Pennsbury defeated Neshaminy to earn a spot in Thursday’s District 1 6A title game. Pennsbury/Neshaminy photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography & John Gleeson. Pennridge/OJR photos provided courtesy of Laura Rowe. Check back for galleries of both games.
Class 6A Semifinals
#4 Pennsbury 12, #8 Neshaminy 7
The first three games these two teams played in the final week of the regular season were for all the marbles in the SOL Patriot Division.
Tuesday, the stakes were even higher as the winner would advance to the District One championship, and both teams had their No. 1 starters on the hill.
But the pitchers’ duel that some may have imagined resulting in a 1-0 or 2-1 game never materialized.
Instead, it was a good, old fashion slugfest, and thanks to a seven-run bottom of the sixth inning, Pennsbury rallied from a six-run early deficit to knock off rival Neshaminy 12-7 in a district semifinal on Tuesday afternoon.
“As much as I love the fact that a ton of fans came out, it was a great atmosphere and we came out on top, I just didn’t need that,” joked Falcons coach Joe Pesci. “My mental health didn’t need that. But it’s great to have an amazing scouting report on these guys. Dan and Jesse Toner coached with me at Pennsbury, we run camps together, all of the kids go to the same camps, some of them play on summer teams together. It’s a familiarity beyond just the Neshaminy-Pennsbury rivalry.”
Despite the seeds, very few should have been surprised to see either team in the district semis, as they were the class of the SOL and two of the better teams in District One, with powerful offenses and deep, quality pitching staffs.
Round 4 went to the offenses.
Neshaminy got to Pennsbury ace Keller Bradley for four runs in the first and two in the second to go up 6-0. Sam Hitchen’s bases loaded double broke it open in the first, and then in the second, Brandon Lall had a two-run single.
“He gave up six earned runs in an inning and a third, he gave up five walks, and just over 50 percent of his pitches were strikes,” Pesci said. “He wasn’t sharp. It happens. Sometimes you have great days, sometimes you have bad days. It wasn’t a great day for him, but the rest of the team picked him up.”
And that picking up started in the bottom of the second, as the Falcons scored five times against Neshaminy ace Chase Bonner to make it a one-run game. Carlton Crane, Pierce Perry and Brandon Zuckerman each had RBI singles, and Ty Lee followed with an RBI triple to right field.
Reliever Owen Hawkes then quieted the Neshaminy bats in the middle of the game, allowing just an unearned run in the fourth, setting the stage for the drama in the sixth.
“Owen Hawkes has been one of our three starters,” Pesci said. “We also know he’s really good in relief, and coming into the playoffs, we knew he’s not going to be a starter, but we were going to need him. He beat (Neshaminy) 10-2 during the league and came in today and allowed one unearned run over five innings. We won this game on his back. That was massive.”
The bottom of the sixth started with a Danny Seidler double, Henry Garlits singled and Nolan Kolanko was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Finn Burke drew a walk to bring one home, and then with one out, Perry roped a single to right to drive in two runs and put the Falcons up for the first time in the game at 8-7.
Ty Lee followed with a two-run double, and Seidler wrapped up the scoring with his second double of the inning to make it
12-7.
Hawkes then worked around a couple of baserunners to finish the game off in the top of the seventh.
“Obviously, we have guys to fear in our lineup,” Pesci said. “It’s hard to be worried about every single guy. We had 13 hits up and down the lineup. Ty Lee comes up big with a double and a triple. Danny Seidler leads off an inning with a double. We tell them they have to trust us. We are going to push them. It’s about being aggressive.
“When you’re down 6-0 and pulling Keller Bradley, a lot of times you may think we lost this game. But I told these guys all season, we’re not done until the last out of the seventh inning. Teams have to be concerned about us until the last out.”
Key Players: P - Owen Hawkes (5 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K), Ty Lee (3-for-4, double, triple, 3 RBIs), Danny Seidler (3-for-4, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs, 2 runs), Pierce Perry (2-for-4, 3 RBIs, 2 runs), Brandon Zuckerman (2-for-2, 2 RBIs, 2 runs), Henry Garlits (2-for-4).
