McKenna homers twice as Souderton shuts out Pennridge

LOWER SALFORD >> Chris McKenna hit his first varsity home run into the bottom of the first inning.

It did not take the Souderton sophomore second baseman long to connect on a second.

“Got some energy before the game, first at-bat went up, hit a home run,” McKenna said. “Then next at-bat tried to do the same thing and it happened.”

McKenna gave the Indians a 2-0 lead on visiting Pennridge with a two-run homer in the first. After Justin DiCesare opened the bottom of the second with a solo blast, McKenna belted a three-run home run later in the inning to put Big Red up 6-0.

“Chris is a pleasant surprise,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said. “We brought up three sophomores and seeing what they can do. We gave Chris an opportunity to play second, especially when we were down in Aberdeen and he literally ran with it.”

A trio of pitchers, meanwhile, shut down the Rams while the Indians tacked on a few more runs late to claim a 9-0 SOL Colonial Division win Monday afternoon at Vic Alderfer Memorial Ball Park.

“Power is a big part of our game,” DiCesare said. “A lot of our guys, we hit for power but I think it’s important to find your pitch and a lot of the guys are doing that right now. So we’re seeing our pitch and the results are coming.”

McKenna went 3-for-4 with five RBIs while DiCesare capped his day with a two-run double in the sixth as he finished 2-for-2 with two walks and four RBIs as Souderton (3-1, 2-0 division) picked up its third straight win.

“We have a really strong lineup this year,” McKenna said. “I’d say we have one of the best lineups in the league. It’s a very strong lineup so once all of us hit we produce and that’s what we did today.”

Shanley Wall was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored as the Indians collected a total of 13 hits, getting at least one from each of the nine spots in the lineup.

“Today was a nice day but it’s still not even warm yet so for the balls to fly out of here,” Child said. “Yeah, we’re very, very happy with the early start. But we’re trying to stay humble, it’s just only two games in, we have a lot of season left.”

After Big Red’s three homers early, Pennridge had a few opportunities to pull back into the contest – putting two runners on in both the fourth and sixth and loading the bases with two outs in the fifth but came away empty each time and was handed its first loss of the season.

Jaden Morgan was 3-for-3 with a double in the sixth for the Rams (3-1, 2-1).

“I told them after that second inning when they came off the field, I said there’s so much more baseball left,” Pennridge coach Craig Whitten said. “And that was the biggest thing that got us in last year was that once another team takes a lead we just sort of collapse. And we look at somebody to make plays, we look at somebody to make pitches, we look at somebody to get on base instead of saying ‘Hey you know what I’m going to be that guy.’”

With three more games this week – including a two-site doubleheader Thursday – Souderton was looking to save its pitchers and accomplished that thanks to its trio that took the mound racking up 19 strikeouts.

Starter Will McCausland was strong in his three innings, the Saint Joseph’s commit allowing one hit, no walks and striking out seven. Jackson Morrisette got the win throwing the next two innings, giving up three hits, no walks and striking out five. Grayson Norris had seven strikeouts, one hit and one walk in pitching the final two frames.

“Today our plan was to throw guys, keep them under 50 (pitches) cause we have four league games this week,” Childs said. “And they executed it great. I think we only had two, maybe three walks, that’s it total between the three pitchers. And yeah, everything worked out today.”

Souderton visits Central Bucks West 3:45 p.m. Wednesday then is on the road for two more SOL Colonial games Thursday, at North Penn at 10 a.m. then at Central Bucks South at 3:45 p.m.

“I have never played a doubleheader, especially a doubleheader away on Thursday but I left it up to the guys, I said, ‘Guys, what do you want to do?’” Child said. “And I actually talked to the captains and I said, ‘What are you guys thinking?’ and we just have to figure out the pitching and we have the arms and everything else and they’re like ‘Coach it sounds kind of fun, let’s make it a day.’”

Pennridge has just one more game this week, visiting CB South 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.

“We just can’t have one through four providing everything and then five through nine being ‘Eh, if I get on cool, it’s gravy,’” Whitten said. “But we got to be so much better than we are and I want to make sure that the kids know that every game that we play is going to be against the best teams in Pennsylvania.”

After McCausland struck out the side in the top of the first, it took just two batters in the bottom half of the frame for Souderton to grab a 2-0 lead. Wall led off with a walk with McKenna following with a hit that sailed over the fence in left for a two-run homer.

“I always sit fastball down the middle, that’s usually what I’m looking for,” McKenna said. “And that’s what I hit for both of them.”

DiCesare made it 3-0 Indians as he opened the bottom of the second with a leadoff homer to left.

“Just trying to simplify things right now – just sit fastball, react curve,” DiCesare said. “Took first-pitch fastball, thought it was a little high, gave it to me again and I was ready to hit it. And good result.”

Joey Crecca and Hunter Weitzel followed with back-to-back singles. The next two batters struck out but McKenna came up and gave himself two homers in two innings with a three-run shot to left for a 6-0 advantage.

“I got a lot of that one,” McKenna said. “That was one of my best hits. I got most of that one.”

Souderton went up 7-0 in the fifth as Wall dropped a two-out, bases-loaded RBI single into left to score Ethan Warner – the Indians trying for a second run on the play but the Rams getting the out at home to end the inning.

Big Red added its last two runs in the sixth. Luke Pollock drew a one-out walk followed by a Carter Jagiela double to left center. Two batters later, DiCesare hit a two-out, two –RBI double to right center.

Souderton 9, Pennridge 0
Pennridge 000 000 0 – 0 5 0
Souderton 240 012 x – 9 13 2
WP: Jackson Morrisette 2 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 5 SO.
LP: Ryan DeHaven 4 IP 8 H 6 R 6 ER 2 BB 7 SO.
2B: P-Jaden Morgan; S-Justin DiCesare, Carter Jagiela; HR: S-Chris McKenna 2, DiCesare.
Pennridge: Jaden Morgan 3-3.
Souderton: DiCesare 2-2, 4 RBI; McKenna 3-4, 5 RBI; Shanley Wall 2-3, RBI, R.