North Penn powers past rival Neshaminy

TOWAMENCIN >> James Mangine’s first-inning home run on Wednesday was North Penn’s first long ball of the season, and, moreover, a warning shot of what was to come.

“That was definitely a momentum swinger but after that, the whole rest of the team came in, got hits, got men on base, and that’s all we needed,” said Mangine.

The Knights pounded out nine hits and had a big fifth inning to break the game open, pulling away to a 10-6 victory over rival Neshaminy in a Suburban One League non-division game at sunny North Penn.

“That was a really big win,” said Mangine, who scored twice and had three RBI’s. “Everyone came together. Everyone played their hearts out. We got this win so that was big, especially going into (Thursday at Pennsbury at 3:45 p.m.).

The Knights raised their record to 2-3 on the season while the Skins dropped to 2-3.

North Penn had seven runs and six hits in the pivotal fifth.

“We’ve been hurting for some clutch hits and some big innings offensively, and we had one today,” said Knights coach Kevin Manero.

Mangine’s two-run shot to left off right hander Matt Mays got NP started in the first, providing a 2-0 lead.

Neshaminy cut the margin in half in the third when Bobby Hansen doubled off lefty Dylan Brown and scored on a single by Mike Morrow.

The Knights pushed the lead back to two in the bottom half, thanks to Justin Egner doubling in Quinn Marett, making it 3-1.

The Skins pushed ahead with a big fifth.

A two-RBI single by Jake Kozlowski keyed a four-running inning, which catapulted the Skins into the lead, 5-3.

But that set the stage for North Penn’s outburst.

The Knights batted around in the bottom half, with Ben Farley supplying a timely, two-run single and Brian Neal following with an RBI single of his own to help push NP into the lead, 10-5.

North Penn batted around in the inning and got hits from Pat Breen (two hits in the inning), Marett, pinch hitter Tyler Bohn, Farley and Neal. Mangine also drew a bases-loaded walk in the inning.

“Everyone’s hitting,” Mangine said. “I think in the beginning of the season, we were just behind where we needed to be. I think we’re starting to catch up now.”

Anthony Trommer’s sac fly in the sixth for the Skins provided the final margin.

Seven different players had hits and eight different players reached base for the Knights in the win.

“After falling down in that inning (the fifth), the guys showed a little bit of mettle,” Manero said. “It was a good team win I thought. You need those big innings when you have a chance. We talk about scoring first, which we did. We talk about extending our lead, which we did. And then we talk about answering back. And we did answer back and that was real big.”

North Penn 10, Neshaminy 6
Neshaminy 001 041 0 – 6 9 1
North Penn 201 070 x – 10 9 3
WP: Dylan Brown. LP: Matt Mays.
HR: NP-James Mangine. 2B: N-Bobby Hansen; NP-Justin Egner.
Multiple hits: N-Hansen 2-for-2, BB, 2R; Mike Morrow 2-for-3, R, RBI; NP-Pat Breen 2-for-3, R; Quinn Marett 2-for-3, 2R.