Council Rock North baseball using 2015 North Penn team as a guide

EAGLEVILLE – For the players on the Council Rock North baseball team, the thought of not winning back-to-back District 1 trophies is disappointing, for sure.

Last year, the Indians outpaced North Penn for the D-1 title then the Knights went on to win the PIAA championship. CR North head coach Matt Schram reminded his players of that only moments after the Indians fell 3-1 to Pennridge in the District 1 Class AAAA championship game June 2 at Methacton High’s Robert Morris Childress Field.

“We obviously wanted to win this year – the fact that Council Rock North hasn’t done it before,” commented senior shortstop/pitcher Matt Hand.

“Coach Schram made a point to tell us that the team that was getting talked to about losing (the district 1 title game), they wound up winning the state championship.”

At this point, the best thing to do is look forward, said Matt.

“We’re worried about the next game; on to Monday,” he said. “The state championship is our next biggest goal and we’re going to do that.”

Monday marks the start of the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament where the Rock takes on District 12 runner-up Father Judge 1:30 p.m. at Neumann University (Pennridge faces District 3 rival Cumberland Valley 4 p.m. at Immaculata). Hand, who is 9-0 on the season, will start for North while senior Dan Hammer, a righthander with a 90-MPH fastball who has drawn major interest from MLB scouts, will get the nod for Judge.

The Indians hope to get the bats going early and often against the Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) rival Crusaders, something they had a hard time doing in the district final vs. the Rams.

“The two guys on the mound just did a great job; we didn’t have an answer for them,” said CR North head coach Matt Schram. “They mowed us down.”

Pennridge starter Andrew Mayhew limited the Rock to a lone hit in 5.1 innings of work. With a runner on first, senior Dan Long surrendered an infield single to right fielder Seth Luez before inducing a double-play ball to second base by first baseman Chase D’Arcangelo. Only an error at short prevented Pennridge (18-7) from hurling a shutout on this day.

Long ended the sixth-inning rally when he fanned Indians third baseman Tyler Nowmos.

“We were late today; we only had two or three hits,” added Hand. “I don’t think we were seeing the ball well today. (Mayhew) had good command of all his pitches and he was throwing his off-speed for strikes.

“He had us off-balance all day.”

With his team trailing 2-0, Hand might have had the greatest opportunity to break the game open when he came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the third inning.

“He threw me a fastball and I was kind of sitting on it,” explained Hande. “But he kind of jammed me a little bit and I didn’t really barrel it. I tried to put that one away but I definitely missed it.

“There’s nothing you can really do about it. We were just hoping to get more opportunities.”

In its last at-bats, North missed a golden chance to push a couple runs across the plate. Seniors James Closser and Jackson Parker reached, respectively, on a single and an error. Hoping to catch the Rams’ defense off guard, Cavan Tully followed with a two-strike bunt toward third base that looked perfect.

Unfortunately, Pennridge catcher Joe Robinson pounced on the ball and fired it to third base to cut down the lead runner before he reached the bag.

“It was a two-strike bunt and he got it down but I think we have to get a better lead off second base to begin with,” stated Hand. “We have to be expecting that ball.

“If (the batter) gets it in play, we need (the runner) at third base.

An inexperienced runner at second base may have proved to be the Rock’s undoing on the force play.

“We had a young guy pinch-running for us and he might have misread the ball a little bit,” admitted Hand.

Matt added that, while unfortunate, the game was NOT lost on the force at third base.

“Everyone’s going to look at that one play but it was the whole game. We left too many runners on base,” he said.

“We had a bunch of opportunities and we just couldn’t capitalize on it.”

For the game, the Indians stranded a total of eight baserunners including five left in scoring position. The Rams left just four runners on base in the championship.

Pennridge also outhit CR North 7-3 to claim its first District 1 title since 1987.

NOTES: Since the school split in 2002, the Indians have claimed three District 1 baseball trophies – 2003, 2010 and 2015.

Contact Steve Sherman at ssherman@21st-Centurymedia.com or @BucksLocalSport on Twitter