SOL American/Continental’s offense explodes in Carpenter Cup 1st round win over PCL
PHILADELPHIA >> The Suburban One League American/Continental Carpenter Cup team started its 2017 tournament the same way it ended its 2016 run — with a win over the Philadelphia Catholic League.
This year’s win was much different than last year’s one-run decision to win the championship, though.
The defending champs dominated the Catholic League, 20-5, Friday morning at UYA Showcase Yield in FDR Park in the 32nd Annual Carpenter Cup quarterfinals.
SOL will face Delaware North in the semifinals Monday at 12:30 p.m. at the same location.
SOL’s second team entered the game with a 4-3 lead after four innings. They scored runs in four of the five innings they played and batted around twice — scoring five runs in the sixth inning and nine in the eighth.
“Everybody went in there focused and locked in,” SOL and Quakertown coach John Pallone said. “It didn’t matter the situation. Whether it was a tight game when it was 5-4 or whether it was a 15-4 game. They went in, they focused on the sixty-feet six-inches, they locked in and swung at good pitches, made good contact, hit the ball hard — the things that you want them to do.”
“It’s pretty crazy,” Souderton senior Thylar Summarell said of the second team that accounted for 16 runs. “We just smash the ball as you can see … Get base hits, which equals runs.”
Summarell and Zack Miles each went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs.
Ryan Bealer and Tyler Siddal each had two RBIs and Jordan Morales, Brett Moyer, Dennis Pierce, Luke Barnum and Billy Collins each knocked in one run.
The SOL squad took the lead for good in the top of the third inning. Morales hit a sacrifice fly to score Kevin Reilly to tie the game at one and Bealer put them ahead with a two-run triple — plating Ben Berger and Nate O’Donnell. Bealer scored on a sacrifice fly by Pierce to make it 4-1.
The Catholic League cut its deficit to one, 4-3, when Nate Furman hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth.
The teams traded runs in the fifth inning — SOL scoring on a Miles RBI double and PCL on a Jeff Manto single — to make it 5-4 after five innings.
That’s when the defending champs pulled away. They scored 15 consecutive runs to take a 20-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
“Both our lineups there are pretty talented guys,” Pallone said. “We got some veterans there on the second part. Zack Miles actually didn’t play with us last year, but he came up with a big hit his first time up and Jake Reed reached base four out of five times. Summarell almost hit a grand slam. Even the guys towards the bottom of the lineup did a good job.
“We have a lot of talent at all spots, but I think all the teams (do). Making the Carpenter Cup is such an honor and a privilege for these guys — it’s an honor to coach them as well.”
The SOL had effective pitching, too.
Nick Pave, Alex Crim, Justin Guidos, Danny Kirwin and Andrew Mayhew all got time on the mound. They combined for seven strikeouts, 11 walks, 10 hits and five runs — three earned. Kirwin threw the longest — three innings of no-hit ball with three strikeouts and seven walks.
“Pitching did a great job,” Pallone said. “There were runners that got on base, we gave up a couple runs, but we avoided the big inning. The guys stayed tough and even with runners on base they persevered through, focused and got the next guys out. The guys behind them made some pretty good plays. We made a couple errors but it’s a nine-inning game and first time playing together with a lot of pressure. Pitching and defense did a very good job and offense obviously makes that a little easier, too.”
PCL’s Manto and Max Hitman each had multiple hits — going 2-for-2 before exiting the game after five innings.
Suburban One League American/Continental 20, Philadelphia Catholic League 5
SOL AC 004 015 091 — 20
PCL 010 210 001 — 5
WP: Nick Pave 2 IP 1 K 0 BB 4 H 1 R
LP: James Kelly 2 IP 2 K 1 BB 3 H 3 R
2B: SOL: Zack Miles.
3B: SOL: Ryan Bealer.
