North Penn wins in 7th over Souderton
TOWAMENCIN >> With the playoffs drawing closer and victories harder to come by, Alex Peterson raced home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday, scoring the winning run for North Penn in a 6-5 victory over Souderton Area.
“You need to win games right now,” Knights coach Kevin Manero said, “so ultimately at this point in the season, the important thing is you walk away with the win.
“It’s a three-game week, and it’s a warm day on the last day of a three-game week, and we needed to dig deep and find a way.”
The Knights overcame three costly errors in the top of the seventh, which had helped Souderton to rally from 5-2 down that inning to tie the contest. In the bottom half, Peterson drew a one-out walk, Kadar Namey singled him over to second, and after Jake Schuster drew a walk with two outs to load the bases, Peterson scored on a pitch in the dirt by Big Red’s Thylar Summarell.
North Penn battled to its third straight victory, pushing its Suburban One League Continental record to 7-5, tied with Souderton (7-5) and trailing only Central Bucks South (8-3) and Pennridge (8-5) in a tightly-bunched conference.
“All year, we’ve been having a real hard time winning one-run games,” Manero said. “We had four one-run losses, and sometimes you find a way to win one.”
Zach Thomas got the win in relief for the Knights, coming on in the seventh with two men on and no outs, and NP ahead 5-3.
Summarell, who came on in the fifth for Big Red, took the loss but had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a towering RBI double to right center that brought the Indians within 5-2 in the sixth.
Souderton sent nine batters to the plate in the seventh, getting a double from No. 9 hitter Derek Freed, a bunt single from Luke Barnum and an infield single by Summarell to help Big Red draw even.
North Penn played error-free ball the first five innings but made four errors in the final two. Big Red, as well, was trying to overcome some costly miscues.
“We put the ball in play most of the game but they just made the plays,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said. “Against a good team like North Penn, a hot team like North Penn, you have to show up a full seven innings. We battled back. I asked them in the seventh to show me energy and they showed me energy.
“Today, we made mistakes that gave (North Penn) runs. I can think of four runs right off the bat that gave them runs. We had four double-play opportunities and didn’t turn one of them. That’s the stuff we have to work on and execute in games.”
Knights leadoff Zack Miles singled and later scored on an error to put NP in front 1-0 in the first, and then Ryan Bealer drove in a run in the second and Nate O’Donnell scored on a double steal to make it 3-0.
An RBI single by Connor Lennon sliced the margin to 3-1 in the fourth for Souderton, but then in the fifth, Miles lined a single to left, Mason Nadeau drew a walk, and both would score on a Big Red error, increasing the margin to 5-1.
Souderton rallied back but Peterson’s speed on the base paths ended it for NP.
“We did get some base runners and we put together some patient at-bats, which I think helps,” Manero said. “It was our turn to take advantage of some mistakes. Nobody’s gonna be perfect in high school baseball, and when you get an opportunity, you gotta run with it.”
North Penn has a non-league contest Friday night at Hostelley Field against crosstown rival Lansdale Catholic while Souderton also is home for a non-league match-up, against Archbishop Ryan.
Both North Penn and Souderton have two final conference contests next week.
