LOWER GWYNEDD >> Cooper Natisin was dominant on the mound for Quakertown Tuesday afternoon. He threw a complete game three-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and no walks. It took eight innings for the Panthers to secure a win because Wissahickon’s Gavin Malloy also posted zeros across the scoreboard for seven innings.
In the top of the eighth, Natisin delivered on the offensive end. After Cole Reich’s two-out double, Natisin hit an RBI single to right field. He followed with a perfect bottom of the eighth to secure a 1-0 Suburban One League Liberty win over the Trojans at Wissahickon High School.
“I was early in the last two at-bats, but my first at-bat was a double to the wall,” Natisin said of the game-winning hit. “I knew I just had to stay back and stay on every pitch. A bloop to right field did the job.”
“We needed a big day out of him and he gave it to us,” Quakertown coach Jon Pallone said, “not only on the mound, he had a good day at the plate, too.”
The win keeps the Panthers (13-5, 12-2 SOL Liberty) within striking distance of first-place Plymouth Whitemarsh (13-1 SOL Liberty) in the league standings with two games to go. The Panthers travel to Hatboro-Horsham Thursday before closing the regular season at home against Abington next Tuesday. The Colonials have games at Upper Dublin and at home against Wissahickon.
“We have to go one game at a time,” Pallone said, complimenting Wissahickon and Malloy’s performance. “We can’t look at anything else. We can only take care of what’s in front of us at the time.”
Natisin faced 27 batters in the eight-inning win and allowed just five baserunners – three hits, an error and a hit batter.
“I was just pounding the zone,” he said. “Changeup and slider were both there today. I got them off-balance all the time. I was challenging guys, getting them to ground out.”
“(Natisin) works very fast, which I like,” Wissahickon coach Andy Noga said. “He just gets the ball and goes. You know he’s going to be around the strikezone. Today it seemed like he was majority fastball, changeup, but just from Cooper being around varsity baseball for the last three years, you know he’s going to compete out there.”
The most trouble Natisin faced was in the bottom of the fifth inning when Wissahickon’s first two batters reached base with a single and hit batter. Natisin got out of it with no runs and brought the momentum back to Quakertown when he caught a bunt in the air and doubled the lead runner off of second base. He followed that with a grounder to third to get out of the frame.
“I knew I had to throw it down the middle and let him bunt it,” Natisin said, “and just let the defense work. I just saw it off the bat and was like, ‘I think I can get it.’ I turned around and made a nice and easy throw. It was big.”
“We’ve been working a lot on bunting,” Noga said, “so the bunt double play right there was really unfortunate. Our offense has turned the corner of late, but when you run into a pitcher like Cooper you have to be able to capitalize on those opportunities because you don’t know how often you’re going to get them.”
Malloy also had an outstanding day on the mound in a tough-luck loss. He struck out five batters to no walks across eight innings and allowed one run on six hits. He stranded runners on second and third in the top of the first inning before hitting his stride and retiring 12 straight batters into the top of the fifth inning.
“We’ve been pitching that way all year,” Noga said. “Our pitching staff’s been outstanding. These are the types of ballgames we’ve been in all year. Gavin pitched outstanding. I thought we played really, really good defense behind him. We put ourselves in some good positions offensively and just couldn’t capitalize. Cooper (Natisin) matched Gavin, obviously, bettered him to walk away with the victory. It was a great pitching duel to be a part of, a good high school baseball game.”
The loss drops the Trojans (12-5, 9-5 SOL Liberty) out of contention for a league championship, but they still have the District 1-6A playoffs to look forward to. They entered Tuesday ranked No. 10 and the top eight teams earn a first-round bye before hosting a second-round matchup. Wiss visits Abington and PW in its final two games and could potentially move into the top eight with a pair of wins.
“We’ve got two big ones left,” Noga said. “Abington on Thursday night – their senior night. We know they’re going to give us their best shot. We have Adam (Hajdak) going that day so we feel confident going into it. We just have to take care of business and the rankings will play out as necessary.”
Quakertown 1, Wissahickon 0 (8 innings)
Quakertown 000 000 01 – 1
Wissahickon 000 000 00 – 0
WP: Cooper Natisin 8 IP 7 K 0 BB 3 H 0 R
LP: Gavin Malloy 8 IP 5 K 0 BB 6 H 1 R
2B: Q: Cooper Natisin, Cole Reich 2. W: Josh Palutis.
![CALN — Souderton’s Destini Smith set a meet record in winning gold in the triple jump while Central Bucks West’s Mimi Duffy defended her 400-meter dash title at the District 1 Track and Field Championships Saturday at Coatesville. Smith set a new standard in the Girls Class 3A triple jump with an effort of 41 feet, 10.50 inches, besting the 41 feet, 10-inch jump by West Chester Rustin’s Ava Alexander in 2023. “The key (to triple jump) was just getting my speed and technique right,” Smith said. “And once I got that right, it was perfect.” Smith was the lone […]](https://www.timesherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/LAN-L-DISTRICT1TRACK051824-04.jpg?w=525 "CALN — Souderton’s Destini Smith set a meet record in winning gold in the triple jump while Central Bucks West’s Mimi Duffy defended her 400-meter dash title at the District 1 Track and Field Championships Saturday at Coatesville. Smith set a new standard in the Girls Class 3A triple jump with an effort of 41 feet, 10.50 inches, besting the 41 feet, 10-inch jump by West Chester Rustin’s Ava Alexander in 2023. “The key (to triple jump) was just getting my speed and technique right,” Smith said. “And once I got that right, it was perfect.” Smith was the lone […]")
