TOWAMENCIN — After giving up a solo bomb to start the top of the second, North Penn righthander Nick Palovich didn’t panic.
After ceding another run the following inning, which put his club in a 2-0 hole, Palovich stayed the course.
On a sun-drenched Monday, Mr. Cool didn’t flinch.
His pitches were mostly working. His curveball was biting today, the way a dog sometimes surprises its owner by winning the tug of war with a sharp jolt, freezing some hitters and making others just flail.
Every now and then, Palovich peeked through with some just nasty stuff.
“Every single pitch is something new,” Pavolich said. “The entire game is just a game of adjustments, adapting, and having a short memory. I know these guys are going to give me some run support, so I’m just gong to do my job and keep throwing pitches.
“I throw mainly a fastball and curveball, but my curveball is my bread and butter,” he said. “That’s really my pitch. That was working well today.”
In the end, it was Palovich who owned No. 19 Ridley, working in and out of mild trouble, and then locking down a six-inning, 3-2 victory in the opening round of the District 1 Class 6A playoffs.
Trevor Lugara picking up a 10-pitch save in the final frame. He will start Wednesday, as 14th-seeded North Penn travels to No. 3 Methacton, which had an opening-round bye.
“Nick was great,” North Penn coach Kevin Manero said. “He gave up a couple early runs and had to throw some extra pitches, but he really battled. Those zeros he put up in the later innings really gave us a chance.
“We’re an experienced team, but were still a young team,” Manero said. “It has taken us a lot of the year to find our identity, if you will. We still have some guys who I think have a lot of growth ahead of them. … Experience pays dividends this time of year, and we do have five guys that were in the starting lineup on the last day of the season last year, in the state semifinal.
“That certainly helps, but the biggest thing we have going for us, from an intangibles standpoint, is that every guy comes in here expecting to play baseball deep into May,” he said. “Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, but they certainly expect it.”
A solo home run by catcher Dan Stickney, who yanked a no-doubter over the right-field fence, put the Raiders (8-11-1) up 1-0 in the second inning. They tacked on another run in the third, on an RBI groundout by John Teehan, following base hits by Bryant Cauthorn and Bobby Doherty.
North Penn got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Josh Martinell and Luke Chartrand.
The Knights added two more runs in the fifth, when A.J. Briggs deposited a bases-loaded single into shallow left-center field. It came after Chase Jones was hit by a pitch, Ben Farley singled to left, and Kevin Brace was hit by a pitch.
“We were trying to put as much pressure on them as we could,” said Ridley coach Tom Carey, in his first year at the helm. “We were running, hitting and running, and some of that did help. It’s a shame that Danny’s home run came when nobody was on base.
“But the guys played well defensively,” he said. “That’s a very strong North Penn team, and they’re very well-coached. But I’m proud of the way our guys stuck in it.”
The defeat spoiled a solid outing by Ridley righthander Chris Kimmel, who scattered eight hits and four strikeouts over seven frames.
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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc
