Crouthamel, Wall help Souderton top Dock Mennonite
LOWER SALFORD >> Shanley Wall has not pitched much for the Souderton baseball team this season. But the junior is always up for a challenge anywhere on the field.
“I’ll never shy away from competition,” he said. “So I’ll always want the ball.”
Taking over after five strong innings from Zach Crouthamel helped the Indians build a 4-1 lead over Dock Mennonite, Wall gave up a run in top of the sixth but avoided any additional damage with consecutive strikeouts.
The Indians offense gave the left-hander a bit more cushion by scoring three times in the bottom of the inning and Wall finished his two-frame save to secure a 7-2 nonleague victory over the Pioneers at Vic Alderfer Memorial Ball Park.
“He struggled a little bit in the beginning but once he locks in – that’s what I told him. It’s all about confidence on the mound,” Indians coach Mike Childs said. “And once he got confidence on the mound, he threw strikes and got guys out.”
Wall struck out five, Crouthamel allowed just one hit in picking up the win while Souderton (6-9, 2-4 SOL Colonial, 4-8 District 1-6A qualifying) found a few unconventional ways to bring in runs as the Indians got a much-needed positive result after dropping two straight and five off their last six.
“Definitely getting some team morale back after these last couple losses we’ve been pretty down,” Wall said. “So just playing relaxed, having fun, just loving the game is what matters really.”
Wall last pitched April 23 against Upper Dublin – coached by his father Ed Wall – and threw the first three innings in the Indians’ 14-10 loss to the Cardinals.
“The first time pitching since the summer since I had like a shoulder injury before and so it was kind of just knocking some rust off,” Shanley Wall said. “And today I came in and felt pretty good coming back. Had to make a quick adjustment after like the first couple batters, but after that I settled in.”
With one out and runners on second and third in the top of the sixth, Carter Jagiela pulled Dock to within 4-2 with an RBI infield single. Jagiela stole second to again put two runners in scoring position but Wall’s back-to-back strikeouts keep the margin at two.
A two-out error gave the Pioneers a runner in the seventh but Wall sealed the win with a strikeout.
“My curveball started coming back to me,” Wall said. “And fastball, my velo has gotten better over the last couple years so I feel like I did pretty well.”
Crouthamel, meanwhile, allowed one run – unearned – while Jagiela’s leadoff single in the second was the lone hit Dock collected off the senior right-hander. He gave up a walk and struck out nine.
“I think honestly getting ahead in the count,” Crouthamel said. “I think going back to my splitter, that’s one thing I’ve been working on, try to throw that for a strike, get ahead in the count and then use that as the 1-2 strikeout pitch.”
Jagiela was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored for the Pioneers (10-3), which had a four-game win streak snapped but still sit 9-0 in the District 1-2A standings as they keep their sights set on claiming a sixth consecutive district title.
“Going into the game we were super excited cause Souderton’s our rival and we know a lot of kids from Souderton, too, cause we’re kind of all in the same area,” Jagiela said. “But we were excited to play and we had a lot of energy coming into the game and then stuff kind of went downhill for a little bit and we lost a little bit of energy.
“We’re always excited to play and we love playing good teams cause we think we came play up to their competition.”
Souderton, which began the day 32nd in the District 1-6A rankings – 20 make the playoff field – scored just two runs off a hit, both of those coming Alex Morales’ two-RBI double that made it 7-2 in the sixth.The Indians plated a pair during rundowns and scored another three via an error, a walk and a balk.
“It’s not looking good for us but I said ‘Boys let’s just battle and see what we got to do, one game at the time and we’ll see what happens,’” Childs said. “These guys are excited – they’re excited to play our league again. And, like I said, if we don’t make it at least let’s go out fighting. And that what we talked about and that’s what our goal is – do what we got to do.”
Both teams play their next game Monday. Souderton hosts Central Bucks East at 3:45 p.m. while Dock Mennonite is home against Church Farm School at 4 p.m.
“We like to say that we don’t want to ride the roller coaster, we just want to stay even the whole game,” Jagiela said. “But against tough teams we can’t ride that roller coaster but against the bad teams it’s also tough because you’re up by a bunch and you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re going to win,’ but then they can always come back, you never know.
“But we’re working on that. We struggled a bit earlier in the season but we’ll definitely keep working on that cause I think that’s going to be what leads us to success.”
Pioneers starting pitcher Nate Lapp took the loss, allowing six runs – three earned – on four hits in five-plus innings. He walked four, hit three batters and struck out seven.
Dock scored Friday’s opening run in the top of the second as Zach Frederick’s one-out groundout plated Jagiela, who led off the inning with a single.
In the bottom of the second, Souderton loaded the bases after Luke DeSpain’s two-out single. On the next at-bat, the Pioneers caught DeSpain off first base and had him in a rundown but in the process Justin Dicesare came home from third to tie the game while DeSpain got safely back to first.
Souderton went up 3-1 in its half of the third. Luke Pollock was hit by a pitch with two outs. After Jacob Horton drew a walk, an error on a Dicesare grounder allowed Pollock to score for a 2-1 Big Red lead. Morales was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Ryan Kagarise’s walk brought in Pollock.
Andrew Schatz started the bottom of the fourth doubling down the first base line. Two batters later, Isaac Frye hit a one-out single to left but got caught in a pickle between first and second. That gave Schatz an opening to dash in from third and score, putting Souderton up 4-1.
Jagiela’s RBI infield single in the top of the sixth had Dock deficit at two but Souderton answered with three insurances runs in the bottom of the frame. Wall scored on a balk and Morales drove in two with his double to right center with two outs and the bases loaded.
