Pottsgrove suddenly streaking, edges Pottstown in rivalry game

POTTSTOWN >> It took Pottsgrove 23 days and 10 games to become acquainted with the winning feeling.

Now that they have, the Falcons are putting a tight grip on the experience.

Pottsgrove followed Wednesday’s ice-breaking 8-5 victory over Upper Perkiomen with another Thursday. It rallied for a 6-5 win over Pottstown at Bobby Shantz Field … and left first-year head coach Jamie Nash with pleasant uncertainty on one subject.

“I don’t know the last time Pottsgrove had a win streak,” he said. “We’re getting momentum, and seeing our confidence grow.”

A particular confidence-builder for the Falcons was the fifth inning, when they batted around and scored five runs off their neighboring Pioneer Athletic Conference rivals. That upended the Trojans (2-7 league, 3-7 overall) after they built a 4-1 lead through four.

“That’s all we needed,” Bailey Delp, who got the win off three innings of two-hit relief for starter Dean Fiorini. “That definitely made us more confident.”

The Grove’s pivotal offensive outburst started with a walk to Alex Stump followed by a series of singles from Max Stump, Adam Girafalco, Mike Gantert and Noah Reimel — the last two driving in the three runners ahead of them. That all staked the Falcons to a 6-4 lead the Trojans threatened with a run in the sixth.

But Delp closed out the game in the seventh, with a pair of strikeouts and coaxing a fly out to right. His relief stint featured the two late whiffs against a walk and singles by Pottstown’s Chris Stone and Logan Pennypacker.

“Everything was working … fastball, curve, the occasional changeup,” Delp said of his pitching repertoire. He and the defense were able to limit the Trojans’ damage in the sixth, stranding Logan Pennypacker (2-for-3) on third.

“Everyone is keeping their heads high,” he added. “We’re practicing hard and showing up for games.”

That mindset paid off for Pottsgrove (2-8, 2-9) even while it fell off Pottstown’s fast start. The hosts parlayed four hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly into a pair of first-bat runs, and they added another pair in the fourth after the Falcons got on the board in the second.

Ron Fausnaught and Chris Stone had RBI hits in the first after Logan Pennypacker and Nate Camacho hit safely, Mason Pennypacker moving them up a base with his bunt.

“We’re a young, inexperienced team still learning to win,” Nash said. “That’s something we’re going through. We have to put teams away early.”

Pottstown padded its lead in the fourth, a pair of wild pitches scoring Josh Gery and Chase McKain (singles). That finished Fiorini in favor of Delp, who collaborated with the Pottsgrove defense to handle the Trojans down the stretch.

“We had chances, but we did let it get away a little bit,” Pottstown head coach Jeff Evans said. “We just ran out of innings.”

Logan Pennypacker was replaced on the mound by Dalton Mullen, who came on with full bags, just one out and Pottstown’s lead down to 4-2. Mullen was touched for Reimel’s two-RBI single, but after getting out of the inning, he pitched two-hit relief the rest of the way.

“His (Pennypacker) pitch count was getting up there,” Evans said. “It (71) was maybe the most pitches he’s thrown this season. Dalton came on and pitched well.”

Girafalco (2-for-3) and Garrett Bleakley (2-for-4, double) were the Falcons’ leading hitters. Alex Stump’s double in the second scored Bleakley, who led off the frame with a single.

“I wish we could have come to life much earlier, get the momentum on our side, ” Nash said. “But I was glad to see us come to life.”

Pottstown, in the meantime, is looking to get back on track following successive losses to Spring-Ford (6-4) and Boyertown (8-1) this week.

“We’re still trying to find our identity,” Evans said. “We need to have consistency in all phases.

“We hit too many fly balls today. We have to put the ball in play, manufacture runs. We didn’t do enough to win.”

NOTES >> Delp praised the effect Nash has had on the Pottsgrove program in his first year at the helm. “He’s a young coach, which I think helps a lot,” he said. “For a first-year varsity coach, he’s doing a good job.” … In the teams’ previous meeting on March 30, Pottstown came away a 9-5 winner. … Fausnaught had two of the Trojans’ three stolen bases, the other going to McKain.