Pennsbury baseball’s offense finally coming up to bat
FAIRLESS HILLS – Amid a light but chilly rain Thursday afternoon, April 28 at Pennsbury, Falcon lefthander Zach Conley hit the first batter and walked two more in a half an inning of work that took more than 30 minutes to complete.
Conley surrendered a lone run on a single to left field by Council Rock North shortstop Matt Hand, however, the senior southpaw struck out the last two batters with the bases loaded to escape the inning with only a 1-0 deficit.
“Getting out of that inning with only one run was awesome,” said Pennsbury head coach Joe Pesci. “To be able to come back from that with three shutdown innings was great.”
“That was huge. Getting out of that inning with only one run (allowed) was a win for us.”
It might have been huge but it was far from over. The Falcons were leading first place CR North 4-1 when the game was called on account of rain in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The battle resumed Friday April 29 back at Pennsbury, and the Falcons won it 6-5 on a walkoff double by pinch-hitter Bryan Nagy that scored Ryan McCarty with the winning run.
While the Indians sent seven batters to the plate in the initial stanza, the Falcons were the ones who fired the first shot, however, when Conley caught CR North third baseman Tyler Nowmos looking at a called third strike and sent designated hitter Juliano Kovalcik down swinging to retire the side with the sacks still jammed.
Pennsbury got a run back on nary a hit in its half of the first inning then took the lead in the home second on a three-run rally sparked by a two-run triple by Falcon first baseman Billy Bethel.
The junior infielder battled back from an 0-2 count after missing a pair of sac-bunt attempts to crush an offering from Indians righthander Joe Preciado over the head of Jackson Parker in centerfield. Two runs scored and Bethel was standing on third base by the time Parker got the ball back into the infield.
“I was just trying to get a pitch to drive – where I could get the runs in,” said Bethel. “Missing the two bunts, I just wanted to help my team and try to get the runs in.”
“I’ve never seen Billy hit a ball that far, actually,” quipped Conley.
When the ball came off Bethel’s bat, you knew it was going for, at least, extra bases. For a moment, some may have thought it was going to sail over the fence. Bethel never saw where it went, however.
“I wasn’t really paying attention,” said Billy. “I was trying to get as many bases as I could – just put my head down and try to run as fast as I can.”
Under less than ideal weather conditions, Bethel said he wasn’t really going for a big hit.
“I was just trying to make contact, trying to put the ball in play,” he said. “Slick grass, slick infield – so I was just trying to hit the ball on the ground.”
Conley, meanwhile, started mowing the Rock down, retiring the side in order over the next two innings while giving up a lone single to Seth Leuz to open the fourth. Zach recorded the next three outs in succession to leave Leuz stranded on base.
Pennsbury was up by three runs when the game was called with a runner on third base and one out in the fourth inning. The Falcons had already pushed their lead to 4-1 when Bethel scored on a pass ball in the second stanza.
While he may have taken a trip to the mound in the first frame to talk to Conley, Pesci said at no time did he think about pulling his ace off the hill that early in the battle.
“Absolutely not,” stated the coach.
“We like to send somebody down there just to kind of fire him up. I’m sure in the back of his head, when he saw somebody run down there, he got angry.”
“And you saw what he did – to be able to come back after that with three shutdown innings was great.”
Pennsbury started the season at 2-3 in the Suburban One National League but have since pushed to 6-3 with four consecutive wins against SOL National foes including this 6-5 triumph over Rock North for the Indians’ first loss of the season.
The difference, says Pesci, is the hitting and the offense. Entering this matchup, the Falcons scored 36 runs in their previous four games.
“We’re finally coming around on offense,” said Pesci. “Defensively, we’ve been really strong, pitching has been really solid. And our hitting is making progress every single game and that’s what I’m happy about.”
Another difference lately at Pennsbury is the number of decibels emitted from the dugout. The Falcons were noticeably more vocal in this one than they were earlier in the season.
“It’s a lot more fun when you are winning and we’ve been hitting well,” admitted Pesci. “The first few weeks of the season, we weren’t hitting well and the guys were dead.”
If you are looking for a catapult, the coach points to last week’s win at CR South as the springboard to the current surge currently taking place at Pennsbury.
“Things really kicked in for us in that South game. Zach (Conley) gave up two runs in the first but we came back and score three and Zach shut them down.”
After the win over the Golden Hawks, the Falcons strung together 10 hits in a 7-2 triumph April 21 at home against William Tennent. Then on Tuesday, April 26 Pennsbury pounced on Abington from the start, scoring three runs in the first inning and seven in the second on its way to a 13-2 triumph over the Ghosts.
Vaughn Ward had two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Justin Ward had two RBIs and two runs scored and Bryen Kimbrough hit a triple and increased his hitting streak to five games.
Every batter had at least one hit and the Falcons helped their own cause by drawing seven walks in the contest.
“Once we finally broke through, everyone took that deep breath and relaxed,” said Pesci. “Now, they’ve really gotten into it.
“It’s a shame it took us six or seven games to do that but I think they’re starting to have fun. They’re starting to buy in to what we’re doing and they get it now.”
“I’m really pleased with the guys’ effort – sticking to it and being tenacious, going after it and persevering through it, as difficult as things were early.”
Starting the game on the hill for CR North was righthander Joe Preciado, who gave way to senior C.J. Kilgariff after Bethel’s 2-run triple in the second inning. Kilgariff allowed three hits in 2.1 innings but nary a run, stranding a pair of Falcons on the basepaths in the third inning when he sent Bethel down swinging.
Vaughn Ward tagged Kilgariff for a single to lead off the fourth and he was left standing on third base with one out and McCarty facing a 2-1 count when play was suspended until the following day.
When the battle resumed, the Indians scored four runs in the visitors’ fifth on a rally sparked by a three-run double to left field by Nowmos. In the home sixth, Pennsbury deadlocked the score at 5-all on an RBI single by McCarty.
Both teams scored a run each in the 11 before Nagy’s walkoff hit in the twelfth.
Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter
Pennsbury 7, Council Rock North 6 (12 innings)
(April 28-29 at Pennsbury)
CR NORTH 100 040 000 010 – 6 10 2
PENNSBURY 130 001 000 011 – 7 8 1
WP — Alec Wilson; LP — Tyler Marlow.
MULTIPLE HITS: CRN — Matt Shenot 2-for-5, Matt Hand 2-for-4, Tyler Nowmos 2-for-5, Chase D’Arcangelo 2-for-5; P — Ryan McCarty 2-for-6.
EXTRA BASE HITS: CRN — Tyler Nowmos 2B; P — Bryan Nagy 2B, Billy Bethel 3B.
RBIs: CRN — Tyler Nowmos 3, Matt Shenot 2, Matt Hand; P — Billy Bethel 2, David Murphy, Ryan McCarty, Bryan Nagy, Justin Ward.
