Haverford goes extra mile for PAISAA title
Three years ago, Haverford School’s baseball team channeled its disappointment at missing out on the Inter-Ac title into a run to the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association championship.
This season, with their league form indifferent despite their ever growing nonleague win total, the PAISAA tournament represented a similar payoff. And the way in which the Fords clinched the crown Saturday left no doubt as to their championship credentials.
The Fords gutted out a pair of extra-inning decisions — first 7-4 over Perkiomen School in nine innings in the semis, then 3-0 in eight against Malvern Prep in the final — to claim their third PAISAA title in seven seasons.
In doing so, they topped the Inter-Ac’s co-champs — Springside Chestnut Hill in the quarters, then Malvern in the final — in exacting a little revenge for what manager Bob Castell called a disappointing regular-season result.
“We just felt we were a little bit not pleased with how the regular season ended up,” Castell said. “We felt we could play better, and we felt we were capable of more. And we always raise he level up in May and when it gets warmer, so they stepped it up.”
The third-seeded Fords (24-8) also needed eight innings to shake Springside Chestnut Hill, 2-1, in the quarters Thursday. That game used up the arm of ace Cameron Miller, who went 6.1 innings before giving way to Justin Meyer and watching from the bench as the “old man” of the group James McConnon clubbed a walk-off homer.
There were no walk-off heroics with the Fords as the away team against Perkiomen school Saturday in the semis, but McConnon was still in the mix. Nick Holtz singled and scored what proved to be the game-winning tally on David Hogarth’s sac fly in the top of the ninth. McConnon, who started on the 2013 team as just a freshman, and Bryan Hyland added RBI singles, McConnon’s complementing an earlier RBI and two runs scored. Hyland and Tommy Toal each collected two hits.
“He does a lot to keep the group together,” Castell said of McConnon, the Saint Joseph’s commit who caught every inning of the tournament and has been a captain the last two years. “Whether’s organizing or helping out with our Florida trip, he’s always there. … When we want something to get done, we pass it on to Mac.”
Meyer got the win, working the final 4.2 innings. Mike Warnick went the first five innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits.
No relief was needed in the finale thanks to Tyler Dunbar, who limited Malvern Prep’s potent offense to just three hits and six walks in eight innings.
The offense was again provided by McConnon, who delivered an RBI single with two outs in the top of the eight to score Drew Sterman with the go-ahead run. Meyer and Hyland (two hits each) added on to the lead with RBI base knocks in posting the three-spot that saw the Fords complement banners from the 2011 and 2013 tournament with this title. It also sees the Fords finish the season with a 20-2 record in games outside of the Inter-Ac.
