justin Egner lined a single to right to open the frame, and he moved up to second on James Mangine’s sacrifice. Ben Farley followed with an RBI double to center, and the Knights had a pair on board after Mario Sgro singled. With two outs, Quinn Marett lined a double to left that plated a pair.
Picozzi’s RBI single in the sixth gave the Knights a 4-0 lead, and for good measure, they tacked on a pair of runs in the seventh, benefitting from a West miscue and a single by John Carson.
The Bucks broke up Picozzi’s shutout bid in the seventh with back-to-back-to-back singles by Maxwell Grill, Julian Kim and Cole Fehrman (RBI). Picozzi retired the next three batters he faced to close it out.
Carson (2-for-4, run, RBI) and Brian Neal (2-for-4) had multiple hits for the Knights.
“We have some injuries right now - freak injuries that have just come all at once, and some guys have really stepped in,” Manero said. “Erik Bergey and Johnny Carson were such a big part of the intangibles of our team last year without getting a lot of playing time, and both started today and had great games.”
“Brian Neal is finding his rhythm at the plate that he’s been working for and has really started to put together great approaches with his ABs and swings.”
For the Bucks, Aidan Quinn was 2-for-4 and Fehrman was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Connor Dobos was charged with the loss.
North Penn (6-5, 4-5 SOL) will travel to Spring-Ford for a non-league game Saturday at noon. Central Bucks West (7-5, 5-3) will host Pennsbury on Monday.
North Penn 000 301 3 7-9-1
Central Bucks West 000 000 1 1-7-3
SOL Liberty Division
QUAKERTOWN 4, WISSAHICKON 0
Cooper Natisin was projected to have a relatively short outing on the mound Friday, but the sophomore southpaw was making it look so easy that he wound up just one out shy of a complete game shutout.
“We’ve been throwing Cooper a lot on shorter rest than I really want to do to anybody,” Quakertown coach Jon Pallone said. “I’ve been trying to keep his pitch count down, and we said to him – ‘Let’s shoot for 60 pitches today, and then we’ll see how you feel.’
“He’s at 60, and he was pretty deep in the game at that point, and he said, ‘I feel great, let’s keep going.’ We follow MLB Pitch Smart, which is more restrictive than PIAA rules, so we want to make sure we keep our guys’ arms healthy. There’s been a lot of arm injuries all over this year for some reason or another, so we were adhering to that.
“Still, it’s a little more usage on him than I really feel overly comfortable with, but he said he was feeling good and his mechanics looked good, so we let him keep going.”
Natisin reached the 100-pitch mark with two outs in the seventh.
“We made the switch, and Chris Parrillo throws two pitches and gets the save – it’s a rough day’s work there for him,” Pallone said.
While Natisin was cruising on the mound, the Panthers were struggling to push runs across.
“We loaded the bases in the first two innings and didn’t score a run,” Pallone said. “That was a little frustrating, and even late in the game, we had the bases loaded, they had the infield in, and we hit the ball straight at two infielders back to back. All you had to do was hit it a little bit to the left or a little bit to the right, and it’s two runs.”
Finally, the Panthers broke through in the sixth inning. Peyton Kochel singled to center to lead off the inning and moved up to second on a passed ball. He wound up on third when Ethan Beil followed with a ground single to left.
“We had to come up and get that big hit,” Pallone said. “Thomas Kozlusky had one, and it ended up scoring two runs off it because we had (Kochel) on third and (Beil) at second. There was a defensive interference call that the third baseman got in the way when (Beil) was coming around third, which is tough with a two-man crew. He made the call but play continued, and when he was tagged out, he was actually safe at home, so we ended up scoring two runs.”
The Panthers added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. Dan Qualteria led off with a single, and Daniel Schwalm walked. Ty Everitt singled to load the bases. One run scored on a Trojan miscue, and the second on Beil’s sacrifice fly to left field, giving the Panthers a 4-0 advantage.
