The North Penn Knights boarded their charter Hagey motorcoach on Thursday afternoon a baseball team in pursuit of a dream.
They returned home 36 hours later as conquering heroes, escorted by fire trucks with sirens blaring and greeted by television cameras and several hundred adoring fans - living, breathing proof that dreams do, in fact, come true.
The Knights, thanks to Friday’s impressive 3-1 win over Parkland, ensured themselves a spot in history when they captured their school’s first ever state baseball crown.
“This means the world to me,” senior Justin Davey said in a jubilant post-game scene. “It’s basically a dream come true to win the state championship.”
The Knights won because they have talent, they won because they have heart, and they won because they didn’t let a little thing like a three-game losing streak early in the season keep them from their ultimate goal.
“We had a lot of kids with a lot of heart,” coach Bob McCreary said. “Just realizing baseball is a crazy game – you can get into a slump, and the next day you can turn it around and get a streak going.
“That’s the way the game works. We were able to do that. I tip my hat to them. They were able to keep their heads up and really came through.”
The Knights capped a magical run through the state playoffs with Friday’s win..
Superstitions: Part I - Athletes at every level have superstitions. Few could top Matt Albaugh’s ritual of eating a stone (read: pebble) before each at-bat during his team’s memorable post-season run.
His inspiration came from Coach Bob McCreary, who – while searching for a way to fire up his baseball team after three straight losses early in the year - suggested that his players leave a stone in the batter’s box before they stepped to the plate to appease the baseball gods.
“Matt decided he was going to swallow it so the rock was with him the entire time,” teammate Eric Ruth explained.
“Whatever it takes to win,” Albaugh said with a laugh.
But eating stones?
“That was just something that started a couple of games ago,” Albaugh said. “It’s a weird thing. It’s just worked.”
Somehow Ruth became involved in his batterymate’s ritual.
“I have to give the stones to him,” he said.
And where exactly does Ruth get them?
“From the ground,” he said. “Sometimes he has to use water to swallow it. He does it before each at-bat. He’s probably downed at least 30 stones.”
Albaugh’s game-day rituals don’t begin and end with eating pebbles.
“The last two days when we haven’t had school, he’s pulled into his parking spot, came out of his parking spot and then moved up,” teammate Robbie Zinsmeister said. “He has to park on the left side of this one strip.”
Hey, whatever works!
Superstitions: Part II – While Matt Albaugh might have the corner of the market on unusual superstitions, he has plenty of company when it comes to game-day rituals.
Eric Ruth insists on eating the same cereal for breakfast every game day and took his own bag of Honey Bunches of Oats (the orange box) to Altoona.
The Knights’ senior mound ace, who went the distance in Friday’s win, wears a heavy, long-sleeved Under Armour shirt to every game – whether he’s pitching or not.
“I sweat really bad,” he admitted with a laugh.
According to his teammates, Ruth also is not big on socializing when it’s his turn to pitch.
“You can’t talk to Eric Ruth on game day,” senior Robbie Zinsmeister said. “He’s in a zone and doesn’t like to talk to anyone.”
Zinsmeister has his game-day rituals as well. One of them includes listening to four songs by 3oh!3.
It’s safe to assume none of the Knights’ rituals had anything to do with their post-season success, but they certainly didn’t hurt either.
Golden Gloves – There’s an old adage that ‘offense wins games, defense wins championships.’ The Knights are living proof of that.
Both teams turned in flawless defensive efforts in Friday’s title game, and while the Trojans made all the routine plays, the Knights made some not-so-routine plays.
That might have been the difference in the game.
“I think (defense) is what won us the game, and over the course of the year, that’s what really made us a great team,” senior centerfielder Justin Davey said. “That’s what set us apart from the other teams.
“We don’t let guys get on base, and our pitchers do a great job.”
A game-changing play may have been the Knights’ dazzling inning-ending double play in the fourth inning.
The inning actually started out innocently enough when Parkland’s M.J. Morelli legged out an infield single. Jon Gabriel’s hard grounder up the middle deflected off Ruth to shortstop Robbie Zinsmeister, who tug the bag at second and fired to first. Morelli was ruled safe at second for – according to the umpire – beating Zinsmeister to the bag, but Gabriel was out, putting a Trojan runner in scoring position with one out in a scoreless ball game.
That simply provided an opportunity for the Knights to showcase their defensive prowess.
Zinsmeister robbed Dan Klem of a base hit when he fielded the Trojan clean-up batter’s sharp grounder in the third base hole and then – in one sweet motion – threw to Scott Christy at first for the inning’s second out.
“It was to my right side, but I didn’t want to backhand it because I didn’t feel I would have enough time, so I just charged the ball and threw to Scott,” Zinsmeister said.
That, however, was just the beginning.
Christy alertly fired a strike to third baseman Jimmy Smith, who put the tag on Morelli to finish off the spectacular inning-ending double play.
“I saw the runner leave, and he wasn’t halfway, so I thought I had a shot,” Christy said. “I just got him.”
On a day when every Knight field player had at least one putout or assist, Christy had a hand in 11 outs at first base.
It’s hard to achieve perfection, but the Knights were nothing short of perfect in their state title win.
Grassie finishes strong – Coach Bob McCreary wasn’t particularly concerned about Mark Grassie’s offensive production going into the season.
“I told him early on ‘You’re in there for defense, so anything offensively you do is just a plus,’” the Knights’ coach told his junior second baseman. “Sometimes that makes a kid relax. He doesn’t feel the need to hit, and sometimes that’s all a kid needs – go up there relaxed and put a good swing on the ball.”
Whatever the case, Grassie clearly saved his best for last. After hitting .138 during the regular season, the Knights’ junior second baseman was a red hot 9-for-19 in the post-season (.474).
“The hitting started near the end of the season, and in the playoffs, I really got it going,” Grassie said. “Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I got my confidence up, and from there, my hitting just skyrocketed.”
In Friday’s state title game, it was Grassie who ignited the Knights’ two-run fifth with a lead-off double to left center. He scored when Robbie Zinsmeister followed with a double to the left center field fence.
In the seventh, Grassie led off with a single down the left field line. He scored an insurance run for the Knights on Justin Davey’s booming triple to right center.
“He came through again today,” McCreary said of his number nine hitter.
“I was just glad to help my team out with the bat,” Grassie said.
Dunn delivers – Senior Jake Dunn didn’t get a hit in Friday’s game, but the senior left fielder had a stellar post-season for the Knights. He took a team-high .571 batting average into Friday’s game and finished the post-season hitting a torrid .500 (12-for-24) – tops of all the North Penn starters.
Assistant coach Kevin Manero, who is also the Nor-Gwyn American Legion coach, believed that Dunn could be a contributor when he watched him in action last summer playing for archrival Hatfield.
“At the end of the summer last year, he was starting to grow a little and was looking more aggressive and comfortable,” Manero said. “He seemed to suddenly become a legitimate presence in the lineup. You could see him take great strides in the right direction that all came together this season.”
Dunn hit .333 out of the eight hole for the Knights during the regular season but upped that 167 points when it mattered most – in the post-season.
It was that kind of year for the Knights.
Everyone stepped up when they had they were called upon, and as a result, the Knights are the 2009 PIAA Class AAAA champions. They are the first District One team to earn that distinction since the addition of the Quad A category in 2005.
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