McGeighan puts out fire in West Chester Henderson win over W.C. East

WEST CHESTER >> You find out a lot about a player or team  when they face adversity.

Less than 24 hours after a disappointing loss to Coatesville Monday night and coming into a bases loaded, no out situation in the bottom of the fifth inning Tuesday against West Chester East, Henderson reliever Kevin McGeighan showed the heart of a champion.

Henderson had jetted out to a 4-0 lead and sophomore hurler Brady Bash was superb, no-hitting the punchless Vikings for four innings. But a Tim Becker single and a pitch that hit Adam Smith, followed by a Pat Kelly single loaded the bases with no outs, bringing in McGeighan.

Doing his best Mariano Rivera impression, the senior got three straight outs, the third coming on a strikeout of the Vikings’ leading hitter Kyle Smith, and Henderson had its 4-0 lead intact on their way to a convincing 9-0 Ches-Mont National triumph.

“It is tough to come in to a situation like that,” McGeighan said. “You cannot look ahead in that spot. You have to go pitch by pitch and try to get the first out and then look ahead to get the second out. When you get the second out, then you think about making a pitch to get the third out.”

Henderson (11-4, Ches-Mont National, 11-5 overall) jumped on Vikings’ (9-6, 9-7) starter Kyle Smith early as Zach Roberts led off the game with a ringing single to center field. Roberts stole second base and advanced to third on a Thomas Caulfield single. A Chase Longenecker sacrifice fly plated the Warriors’ first run and Nate Lucas ripped an RBI single to bring home the second Henderson run.

“Last night (Monday) was a tough loss, but you have to have a short memory,” Caulfield said. “We like to get out early on teams and put up a crooked number, and today, we scored two runs early. We played real clean defense today, not like last night. We are a real good team if we play clean baseball.”

Henderson added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning off Smith to open the game up. An East error started the rally and then McKeighan ripped a double to left center field. Tyler Johnson stroked an RBI single to make it a 3-0 game and then Smith balked in the Warriors fourth run and Henderson was in firm control of the crosstown contest.

East had not garnered a hit off Bash through four innings and their chance to get back in the game in the fifth inning was negated by the sterling relief job of McKeighan. The Vikings had just three hits for the game off the two Henderson hurlers. The Vikings’ J.T. Thompson was robbed of an extra-base hit in the second inning when Warrior center fielder Matt Cappelli made a sparkling diving catch.

After that, the Vikings were basically through as they managed just one hit off McKeighan in the following three innings, but Henderson was not done piling on the runs.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, RBI hits by Caulfield and Longenecker and a big two-run double by Matt Dinacci made it a 9-0 game and the Vikings suffered their second shutout in two days. Drew Dolan of Bishop Shanahan did the trick Monday in a 3-0 Shanahan win.

“Kevin getting us out of that name was the key today,” Henderson coach Luke McNichol said. “He throws his changeup for strikes and he just goes pitch by pitch. And Brady Bash’s start was just what we needed today. He was very, very good.”

West Chester East is seeing its district playoff hopes slipping away and they take on red-hot Coatesville today, while Henderson has a date with Oxford.