The Trojans threatened in the seventh. Finn Olszewski singled to lead off the frame, and after Natisin rang up the next two batters on strikeouts, Blake McClintic lined a single to center field. With the hit, Natisin reached the 100-pitch mark and was lifted for Parrillo, who retired the first batter he faced on a comebacker to the mound.
Natison allowed six hits in 6.2 shutout innings while striking out six and walking two.
Qualteria (2-for-3) was the lone player for either team with more than one hit.
Quakertown – 3-1 in four league games this week - has four games next week as well – three league games.
“We’ve got to keep going, everybody’s got to take care of themselves physically,” Pallone said. “We’ll get some recovery work in tomorrow morning to make sure we’re healthy for Monday. All four games are on the road next week.”
Quakertown (7-4-1, 7-2-1 SOL) starts its busy week at Cheltenham on Monday, and Wissahickon (6-6, 6-4) will host Harry S Truman in a non-league game Saturday at 11 a.m.
Quakertown 000 002 2 4-7-0
Wissahickon 000 000 0 0-6-2
Non-league
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 14, GREAT VALLEY 8
The Titans pounded out 12 hits and put 14 runs on the board in a non-league contest that saw 10 players contribute hits and 11 players score runs.
The Titans wasted no time at all before putting runs on the board. With one out in the first Jordan Chui singled, and JT Anderosky followed with a two-run home run to right field. The Patriots answered with three runs in the top of the second, but in the bottom of the inning, a Logan Hinds double to right field plated Bryce Bell, who collected a two-out single, and the two teams were deadlocked 3-3.
The visiting Patriots took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the fourth when the Titans erupted for nine runs. They were on the receiving end of three walks and a hit batsman and also benefitted from a pair of Great Valley errors. Ryan Madden, Anderosky (RBI), Eric Damico and Braeden Black all singled, and Madden roped a two-run double to center field. When the inning had ended, the Titans led 12-4.
A four-run fifth for the Patriots made it a 12-8 game, but the Titans added a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Matt Boyce, who singled, scored when Robby Porco doubled to center field. Porco raced home when Colin Mitchell’s sacrifice fly to left field for the 14-8 final.
Anderosky (2-for-2, HR, 2 runs, 3 RBIs) and Madden (2-for-3, 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) had multi-hit games.
Scott Lavin started and went four innings to earn the win, allowing eight hits and seven runs (four earned). Brett Hilton threw a scoreless inning in relief, and Joe Rooney did not allow a hit in two scoreless innings, striking out three and walking none.
Central Bucks South (6-7, 4-6 SOL) will host Council Rock South on Monday.
Great Valley 030 140 0 8-8-2
Central Bucks South 210 902 x 14-12-2
NEW FOUNDATIONS 8, WILLIAM TENNENT 7
The Panthers spent the better part of Friday’s non-league game playing catchup, and their seventh inning rally fell just short when Jordani Tiburcio - attempting to stretch his bases-clearing triple into an inside the park home run - was thrown out at out at home plate for the game’s final out.
The triple was the second of the game for Tiburcio, whose 2-for-2 day at the plate with three RBIs and a run scored led the Panthers’ eight-hit attack.
The Panthers were staring at a 7-4 deficit in the bottom of the seventh after New Foundations scored three runs in the top of the inning. Evan Devor drew a leadoff walk, and the Panthers had a pair on board when Austin Tizol was hit by a pitch. With two outs, John Landgrebe drew a walk to load the bases, setting the stage for Tiburcio’s three-run triple.
One inning earlier, Tiburcio tripled to right and scored when Griffen Newhouse singled.
Austin Tizol had the third Tennent extra base hit – a double.
Four pitchers saw action for the Panthers.
William Tennent (2-9, 2-7 SOL) will travel to Hatboro-Horsham on Monday.
New Foundations 012 020 3 8-6-2
William Tennent 101 011 3 7-8-3
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