To view action photos of the Pennridge/Boyertown game, visit the Photo Gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Scott Huff
And the beat goes on …
The day began with six Suburban One League teams remaining in the field of PIAA Quad-A teams. And when the day ended, there were three SOL teams whose seasons will continue.
Moving on will be Pennridge, Council Rock North, and North Penn. The season is over for Council Rock South, Norristown, and Truman.
(N 2) Pennridge 4 – (S 7) Boyertown 3
Pennridge scored on a bases loaded walk issued to senior Brad Herrmann as the Rams erased both a three-game losing streak and a 3-0 Boyertown lead to beat the Bears.
“We had a team meeting, and the guys were really excited to play this game,” said Herrmann. “The seniors knew that this could be their last game, and we had a focused week of practice.
“I really didn’t like taking a walk to win the game,” added Herrmann. “But he walked Ryan (Metzger), and I was going to wait until I got a strike.”
He didn’t get one as Herrmann took a four-pitch free ticket.
“Our seniors really got us ready for this game,” said Pennridge sophomore Dylan Tice who came into the game in relief and was the winning pitcher. “Both Brad and Eric (Kammler) talked to us at a team picnic on Sunday.”
Drawing a tremendously successful program like Boyertown in its first playoff game was no picnic for the Rams. And when the Bears – who had beaten Neshaminy 2-0 in their first round game on Monday – took a three-run lead, Pennridge – which had a first round bye - was forced to come from behind.
“Boyertown is Boyertown,” said Pennridge head coach Tom Nuneviller. “They have a great legion baseball team and an excellent high school program.
“When we fell behind, we just wanted to chip away at the lead,” added Nuneviller. “And when we got the three runs in the fourth inning to tie the game it was huge.”
The big hit in the inning was a two-run single off the bat of designated hitter Tim Ebersole. The third run of the inning came on an RBI groundout by Pete Leatherman.
“Tim got the big hit,” said Nuneviller. “And we made some nice defensive plays.”
The best of the defensive gems came when right fielder Leatherman fired a strike to first baseman Kyle Peters - who fired a strike to catcher Dan Wolfe - who blocked the plate and tug out a Bear runner that would have given Boyertown a one-run lead.
“We’ve been successful playing as a team,” said Nuneviller. “And we don’t want to change anything on Friday.”
The Rams will host (S 3) Conestoga on Friday. The Pioneers defeated Truman 7-6 in eight innings.
(N 3) Council Rock North 8 – Methacton 5
Council Rock North will extend its season as the Indians rallied back from a 5-1 deficit to defeat visiting Methacton.
“Once we fell behind we were still very confident,” said Council Rock North head coach Dan Kusters. “We hit the ball hard early in the game, but we hit the ball right at people.”
The Indians broke open a 5-5 tie with a two-run single off the bat of Matt Hone. Hone finished the game with two hits.
CR North ace Scott Runzer went the distance to pick up the win. He allowed just a single hit and no runs over the last three innings.
“Scott didn’t have his best stuff, but he got guys out,” said Kusters. “He is such a strong competitor that he can beat you without throwing his best.
“It was huge having him throw a complete game,” added Kusters. “That means we can use our # 2 (Kelly Adams), our # 3 (Jared Weed), and our # 4 (Darren Lauer) on Friday.”
Council Rock North will travel to (S 2) Owen J Roberts in its second round game. OJR defeated Haverford 7-1 to advance.
(N 4) North Penn 12 – West Chester Henderson 7
North Penn received offensive production from number one through number nine in the lineup to cruise to its second round victory.
“To get the production from batters seven through nine was great,” said North Penn head coach Bob McCreary. “Their hits broke the game wide open for us.”
The number seven hitter, Jimmy Smith, was 2-for-3 with a double. The number eight hitter, Jake Dunn was 2-for-4 with a triple. And the number nine hitter, Mark Grassie went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
Seniors Justin Davey and Matt Albaugh also had nice days at the plate. Davey went 2-for-2 with a double and 3 RBI, while Albaugh had three hits and 3 RBI.
The Knights received an effective outing from starting pitcher Eric Ruth. Ruth – who has been dominant at times this season – did not have his ‘A’ game, but yielded just four runs in six innings.
“Eric didn’t have his best stuff, but we hit the ball well and it really didn’t matter,” said McCreary. “We’re going to our work cut out for us on Friday.”
North Penn will visit West Chester East and will throw Mike Bradstreet.
(S 8) Garnet Valley 4 – (N 1) Council Rock South 3
Council Rock South had its SOL National Conference championship season end with an eight-inning loss to Garnet Valley.
“I wouldn’t say that we were shocked that we lost the game,” said Rock South coach Greg Young. “I would say that we were upset, surprised, disappointed.
“We really felt that we had the talent to do some good things in the playoffs,” added Young. “But we needed to close out some innings and didn’t get it done.”
The Golden Hawks led 2-0 early in the game, but GV rallied back to take a 3-2 lead scoring all three runs with two outs. Rock South’s Joe Schmidt stroked an RBI single to knot the score in the last of the sixth inning.
“We had our chances, but we didn’t come up with the big hits when we needed them,” said Young. “But give Garnet Valley some credit, they had to get off the bus and beat us on our own field.
“We had 15 seniors on this team,” continued Young. “And it might take a couple of weeks, but they will remember this as a great season.”
(S 1) West Chester East 11 – (N 8) Norristown 1
Norristown held a 1-0 fourth inning lead, but West Chester East showed why it was the top-seeded team in the South with a mercy rule win over the Eagles.
“East is loaded, they have a very good baseball team,” said Norristown head coach Jim Teeter. “We played right with them for the first three innings – but then we played the fourth inning.”
Norristown starter Roddy Vaughn held WCE scoreless over the first three innings, but East scored eight runs in the fourth inning to put the game away.
“Roddy was spectacular over the first three innings,” said Teeter. “But that fourth inning was tough on everyone. We made three errors and they scored six unearned runs.
“We can’t forget that we really had a great season,” added Teeter. “No one thought we were a playoff team, and we got to the second round. We just didn’t do the job in the last game.”
(S 3) Conestoga 7 – (N 6) Truman 6
Truman had a difficult end to its season as the Tigers lost to Conestoga in eight innings.
Truman opened up a 5-1 lead early in the game, but the Pioneers rallied to forge a 5-5 tie to send the game into extra innings.
The Tigers scored a single run in the eighth inning to take a 6-5 lead, but Conestoga rallied for a pair of runs in the last of the eighth inning to end the game and the season for the Tigers.
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