North Penn falls short in PIAA-6A semifinals to Father Judge

ASTON >> North Penn’s season came to an end with a 4-1 loss to Father Judge in the PIAA-6A state semifinals Tuesday afternoon at Bruder Field on the campus of Neumann University.

Nick Shiffler’s RBI single gave the District 12 champion Crusaders a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning. They added two insurance runs with two outs in the top of the sixth — the first on an error and the second on a Brooks Henderson double.

The Knights put runners in scoring position early in the game, but only managed one run when Ben Farley hit a two-out single in the bottom of the first. They left six runners on base in the first four innings. Five of those runners were in scoring position.

“I thought we were fully prepared for them,” North Penn senior Justin Egner said. “We were jumping on the fastball, they were just making plays behind him. I really thought we were confident coming into it — I think we all were.”

“Today we had some chances,” North Penn coach Kevin Manero said. “We just didn’t square up at the right time today like we’ve been doing all playoffs. “We’ve been getting a lot of big hits lately. You saw we put up 10 against one of the best pitchers in the state in Hazleton. Then we came out against Liberty and every time they had a run we answered back with a big hit. We put up nine in our first district playoff game. We’ve been really tenacious and I think our guys were very prepared today. We just didn’t find those barrels in the right spots.”

The Knights only managed one basrunner over the final three innings – a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth. Tim Gress earned the win on the mound for Judge. He struck out five batters to one walk in six innings and allowed one run on six hits. David Rodriguez threw a perfect seventh inning for the save. Trevor Lugara took the loss for North Penn.

He allowed four runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out three batters to one walk. Henry Wetzel threw 1 1/3 shutout innings in relief.

North Penn’s season ends with a Suburban One League Colonial Division championship and appearances in the District 1-6A semifinals and PIAA-6A state semifinals. The seniors, who reached the state semis in 2021 as sophomores, led the team back to this point after a down 8-11 season in 2022.

“Not a lot of people get to do this,” Egner said. “Not a lot of people in North Penn history have been able to experience this. I just love that I got to do it with these kids right now and the team I did back in ’21.”

Judge took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Henderson — who went 3-for-4 — singled, advanced to second on a walk and third on a balk, scored on Sean Moore’s groundout to shortstop.

The Crusaders will play for the state championship Friday at Penn State University against the winner of Cedar Cliff and Mount Lebanon.

Father Judge 4, North Penn 1
Father Judge 101 002 0 – 4 11 1
North Penn 100 000 0 – 1 6 1
WP: Tim Gress 6 IP 5 K 1 BB 6 H 1 T
LP: Trevor Lugara 5.2 IP 3 K 1 BB 10 H 4 R
S: David Rodriguez 1 IP 0 K 0 BB 0 H 0 R
2B: FJ: Brooks Henderson 2. NP: Brady Dolder, Chase Jones.