N- Sam Hitchen (1 double, 3 RBIs), Brandon Lall (2 RBIs).
Next up: Pennsbury (21-2) takes on #7 Owen J. Roberts in the district final Thursday (4 p.m.) at Plymouth Township Ball Park. Neshaminy (17-6) plays at #3 Pennridge in a third-place playback game for state seeding.
Neshaminy 420 010 0 - 7 5 0
Pennsbury 050 007 x - 12 13 3
#7 Owen J. Roberts 11, #3 Pennridge 2
It’s been a while since Pennridge had a really bad inning.
Aside from a few stay-busy, non-league games at the end of the regular season, the Rams have played winning baseball for over a month, with 11 straight league victories to claim the SOL Colonial title, and then when the lights were on again in the
playoffs, they dispatched Downingtown East and Downingtown West to earn a spot in the district semifinals.
But at home Tuesday, against seventh-seeded Owen J. Roberts, what had been a 2-1 lead through four innings slipped away, as the visiting Wildcats scored nine times in the top of the fifth to completely take the game over in what would be an 11-2 final score.
Owen J. Roberts scored nine runs on four hits, three walks, two errors and one hit batter in the inning.
“They had some tough at-bats offensively in the fifth, so credit to Owen J. Roberts,” said Pennridge coach Dan Long. “I think we played better than the scoreboard represents. The margin for error in the playoffs is small, and we need to execute a little better.”
After an early home run by Owen J. Roberts, Pennridge bounced back in the second, as Anthony Cox tied it with an RBI double. An inning later, Tim Croyle doubled and scored on a TJ McGuigan RBI single as the Rams grabbed a 2-1 lead that looked secure for a few innings, before Owen J. Roberts’ breakout fifth inning.
Pennridge will play a playback game for third place against #8 Neshaminy at home on Thursday, before starting the state playoffs next week.
Long, who won a district championship and made states a couple of times as a player at Pennridge, knows this group has what it takes to bounce back.
“This is a resilient group,” Long said, “and I am confident we will respond with a great practice before facing a very good Neshaminy team.”
Next up: Pennridge (18-5) hosts Neshaminy on Thursday.
Owen J. Roberts 100 091 0 - 11 7 1
Pennridge 011 000 0 - 2 7 3
Class 2A Championship
#1 Faith Christian 8, #3 New Hope-Solebury 4
Against the top-seeded team in District One, mistakes were bound to be costly.
And Tuesday in the district championship game at Plymouth Township Ball Park, New Hope-Solebury had a bad fourth inning and that proved to be its undoing.
Faith Christian, state champions in 2024 and ‘25 (in Class A and 2A, respectively), took advantage of miscues, scored six times in the fourth and pulled away for the 8-4 victory to claim the district title.
“Defense is always part of winning championships,” said Lions coach Tony Vlahovic. “New Hope had one inning where our leather was left in the dugout and Faith capitalized on it. We had a two-run lead and momentum until the bottom of the fourth when we had three errors.”
New Hope led 1-0 in the first and 4-2 in the third, until Faith broke out in the fourth.
“Anthony Whelan and JT Bach allowed eight hits and kept a strong Faith lineup in check for every inning except the fourth,” Vlahovic said. “The top of our lineup hit the ball hard and was led by Whelan's 3 three hits. Blake McCagg, Lucas Kevorkian, Charlie Plebani and Nate Plebani all had timely hits.”
New Hope finished its season with a 14-8 final record and huge wins along the way in league play, beating district qualifiers Upper Moreland, Cheltenham and Springfield along the way.
“I am proud of our cardiac kids (who had 5 comeback wins) and the growth our team showed from last season to this year,” Vlahovic said. “Our baseball IQ and mental performance approach improved. Looking forward to building on this season and every player’s development in the off season."
New Hope-Solebury 103 000 0 - 4 9 3
Faith Christian 200 600 x - 8 8 0
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