Check out the recaps for SOL teams in action in the District 1 Tournament. Pennsbury/Wissahickon photos courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports' BASEBALL GALLERIES.
Class 6A
#8 Neshaminy 11, #9 Souderton 1
Mercy-rule wins are nothing new for eighth-seeded Neshaminy, as nine times in the regular season it finished games early with its powerful offense.
Wednesday, in the second round of the district playoffs, Neshaminy did it on a bigger stage, pounding #9 Souderton with 11 runs over its final four at-bats to post the 11-1 victory.
In all, Neshaminy scored 11 runs on 13 hits. All but one of its batters had at least one hit, and all but one drove in a run.
“It was great to see us come out and get back to form today,” said coach Dan Toner. “We have had very good success this year against some of the top pitchers in the area. The offense really focused in on what made us successful throughout the year and were able to stick throughout the entire game.
“We put a ton of balls in play, utilized our speed, and did a fantastic job of running the bases. We played very good situational baseball and also got the big hits.”
Senior Chase Bonner not only did it with the bat - 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs - but on the mound he allowed just one earned run over five innings to pick up the victory.
Key Players: N - Chase Bonner (3-for-4, HR, 2 RBIs, 2 run; WP, 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K), Noah Wallace (double, 2 RBIs), Dan Marable (2-for-2, 1 RBI, 2 runs), Brandon Lall (2-for-3, 1 RBI), Matt Gryn (2-for-3, 1 RBI)
S - Evan Divens (2-for-2, double, 1 RBI).
Key Inning: Bottom of the 3rd - Leading 2-1, Neshaminy blew it open with four more runs. Dan Marable led off with a single, Chase Bonner singled, Marable scored on an error, Brandon Lall singled and Noah Wallace doubled to make it 4-1. Sam Hitchen drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and another error led to another run and just like that it was 6-1.
Neshaminy coach Dan Toner:
–Props: “Chase Bonner had himself a day. He was electric on the mound and at the plate. When he’s locked in, like he was today, there aren’t many players on his level. He added the exclamation mark, with a walk off, mercy-rule home run.
“The entire lineup contributed, in one way or another, but the middle of our lineup did a lot of damage. Marable, Bonner, Lall, Wallace and Gryn all had big contributions.”
Next up: Neshaminy (16-5) plays at #1 seed Haverford, a 3-2 winner over Boyertown Wednesday, in the quarterfinal round on Friday.
Souderton closes its season with a 14-8 record.
Souderton 001 00 - 1 5 4
Neshaminy 024 32 - 11 13 0
#4 Pennsbury 13, #13 Wissahickon 4
While Wissahickon had a huge win on Monday, Pennsbury rested and had ace right-hander Keller Bradley ready to go against the Trojans on Wednesday.
And Bradley did his part, striking out 12 over 5 2/3 innings. The Falcons also had a whole lot of offense, led by senior shortstop Carlton Crane, and rolled over Wissahickon by a 13-4 final score to advance on to Friday’s quarterfinal round.
“The story of the day was Carlton Crane and Keller Bradley,” said Pennsbury coach Joe Pesci. “Keller was great today. He had a couple of deep innings, but when you have a lot of strikeouts, usually you have deeper counts. He went to 105 (pitches) today, but he had 12 strikeouts.
“Carlton Crane - our leadoff guy – hit one off the right field fence to lead off the game. To have your leadoff guy with four hits, three doubles is huge.”
Pennsbury scored 13 runs on nine hits, drew seven walks and had three batters hit by pitches.
After the Falcons scored three early, Wissahickon made it a game with three in the top of the third against Bradley, but Pennsbury quickly re-established itself with one in the third and five in a sloppy fourth inning and never looked back.
Key Players: P - Carlton Crane (4-for-5, 3 doubles, 3 RBIs), Brendan Zuckerman (2 RBIs), Ty Lee (2 RBIs), Keller Bradley (WP, 5 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 12 K), Connor O’Brien (1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 KK).
W - Matt Press (2 RBIs), Padraig Romano (2-for-3, 2 doubles).
Key Inning: Bottom of the 4th – With Pennsbury leading 4-3, Nolan Kolanko led off the inning with a single, a Finn Burke sacrifice attempt went for an error, and then Pierce Perry walked to load the bases with one out. Brendan Zuckerman drew a bases loaded walk to drive in a run, back-to-back errors scored three more and the fifth run of the inning scored on a bases loaded walk to Danny Seidler.
