Britt leads Downingtown West past Neshaminy, into quarters

DOWNINGTOWN >> This is not your father’s Downingtown West baseball team. Last season, West hosted a playoff game and was upset in the first round by Harriton.

The 2016 edition of Downingtown West is a much more complete team, and they showed as much on a hot Wednesday afternoon, overwhelming 18th-seeded Neshaminy, 7-1, in the second round of the  District 1 Class AAAA playoffs.

The Whippets (18-2) advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round where they will host Spring Ford at 4 p.m.

A win over the Rams would put the Whippets in the District 1 semifinals and secure a berth in the state playoffs for the first time.

Downingtown West plated five first-inning runs and rode the three-hit, no walk pitching of sophomore Drew Britt to comfortably handle the Redskins.

“I was getting ahead of the hitters all game and my offense scoring those five runs in the first inning gave me a lot of confidence today,” Britt said. “And my defense was great behind me as always. When you get an early lead like we did it is always easier to pitch and throw strikes.”

After the Redskins (11-7) plated a first-inning run on two singles — one by Matt Grudza and an RBI poke from Bill Ritchey — the Whippets struck back right away against starter Jerry Scavone. Ryan Giordoni led off the game for West with an infield single. John Paul Bell laid down a nice bunt that Scavone fielded but fell down attempting to throw to first base and the Whippets were in business.

Nick Campana also bunted and Neshaminy catcher Jake Jones attempted to cut down Giordoni at third, but the throw was late and the Whippets had the bases loaded with no outs. Mike Mollenhauer was walked and the Whippets had evened the score at 1-1. Eric Grintz then roped a two-run single to score Giordoni and Bell and Downingtown West had a 3-1 advantage. JJ Freeman lofted a long sacrifice fly and the Whippets scored on a Redskin error to take the game by the throat early at 5-1.

“I challenged our seniors at the top of the lineup Ryan and John Paul to get things going early and set the tone,” said Downingtown West coach Dave Oleszek. “After what happened last year you always remember that as a program and our seniors responded and did the job like they have done all season. It is a credit to them.”

After Neshaminy got a single off Britt in the top of the second inning, the Redskins got nothing from that point on. Britt did not allow a hit the rest of the way in his six innings of work, and did not walk a batter while striking out three.

“Drew was great, like he has been all season,” Oleszek said, “He does not walk people and he throws strikes and that is a recipe for success. He throws ground balls and does not let people square up on the ball. And this was his first varsity playoff game and he came through.”

Downingtown West showed it can play more than just small ball in the second inning as senior outfielder Bell lofted a Scavone pitch to orbit, easily clearing the right field fence for a solo home run and a commanding 6-1 Downingtown West lead.

“I hit a fastball and it just took off,” Bell said. “We lost early last year but this is a different team. Our goal is to win the district championship and make an impact in the state playoffs and we came out ready to pounce on them today and we didi that by scoring five runs in the first inning.”

Britt set the Redskins down in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings, sending nine batters back to the dugout without reaching base.

“We had a terrible first inning,” said Neshaminy coach Chris Tenaglia. “We hoped after that that we would show the resilience we showed in the comeback yesterday against Owen J. Roberts but their pitcher was very good. He kept us off balance and he deceives the credit. He was very good and we could not get to him at all.”