Souderton keeps rolling, shuts out Pennridge for 8th straight win

LOWER SALFORD >> Last season the Souderton baseball team followed runs by pounding at a stake in the ground. This year the Indians went with something a bit more audible, with each runner coming around to score getting a chance to bang on Big Red’s very own gong.

“Last year we had nails in the coffin where we hit the stake. So they wanted something different,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said. “So they all ponied up $17 each and they bought this thing for three hundred and something dollars and they bought it. And I approved it because it’s their team, it’s not my team, they’re having fun with it.”

The gong sounded early and often Tuesday afternoon at Vic Alderfer Memorial Ball Park. Souderton got out to a quick 2-0 lead over visiting Pennridge after an inning then blew the game open in the third and fourth frames while Erik Ritchie and Andrew Curran combined to throw the Big Red’s eighth shutout of the season as the SOL Continental Conference champs rolled past the Rams 9-0.

“Yesterday we had a lot of bating practice, our whole practice was just hitting and getting it down,” said Indians third baseman Jacob Horton. “And we just brought it into today. And we just kept on raking.”

Souderton (15-2, 11-0 conference) plated three runs in the third then added four more in the fourth — two coming on Horton’s home run to left center field — to pull away for its eighth straight victory. Jordan Morales was 2-for-3 with three RBIs while Luke Taylor went 2-for-2 with an RBI and three run scored.

“I told them before the Upper Dublin game (last Friday) if we start hitting on top what we’re doing the sky’s the limit on what we can do because of our pitching and defense,” Childs said. “Granted we’ve got to stay grounded, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do because we can’t let our egos get too big, but have fun. But it’s playoffs — can change just like that.

“So we’ve just got to be prepared, one step at a time and these guys, they’re doing it. They’re still rising and rising to our potential. So I’m very impressed with what they’re doing. Our captains and seniors are stepping up and keeping everybody somewhat grounded although they are having fun.”

As for the gong, Childs says so far he’s gotten positive feedback.

“Everybody talks about it, I’m getting emails behind the scenes in a positive way saying, from assistant coaches and other coaches, saying ‘Hey, ring the gong,’” he said. “Seeing other parents, when I talk to some of the other coaches they’re like, ‘Listen my strategy is tell my team to prevent them from ringing the gong, that’s my strategy.’”

Pennridge (5-11, 1-9), which had won three of its last five including its first Continental win against Central Bucks South last Thursday, gave the Indians an opening in the bottom of the third with a two-out error and Big Red capitalized. On the next at-bat, Curran hit an RBI double off the fence in left center. Two batters later with the bases loaded, Morales’ single up the middle scored a pair of runs for a 5-0 lead.

“It’s a 2-0 baseball game in the third inning and we give them an extra out,” Rams coach Tom Nuneviller said. “We should of been out of the inning 2-0 and Anthony Helbling still battling for us and we have a chance to do something in the fourth inning. We make a mistake, they get a couple hits, make a mistake and then what it is 5-0, 6-0 instead of 2-0. We’ve given teams too many outs all season.”

Ritchie, in his second start on the mound, gave up just one hit over five innings to pick up the win. The sophomore left-hander walked one, hit one batter and struck out six. Curran took over the sixth, gave up one hit, one walk, had one hit batter and struck out five over the final two innings.

“The curveball was working a little better than most times,” Ritchie said. “Fastball was a little bit up but other than that pretty good.”

Pennridge starting pitcher Helbling took the loss, giving up five runs — two earned — on five hits. He walked two, hit one batter and struck out three.

Both teams play again Thursday. Souderton visits Neshaminy, the last team to beat the Indians (4-2 on April 16), at 3:45 p.m. in an SOL crossover that counts towards the District 1-6A power rankings, which had Souderton sitting second coming into Tuesday. Pennridge, meanwhile, hosts Central Bucks East at 3:30 p.m.

Souderton pushed its lead out to 9-0 in the fourth. Conlan Wall led off the bottom of the inning with a walk, stole second and scored on Taylor’s RBI single up the middle. Horton followed by connecting on his two-run blast over the left-center field to put the Indians advantage at 8-0.

“I was down 0-2, I had a lot of foul balls before, I was just trying to make contact and get it in the field,” Horton said. “And I just had to get my regular swing and I put it out.”

A walk by Curran and a Dylan Kummery double to left center put runners on second and third for Morales, who singled through the left side of the infield to score Curran’s pinch runner Danny Pineda, making it 9-0.

The Indians scored twice with two outs in the bottom of the first to take the early lead. Frank Pollock’s RBI single up the middle plated Wall while Curran followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to center, bringing home Taylor.

SOUDERTON 9, PENNRIDGE 0
Pennridge           000 000 0 — 0   2 0
Souderton          203 400 x — 9 11 1
WP: Erik Ritchie 5 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 6 SO 1 HB.
LP: Anthony Helbling 3 IP 5 H  R 2 ER 2 BB 3 SO 1 HB.
2B: S-Andrew Curran, Dylan Kummery, Joey Santone; HR: S-Jacob Horton.
Souderton: Curran 1-1, 2 RBI, R; Horton 2 RBI, R; Jordan Morales 2-3, 3 RBI; Luke Taylor 2-2, RBI, 3 R; Conlan Wall 1-2, 2 R.