Pennsbury coach Joe Pesci:
“We had nine hits today, but it could have been a lot more. We bunted really well today. I think we bunted four or five times. We had sac bunts and bunted for hits. 
We also had seven walks and three hit batters, so we’re doing a great job of taking advantage of pitchers’ mistakes, and also being patient.
“Before this game, we had a .500 on-base-percent, and before this game, we were hitting .370 as a team, which is pretty good.”
–Props: Finn Burke, our 9 hitter, gets a big hit and drives in a run, Carlton has been so consistent, Pierce (Perry) is driving the ball, Ty Lee, (Brendan) Zuckerman, they’re all doing what they need to do. (Michael) Sogness had a push bunt today. It’s almost contagious for our guys. We score early and often, but we’re also answering.”
–Getting the bye: “In 2019, we were the 1 seed and lost after a bye to the 16. In ‘23, we had a bye and we lost. But if you’ve got the right mindset it shouldn’t matter. We scrimmaged Saturday and had live ABs off some guys Monday to try to make it competitive. But the long layoff is good to stay healthy.
“Our idea is we don’t care who we face. Obviously, matchups are important, but the bye is big because we’re saving pitching. Everybody is fresh except for Keller. Our league is set up for three starters, so even if we had to, we have pitching. It’s a huge advantage.”
Next up: Pennsbury (19-2) advances to Friday’s quarterfinal round where it will play the winner of #5 Spring-Ford and #12 Garnet Valley, which was postponed until Thursday.
Wissahickon ended its season with a 13-9 record.
Wissahickon 003 010 0 - 4 5 3
Pennsbury 121 504 x - 13 9 1
#3 Pennridge 4, #14 Downingtown East 3 (8 innings)
When it’s single elimination, it’s about survive and advance.
Third-seeded Pennridge not only survived an early deficit, but a prolonged rain delay and then ended up going extra innings before advancing to the quarterfinals with a 4-3 win in eight innings against Downingtown East on Wednesday night.
It was 2-1 when torrential rain halted play, Pennridge added a run to make it 3-1, only to see Downingtown East rally with two in the fifth to tie it up.
After the Cougars failed to score in the top of the eighth, the Rams came back in the bottom half and won it as Noah Keating singled to center field to score pinch runner JP Colon with the game-winning run.
Pennridge went pitcher by committee Wednesday. Senior Ryder Olson went the first three, freshman Oliver Olson pitched 2 1/3 out of the bullpen, and junior Connor Murray closed it out with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win.
“We did a great job competing in what was a long day with the two-hour rain delay,” said coach Dan Long. “We continue to find ways to win. That was a great high school baseball game and I couldn’t be more proud of our group.”
Key Players: P - Brayden Robinson (2 RBIs), Tim Croyle (1 RBI), Noah Keating (1 RBI), Connor Murray (WP, 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K).
Next up: Pennridge (17-4) will host the other Downingtown, #6 Downingtown West, in the quarterfinal round on Friday.
Downingtown East 010 020 00 - 3 7 0
Pennridge 020 100 01 - 4 5 2
#7 Owen J. Roberts 3, #10 Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
Before a lengthy rain delay, Plymouth Whitemarsh struggled to get much going offensively against Owen J. Roberts right-hander Lucas Campbell.
When play resumed, the Colonials didn’t have much luck against him over the final innings either.
PW, the SOL Liberty champs, ended its season on the short end of a 3-0 final score, as Campbell pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout.
“Every round in the playoffs gets tougher and we just came up a little short today,” said PW coach Chris Manero. “Credit to their starting pitcher. He was efficient and we struggled to figure him out.
“We played one inning and then sat in a gym for two hours waiting for a storm to pass. I couldn't have been more impressed though with how our guys came out of that delay and believed in themselves until the last pitch.”
Colonials’ starter Max Eagland allowed two runs in the fight, as Owen J. Roberts started quickly with a triple and a sac fly, a double, a single and another sac fly. But Eagland settled in and would only allow one more run the rest of the way.
He allowed just five hits and didn’t walk a batter, while striking out five.
