Broderick, Spring-Ford punch tickets to District 1-6A baseball final in win over Plymouth Whitemarsh

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ROYERSFORD >> On a Spring-Ford team making splashes in the District 1-6A baseball tournament, Dylan Broderick has performed a cannonball twice.

Having already thrown a complete game in a win over Lower Merion during the second round, the Chestnut Hill-bound senior once again went all seven innings during the semifinals against No. 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh.

Broderick struck out 13 with six hits and no walks over 99 pitches, paving the way for the top-seeded Rams, 6-1 over the Colonials at Ram Stadium on Tuesday.

With the win, Spring-Ford (21-3) will face No. 14 Central Bucks West, a 14-1 winner over No. 2 North Penn, in the District 1-6A Championship at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Plymouth Whitemarsh (16-7) has secured a state tournament berth for the second time in the last five years, but falls to the District 1 playback bracket where North Penn now awaits to determine PIAA seedings.

“Once I fill up the strike zone with all my pitches, it’s really hard for hitters to make good contact I feel like,” Broderick said. “As long as I’m throwing strikes, I’ve got a great defense behind me.”

That defense pieced together 1-2-3 innings in the top of the fifth and sixth alike. At the plate, Spring-Ford put up four runs on three errors from Plymouth Whitemarsh over the first two innings to ride out the win.

With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Broderick grounded out into a double play, but scored Virginia Commonwealth University pledge Nick Flores on the play to go up 1-0.

Spring-Ford second baseman Nick Flores (7) celebrates after recording a base hit against Plymouth Whitemarsh during the District 1-6A baseball semifinals at Ram Stadium on May 30. (Evan Wheaton – MediaNews Group)

The Rams pulled away with three runs in the second frame, the first on a bunt single from designated hitter Brennan McVey, a throwing error to first base allowing a run to be scored for a 2-0 advantage.

With two runners on, Ryan Cecconi then reached on an error at shortstop, Gage Swanger (2-for-2, double) and McVey both scoring on the play to extend Spring-Ford’s early lead, 4-0. The Colonials committed five errors altogether, five of the Rams’ runs being unearned.

“Once a team comes out and makes three, four, five errors like that, you have to capitalize,” Broderick said. “It’s hard to win games when you make a lot of errors, so we know if another team is making a lot of errors, we just have to capitalize off that and we’ll be fine.”

Broderick added a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning to balloon the Rams’ lead, 6-0.

Having put up double-digit wins in the previous two rounds of the District 1-6A tournament, Spring-Ford didn’t quite overload the scoreboard again, but not a single batter struck out across the arms of Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Dylan Robinson (4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 BB), Cooper Jones (1.1 IP, 1 H) or Matt Krawitz (0.1 IP).

“It’s all just approach. We get a good pitch to hit and once one guy hits, everybody hits,” Broderick said. “Once one dude does it, everyone does it. It all starts with one guy and everyone follows along.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Luke Gartland, right, slides back into first base to avoid being picked off by Spring-Ford’s Jake Witmer, left, during the District 1-6A baseball semifinals at Ram Stadium on May 30. (Evan Wheaton – MediaNews Group)

Broderick’s shutout was spoiled in the top of the seventh inning with one out left in the game. The Colonials recorded three of their six hits in the frame, the second of which being an RBI single from Nick DeLucca to score Johnny Giordano for Plymouth Whitemarsh’s lone run.

“We only scored one run. Erase our defensive mistakes and we still only have one run,” Colonials coach Chris Manero said. “But I do certainly think that helped them to get the lead and allow them to play their game the way they need to. There hasn’t been a game this year Dylan (Robinson) hasn’t kept us in. Today was no different.”

As the Suburban One League Liberty Division runner-up, Plymouth Whitemarsh has reached the District 1-6A semifinals for the second time in the last five years.

A North Penn alum of 1997, Manero will take his club to his alma mater in the third-place playback game to determine state tournament seeding.

“To be in the district semifinal twice in four seasons, it obviously says a lot about the program and where we’re at, but certainly these guys wanted to be the ones to get over that and get into the final,” Manero said. “They’re disappointed and that’s good because that means they have the expectations.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Lincoln Sharpe, right, puts the ball into play on a pitch from Spring-Ford’s Dylan Broderick during the District 1-6A baseball semifinals at Ram Stadium on May 30. (Evan Wheaton – MediaNews Group)

Central Bucks West avenged a regular season sweep, 12-3 and 5-3 respectively, against second-seeded North Penn to punch its ticket to the District 1-6A title game against Spring-Ford.

As the 14th seed, the Bucks have taken wins over Downingtown West (7-6), Methacton (10-0) and Coatesville (6-1) through the circuit ahead of Tuesday’s semifinals. Central Bucks West and Spring-Ford haven’t crossed paths yet this year.

“They’re a team that’s rolling. Those are the teams you have to worry about,” Spring-Ford coach Rick Harrison said. “When you get to this point, there’s a few things. You don’t want to get complacent and just be like, ‘Alright we made states, let’s just lay down’ because we want to continue to play good ball. And two, when a team gets hot, they’re tough.

“They’re playing with confidence I’m sure.”

Spring-Ford 6, Plymouth Whitemarsh 1

Results

Team1234567RHE
Plymouth-Whitemarsh0000001165
Spring-Ford130020—671
Spring-Ford PW
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Ruckman 1 1 0 0 Caucci 4 0 0 0
Moyer 4 0 1 0 L. Gartland 3 0 1 0
Flores 3 2 1 0 Olczyk 3 0 1 0
Broderick 3 0 1 2 Rocks 3 0 1 0
Witmer 2 0 0 0 Giordano 3 1 1 0
Korchok 3 1 1 0 Sharpe 3 0 0 0
Swanger 2 1 2 0 T. Gartland 3 0 0 0
McVey 2 1 1 1 DeLucca 3 0 1 1
Cecconi 3 0 0 2 Fisher 3 0 1 0
Totals 23 6 7 5 Totals 28 1 6 1

2B — Korchock, Swanger, Giordano.

IP H R ER BB SO
PW
Robinson 4.1 6 6 1 3 0
Jones 1.1 1 0 0 0 0
Kravitz 0.1 0 0 0 0 0
Spring-Ford
Broderick 7 6 1 1 0 13
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Evan Wheaton

ewheaton

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