Suburban One National/BAL falls in Carpenter Cup semis to Philly Catholic League
PHILADELPHIA – In a tightly contested battle, every little aspect of the game becomes magnified.
The Suburban One National/Bicentennial all-stars found that out in a Carpenter Cup Classic semifinal loss to Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) Tuesday morning, June 21 at Citizen’s Bank Park.
The Suburban One Nats had a pair of runners picked off the basepaths and also ran into an out in the critical ninth inning when they were trying to rally back from a 3-0 deficit.
Leading off each of the second and third innings with singles were Council Rock South senior Seth Leuz and Christopher Dock senior Tim DiLoreto, but both were erased on the basepaths by Catholic League catcher Steve Furman, a senior from Bonner-Prendergast.
“Their base running was obviously better than ours,” admitted Council Rock South junior Josh Kim, who started at third base for the SOL Nats. “On top of that, they had more timely hits that we didn’t have until the last inning.”
Shut out for eight innings, the Suburban One National, which took the top prize in the tournament last year, scratched a run across in the ninth on a double by Pennsbury junior Ryan McCarty, a single by Holy Ghost Prep junior Owen Foraker through the left side of the infield and an RBI single by Council Rock South’s Evan Fisher to right field but that’s all as the defending champions fell 3-1 to the Catholic League.
“The first two pitchers were both pretty good pitchers,” said Council Rock South senior Shaun Stackhouse, who started in center field and laced a single to right field in the fifth inning. “I think we timed them up pretty well but we weren’t making great contact.
“We had some guys get on with walks and we singled a couple times. We didn’t make too many errors – we played clean baseball – but it was hard for us to get into a rhythm.”
The PCL all-stars, which last won the tournament in 2005 with a win over Delaware County, advanced to the finals where they will face SOL American/Continental, a 5-4 winner over Delaware County. The championship is set for 10 a.m. back at Citizen’s Bank Park.
In the end, it was the dominance of the Catholic League pitchers that shown through in this one. PCL starter Jeff Ciocco, a senior at Neumann-Goretti who recorded the win on the hill, allowed just three baserunners, two of which were picked off. For eight innings of shutout baseball, the PCL mound men allowed just four hits while walking only three batters.
“I think our pitchers are the best pitchers in this tournament,” said John Coppola, a Saint Joe Prep senior from Newtown. “And facing those guys helps our hitters get better.
“But yeah, our pitchers have been amazing this whole tournament.”
Coppola didn’t get a hit in the game but he drove a run home with a sac fly in the first inning after consecutive singles to start the game by Marquise Wood (Roman Catholic) and Greg Sywulak (LaSalle) and a wild pitch that allowed both runners to advance into scoring position.
For a while, it looked as though the run driven in by Coppola would hold up as PCL entered the final frame up, 1-0. The Catholic League, however, pushed two more runs across in the visitors’ ninth on a two-out, two-run single by Bonner-Prendy junior Tim Dougherty.
Dougherty laced the first pitch he saw from Council Rock North senior C.J. Kilgariff into right-center field for the winning hit. Wood senior Bobby Heck(hit batter) and Saint Joe Prep junior Jeff Manto (single), of Bristol Boro, scored the winning and the insurance runs, respectively, for the PCL all-stars.
“Those last two runs in the last inning were huge,” said Coppola. “We knew they were a fighting team. The last game, they won in a walkoff so we knew they’d be scrappy at the end.”
While the SOL Nats were scrappy, they weren’t gamely enough to get past the Catholic League all-stars in this one.
After giving up the only run to the SOL Nats, Archbishop Wood junior Cody Kracknell, the sixth pitcher in the game for the PCL all-stars, bore down and got Abington senior Justin Yerkes to fly out to center field for out number two. And while he walked Tyrone Hodges Jr., he induced a ground ball force-out at second base to Christopher Dock senior Rashid Saint Fleur for the final out.
On Fisher’s run-scoring single, Foraker ran into an out when he tried to make it from first to third base.
He didn’t make it the hot corner and the SOL Nats didn’t make it back to the Carpenter Cup finals.
Chris Dock senior Dan Sabath, the starter for the SOL Nats, sustained the loss after giving up one run on two hits in three innings pitched. Neshaminy senior Billy Meyer came on in the fourth and tossed three innings of shutout baseball. Devon Prep senior Dan Brace pitched a scoreless seventh while striking out one. Pennsbury junior Billy Bethel tossed a scoreless eighth inning while striking out the first two batters.
NOTES: SOL National/Bicentennial has made it to either the Carpenter Cup semifinals or the finals six times in the last 10 years, while taking the championship in 2008 and 2015. The SOL Nats also made it to the final in 2009 and 2010.
Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter
Phila. Catholic League 3, Suburban One Nat/Bic. 1
(June 21 at Citizens Banks Park)
PHILA. CATHOLIC….. 100 000 002 – 3 6 1
SUBURBAN ONE NAT/BIC 000 000 001 – 1 7 1
WP — Jeff Ciocco 3IP, 0R, 2H, 1BB, 3SO; LP — Dan Sabath 3IP, 1R, 2H, 2BB, 2SO.
EXTRA-BASE HITS: PCL — Nick D’Amore 2B; SON/B — Ryan McCarty 2B.
RBI: PCL — John Cappola, Tim Dougherty 2, SON/B — Evan Fisher.
RUNS SCORED: PCL — Marquise Wood, Bobby Heck, Jeff Manto; SON/B — McCarty.
