Wiffle ball session helps to provide right spark for Harriton baseball squad

West Chester – With their district playoff berth quickly fading and his team mired in a three-game losing streak, Harriton baseball coach Scott Kurzinsky decided to show his team how much the game is meant to be – by using a practice day to play wiffle ball.
“The team was not having fun and they were getting down on themselves,” said Kurzinsky, following his team’s 11-5 win over West Chester Henderson in the opening round of the district one Class AAAA playoffs Tuesday. “It’s high school baseball and you’re supposed to have fun. They have been a resilient group all year and it seemed to get them back on track.”
“To have someone re-instill how much fun the game is supposed to be was awesome,” said junior Don DiLoreto, who pitched the final three innings. “It was great to see and hear Coach K talk about how baseball is supposed to be fun and it definitely helped loosen the team up.”
The result of dialing back the intensity of a regular practice and re-living childhood memories certainly paid off for a resilient Rams team who earned a hard-fought win over Springfield (Delco) to help them land the 19th seed in the PIAA District One Class AAAA tournament.
On Tuesday, what started off as a pitcher’s duel between Harriton sophomore Jonah Frankel and West Chester Henderson senior Ryan Tench turned into an offensive barrage for the visitors, who would push across nine runs over the last three innings to advance to the second round where they faced No. 3 seed Upper Dublin (the second-round game was played after this paper went to press).
The battle against Henderson was just the latest example of a resilient team who fought until the end to grind out another win. Facing a 4-2 deficit, the Rams offense woke up plating two runs in the fifth, four runs in the sixth and three insurance runs in the seventh to earn the come from behind win.
Keying the victory was the pitching combination of Frankel and DiLoreto, combined with the offensive attack led by Sean Mullen, who knocked in three runs and Aaron Deutsch and Ben Newbert who scored four runs and three runs, respectively.
Although this year’s Ram team featured only one upperclassman in the starting line-up, the other three seniors – Johnny Mann, Max Sturdivant and Ryan Hildebrandt – also played key leadership roles for a young team.
“Our seniors have been huge especially during our three game slide,” said DiLoreto. “Anthony (Calligaro) and Max (Sturdivant) have been very important for me. If I have a bad at-bat they are always there for support and have a valuable asset for the team.”
“We just want to be there for the team and pick everyone up and have them stay positive,” said Calligaro. “We have a good team and know that if you stay positive good things will happen.”