Loading your audio article
WHITEMARSH >> Downingtown East will play for a district championship for the first time in program history.
The eighth-seeded Cougars defeated No. 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh, 10-0, in the District 1-6A semifinals Tuesday afternoon at Colonial Yards at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
“We’re really excited,” East pitcher Mike Devenney said. “First we wanted to win the league, but we came up one game short of that in a rain delay. I think this district tournament means a lot to us because we feel like we feel like we got cheated out of our league championship. We’re coming, ready to get a district championship.”
“This means everything,” East shortstop Ethan Bojko said. “I think this team is really special, especially the togetherness we have on this team. Probably playing (Downingtown) West, so it should be a good game.”
Downingtown East will face No. 6 Downingtown West, a 7-5 winner over No. 7 Central Bucks East, in the championship game Thursday at 4 p.m. at Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth.
Devenney earned the win for the Cougars (16-5), throwing five shutout innings. He struck out six batters to four walks and surrendered five hits. The right-hander didn’t feel like he had his best stuff, but he delivered when it mattered. He allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in all five innings – and the first two batters to reach base three times – but got out of all of the jams without allowing any runs.
“Great defense,” Devenney credited for surviving the tough situations. “I have a lot of confidence in the guys behind me… They turned three or four huge double plays today and that was massive in getting me out of big innings, keeping my pitch count lower.”
The first double play came in the bottom of the first inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Christian Strunk ripped a line drive to shortstop. Bojko made a leaping grab and doubled the runner off second base to end the inning.
“I think we were just in the right spot at the right time,” Bojko said.
“(The first-inning double play) set the tone for us, really. It was a huge play.”
“(Bojko has) taken a big leadership role on this team as a younger guy,” Devenney said. “He played a lockdown shortstop for us. I love having him out there.”
The defense turned another double play in the bottom of the fourth and, after Devenney exited the game and Dylan Hansen was on the mound, a third in the bottom of the sixth.
“I thought our approach against a very good pitcher was good,” Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Chris Manero said. “We worked deep counts, we worked at-bats, we got guys on to start innings. We just need to finish. I’ll give (Devenney) credit – he did a nice job throwing strikes with traffic, but we just have to look for something there. I’ll beat myself up a little bit – maybe we should have tried to manufacture a little bit even when we were down early, but it wasn’t so much the approach. It was a matter of executing when we had the opportunities.”
The Cougars offense played small ball and capitalized when runners got on base.
In the top of the third inning, Will Roth worked a leadoff walk and moved to second on Jake Lerch’s sacrifice bunt. Roth moved to third on a grounder to shortstop and the ball was thrown away, allowing him to score what proved to be the game-winning run.
After a wild pitch and a walk, a first-and-third steal situation led to another PW error and Sam Bates scored to make it a 2-0 East lead in the top of the third.
“The only games this year where we have come up on the wrong end have been days when we’ve made defensive mistakes,” Manero said. “It’s a stark comparison. There haven’t been many. We’re 17-6. We’ve only lost six games all season, but those game are the only games we made mistakes. This team has been very good defensively and very good fundamentally. When you play good teams at this level of the playoffs you can’t give anything. Take everything you can get, but you can’t give anything. I think we paid the price for that today.”
Conor Kelly led off the top of the fourth with a double and advanced to third on Bojko’s sacrifice bunt. Ryan Kuzmick followed with an RBI triple and scored on Roth’s single to the right side to make it 4-0.
“Any way to get the runs home,” Bojko said. “Small ball, sac flies, anything. Get the runs home – it’s all that matters.”
The Cougars laid down another sacrifice bunt and the Colonials committed two more errors in a six-run seventh inning to put the game away. Two runs scored on wild pitches and one on an error while Kyle Mandirola plated one with a bases loaded walk. Kelly had an RBI groundout and Bojko an RBI triple.
Plymouth Whitemarsh, which played in the district semifinals for the third time in five seasons, will host CB East in the third-place game Thursday before heading to states.
“That game determines how you feel going into states,” Manero said. “Last year we lost the semi and then we lost the playback by a run. (In) 2019 we lost the semi then won the playback game and won our first state game. I think it means a lot for how you go into states. Especially after a loss – you want to pick yourselves back up and we know Thursday’s game is going to be tough and everything is going to be hard from here on out.”
Downingtown East 10, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0
Downingtown East 002 200 6 – 10
Plymouth Whitemarsh 000 000 0 – 0
WP: Mike Devenney 5 IP 6 K 4 BB 5 H 0 R
LP: Colin Brady 6.1 IP 4 K 5 BB 5 H 6 R
2B: DE: Conor Kelly 2. PW: Gabe Caucci.
3B: DE: Ryan Kuzmick, Ethan Bojko.