“Max was outstanding on the mound tonight,” Manero said. “Our two starting pitchers this week (Max tonight and Bobby Pasquarello Monday) delivered big time, big game performances. Tonight, Max was the best I've seen him. You need players to step up in big moments, and when it's your starting pitchers who do it, you will have a chance to win every game.”
Offensively, PW had chances but Campbell was quick to shut the door each time.
Max Eagland led off the second inning with a single, only to see the next three batters retired.
Dom Criscuolo led off the third with a single, Campbell retired the next three.
Runners reached on a walk and a hit by pitch in the fourth, but Campbell worked out of trouble.
And, likewise, a leadoff single by Luke Fresta in the seventh went for naught as Campbell retired the next three to end the game.
PW finished its season with a 15-7 final record.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 000 000 0 - 0 3 0
Owen J. Roberts 200 001 x - 3 5 0
#6 Downingtown West 5, #22 Council Rock South 0
After Reed Curtier’s first-round no-hitter on Monday, upset-minded CR South went on the road again to face sixth-seeded Downingtown West looking for a little more magic.
Unfortunately for the Golden Hawks, this time they ran up against superior pitching.
Downingtown West’s Blase Bonnell pitched six-plus shutout innings, and CR South saw its season come to an end by a 5-0 final score on Wednesday.
The Hawks were never out of the game, as they were able to limit the damage and prevent big innings, but the host Whippets scored one run in each of the first five innings and that was plenty of run support.
CR South never had more than one base runner in an inning. Curtier had two of its hits, both singles, while Caleb Dubas and Nick DiSalvo had hits.
CR South wrapped up its season with a 12-10 record.
CR South 000 000 0 - 0 4 1
Downingtown West 111 110 x - 5 10 0
Class 5A
#7 Springfield (Delco) 7, #2 Upper Moreland 0
(suspended in the 4th inning, game to resume TBA)
Class 2A
#3 New Hope-Solebury 12, #2 Delaware County Christian 6 (9th)
(Resumption of a suspended game from Tuesday in the 9th inning)
Eight innings weren’t enough to settle this back-and-forth semifinal battle on Tuesday, so play resumed at Delaware County Christian on Wednesday, and it didn’t take New Hope-Solebury long to cash in.
Eleven batters came to the plate, five had hits as well as three walks and a hit-by-pitch and the result was an impressive six-run inning to send New Hope to Thursday’s championship game with a 12-6 victory.
“Hitting is definitely contagious and as they say, ‘what a difference a day makes,’” said Lions coach Tony Vlahovic. “On Tuesday, we hit the ball hard, but right at people. Today, the line drives found their marks. I am proud of the battle and the mental toughness the team displayed after being down twice in the game.”
Joe Rickard had a one-out RBI single to give the Lions the lead, Gavin Caponegro followed with a double, and then with the bases loaded Blake McCagg hit a two-run single to left field. Lucas Kevorkian followed that with a two-run triple and would score himself on an RBI single by Nate Plebani.
McCagg then closed the game out by pitching a perfect bottom of the ninth.
Key Players: NHS-Blake McCagg (3-for-5, 2 RBIs, 2 runs; WP, 1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K), JT Bach (2-for-5, 3 runs), Lukas Kevorkian (triple, 3 RBIs), Jack Matro (2-for-5, double, 2 RBIs), Joe Rickard (3-for-5, 2 RBIs).
New Hope coach Tony Vlahovic:
–Props: “Joe (Rickard) was barreling everything he hit and ended up with three hits. Gavin Caponegro, Blake McCagg and Lucas Kevorkian all added RBIs in the continued 9th.
“Anthony Whelan started the game and didn't have his ‘A’ game. He battled with what he had in his arsenal. JT Bach pitched 4 innings in relief and pitched well, our defense wasn't supportive of him and he left after hitting his pitch limit. Blake McCagg came in to close, and he pounded the zone to get the win.
“Overall, big win for our program. Our work continues tomorrow vs Faith Christian for the title. We will be ready.”
Next up: New Hope (14-7) advanced to Thursday’s championship game, 4 p.m., at Plymouth Township Park against #1 seed Faith Christian.
New Hope-Solebury 110 002 206 - 12 13 4
Delco Christian 000 132 000 - 6 11 4
- Log in to post comments
