Continental State: Conference rivals Souderton, CB South meet for PIAA 6A title
The Souderton baseball team’s return to its first PIAA championship game in 12 years began with a choice the Indians made after they were handed their last defeat — a 6-3 loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh in District 1-6A quarterfinals.
“I said ‘Listen, what are we going to do? Are we going to sit there and are we going to roll over or we going to fight for this?’” said Indians coach Mike Childs Tuesday after Big Red’s 3-0 over Neshaminy in the state Class 6A semifinals. “And that Monday practice on Memorial Day, they said listen we’re going to fight for this coach. We want to fight ‘til the end and see what it takes us and we know we have the talent and we’ll see where it takes us.
“Hey, they’ve stepped up.”
With another loss putting an end to Souderton’s season, the Indians claimed a pair of wins in the district playbacks, earning District 1’s final PIAA berth and three more wins since has Souderton in State College playing for the 6A state crown Friday morning against a familiar foe in Central Bucks South. The matchup of Suburban One League Continental Conference sides is set for 10:30 a.m. at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Souderton (23-4) is making it second trip to the state final, previously reaching the Class 4A title game in 2007, falling in the game 9-1 in nine innings to Seneca Valley in Altoona. CB South (19-7) is in the final for the first time.
The SOL Continental is guaranteed its first state champ since North Penn won 4A in 2015. It is also the 13th consecutive season District 1 has had at least one team in the final of PIAA’s largest class and the third time during that run two District 1 teams have reached the final — in 2010, West Chester Henderson topped Owen J. Roberts while in 2011 Conestoga bested Spring-Ford.
Souderton has won its last three meetings with Central Bucks South — shutting out the Titans in both of their regular-season contests this year.
In their first game April 4, Jordan Morales — who threw a three-hit shutout against Neshaminy in the semis — was dominant, the left-hander striking out 14 and allowing just two hits in a 2-0 win. Souderton got both of its runs in the bottom of the first on a Frank Pollock two-RBI single.
The Indians then claimed a 3-0 win at CB South on April 30, improving to 9-0 in conference play en route to finishing a perfect 12-0 in claiming the SOL Continental title. Jacob Horton hit a home run in the first, Andrew Curran added another homer in the second while La Salle commit Morales struck out five in a five-hit shutout.
Since that loss to PW in the district quarters the Indians have ran off five straight wins, outscoring opponents 38-4 during their win streak to reach State College.
After edging Methacton 2-1, Big Red blasted Garnet Valley 15-1 in five innings to grab fifth place in districts. Souderton opened state play with a 7-1 win over La Salle then went on revenge tour the next two rounds — knocking off Plymouth Whitemarsh 11-1 in six inning then in the quarters blanked Neshaminy — which beat the Indians twice in the regular season — in the semis Tuesday.
“They’re special. They pull for each other,” said Childs of his squad. “We’ve had teams, 2007 they were a great, talented team, they all liked each other also. But that team is very similar to this. They have their pitching staff, we have the pitching staff now. But basically it comes down to them liking each other.”
Central Bucks South opened districts the 17th seed in the 20-team 6A tournament, but strung together four straight upsets — including bouncing No. 1 Pennsbury in the second round — before falling 2-1 to Neshaminy in the district final.
South began states with consecutive one-run victories — beating District 11 runner-up Emmaus 4-3 in eight innings then defeating District 3 champ Wilson 2-1 in the quarters.
The Titans kept their state title dreams alive with a comeback win over North Allegheny Tuesday, exploding for nine runs in the bottom of the sixth to erase a 6-2 deficit to advance to the final with an 11-6 victory over District 7’s third-place side.
