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By Scott Huff
Both North Penn and Plymouth Whitemarsh enjoyed the thrill of victory in the first round of the PIAA District One Quad-A playoffs.
And both Central Bucks East and Central Bucks South suffered the agony of defeat with extra inning losses.
And I mean agony ….
Patriots lose heartbreaker
[N-9] Central Bucks East led host West Chester Rustin [S-8] 1-0 with one out in the bottom of the seventh inningwhen Patriot ace Kris Davis gave up a homerun. The Knights hit a second homerun off Davis to lead off the eighth inning to secure the win for WCR. Rustin will now meet Council Rock North [N-1] in a second round game on Wednesday.
“Rustin plays on an interesting field – a gorgeous field,” said Central Bucks East head coach Kyle Dennis. “But the fences are really close down both the left and right field lines – around 300 feet – and one of those homeruns would have been caught at almost any other field.
“Kris pitched a great game – they only hit two balls hard the whole game and they both went for homeruns,” added Daves. “We played phenomenal defense behind him today, and we knew going into the game that it was going to be a great game. It was just a tough way to lose – we did everything right – but we didn’t win the game.”
The Patriots scored their only run of the game in the second inning. Davis doubled and scored on an RBI single by Ben Hauser. That one run proved to be not enough.
“We started the season 0-3, and we could have easily just played out the season,” said Dennis. “We earned a spot in the playoffs, and we expected more of ourselves today. We felt we belonged, and the game could have gone either way.”
Central Bucks East Patriots 010 000 00 - 1 5 0
West Chester Rustin Knights 000 000 11 - 2 9 3
Titans lose heartbreaker – too
[N-12] Central Bucks South led host Downingtown East [S-5] 4-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Whippets scored three runs in the sixth – a tying run in the seventh – and the winning run in the eighth inning to stun the Titans, 5-4. Downingtown East will now meet Council Rock South [N-3] in a second round game on Wednesday.
“It was a very frustrating and disappointing game to lose,” said Central Bucks South head coach Mike Schaefer. “We felt we were very prepared to play this game – win this game – and we had our chances.
“If games lasted just five innings, we would be one of the top-ranked teams in the state,” added Schaefer. “But unfortunately games last seven innings.”
The Whippets loaded the bases with two outs in the home eighth – but a walk-off single followed and spelled defeat for CB South.
“We started four sophomores and five juniors in this game,” said Schaefer. “Maybe you can chalk up our inability to win games late to inexperience. If we can take something away from this season, it will be the importance of winning games late. It is a learning process, but this was a tough lesson to learn.
“We as coaches, and the players, both expected to win this game,” added Schaefer. “We had a great opportunity, but we didn’t finish the job.”
Central Bucks South Titans 210 001 00 - 4
Downingtown East Whippets 000 003 11 - 5
Colonials March To Second Round
[N-11] Plymouth Whitemarsh will advance to a second round PIAA District One Playoff game as the Colonials registered a thrilling 4-3 victory over host [S-7] Interboro – champion of the Delaware Valley League.
Plymouth Whitemarsh will now travel to Spring-Ford High School this Wednesday to meet the Pioneer Athletic Conference champion [N-3] Rams.
“We will be a major underdog – no question,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Robert Slagle. “I told the kids that we just need to play our game and go out and have some fun.”
The Colonials enjoyed themselves in the win over Interboro. PW had taken a 3-1 lead into the last of the sixth inning on a two-run single by Steve Wallace and an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of Jake Mascio. Interboro rallied to knot the score at 3-3 going into the seventh inning.
“Interboro is a very good baseball team, and I thought we matched up well with them,” said Slagle. “But we played clutch in the seventh inning and came away with the win.”
In the top of the seventh inning, Wallace singled with two outs and was replaced on the bases by courtesy runner David Kim. Kim scored what proved to be the winning run on a triple by Jon Staats.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Bucs had a runner on third base with one out. A ground ball hit to Mascio was fired home and Colonial catcher Bobby Slagle recorded the second out on the tag. Wallace struck out the next hitter to close out the win.
“Steve threw a good game for us,” said Slagle as Wallace threw a complete game with seven strikeouts. “Now we have to be ready to make the next step.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials 000 030 1 - 4 9 3
Interboro Bucs 100 002 0 - 3 8 0
Knights March To Second Round - too
[N-8] North Penn will advance to a second round PIAA District One Playoff game as the Knights shut out visiting Kennett [S-9] – 6-0.
The Knights will now face [S-1] Marple Newtown in a second round game on Wednesday.
“The game was actually much closer than the score indicated,” said North Penn head coach Bob McCreary. “We got some runs later in the game, and we were able to close it out.”
Knight junior Alec Lashkevich was the winning hurler for the Knights. He struck out five – and more importantly threw five strong innings. Reed Shuttle earned the save by throwing the final two frames.
“We have had some ups and downs all season with sore arms on our pitching staff,” said McCreary. “Alec has stepped up and made the most out of his opportunity to pitch.”
The North Penn offense was fueled by Pete Edgar, Ryan King, and Matt Davey who accounted for eight of the 13 Knight hits and drove home four runs.
“Those three came up big, and were getting on leading off innings,” said McCreary. “We got just enough offense today.”
Kennett Blue Demons 000 000 0 - 0 6 0
North Penn Knights 200 022 x - 6 13 0
First Round Notebook
The [N-7] Truman Tiger game with [S-10] Garnet Valley was postponed until today – 5/24/11 – due to wet fields at Truman.
[N-10] Methacton edged [S-7] host Strath Haven 3-2 to advance to the second round. The Warriors will play @ [N-2] Pennridge on Wednesday. (5/25/11)
[N-5] Owen J Roberts opened first round play with a 12-2 ‘mercy-rule’ win over [S-12] Penncrest. The Wildcats will now travel to West Chester Henderson [S-4] in the second round on Wednesday.
[N-6] Boyertown edged by visiting [S-11] Great Valley by a 4-3 score. The Bears will now meet [S-3] Conestoga - @ Conestoga – in a second round game on Wednesday.
There were seven PIAA District One Playoff games – and the North won five of those games. The only two South wins came in extra innings.
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