Monday’s PIAA losses don’t define teams’ seasons

Monday was a rough day for Reporter/Montgomery area teams in state playoff games.
Five teams, Christopher Dock, Pennridge and Archbishop Wood baseball and Archbishop Wood and St. Basil softball, lost their first round PIAA games. Three of the losses were by a single run, a fourth by two runs and two of them came in extra innings.
Each team will look at one or two specific areas most, whether it was fielding errors for Dock, walks for Wood baseball or that missing timely hit for the softball squads, and lament how the season ended. But it’s more coincidence than anything that all five teams lost on the same day.
The opening game of states in baseball usually pits ace pitcher against ace pitcher while in softball, the ace pitches nearly every inning of every game. It’s a big reason why there aren’t many lopsided scores in these first-round matchups.
It also doesn’t take away what each team accomplished leading up to the state tournament.
Pennridge won its first District I title since 1987, well before any player on the roster was even born. All season, coach Tom Nuneviller emphasized “maximize winning streaks and minimize losing streaks” and his Rams did just that, finishing the year 18-8 and placing second in a very tough SOL Continental conference with a 9-5 SOL record.
In the district tournament, the Rams went on a run that would have made Mad Max proud, going road warrior on the bracket. They won at Garnet Valley, then upset to-seeded Interboro, won a wild game at Marple-Newtown, then handled Boyertown in a neutral site semi and topped a solid CR North team in the district final.
In order to advance that far in the postseason, a team needs more than one or two guys to deliver consistently and that’s just what the Rams got. Senior Dan Long capped off his high school career with another stellar season in the field, at the plate and on the mound but he wasn’t alone.
When junior Andrew Mayhew, the team’s top arm, was sidelined early in conference play, junior Ian Kacergis stepped up and pitched very well. With both coming back along with junior catcher Joe Robinson, the Rams have an early start on their pitching staff next year though the contributions of Long and fellow seniors Austin Rodenberger and Nate Coyle will have to be replaced on the hill.
Losing Andrew Horne, Riley Hager and Mitch McLeod takes three good bats out of the lineup alongside Long’s but guys like Luke Nuneviller, Kyle Yoder and Andrew Fantaskey showed they could hit consistently.
The SOL conferences are shaking up a bit next season, but many of the current Continental teams will stay grouped together and the likes of CB South, CB West, Souderton and North Penn are bringing plenty back and they’ll all want what Pennridge got this year.
For Dock, a bad game doesn’t tell the story of what it did this season. The Pioneers finished the year 21-2 and won the BAL Presidents with a 14-1 conference mark. They also won their second straight District I-A title.
Like Pennridge, Dock got a load of contributions from many players. Junior Daniel Sabath was at times untouchable on the hill and has set himself up for a strong senior season with David Keller also returning as a capable arm.
Coach Ed Melendez wanted his hitters and runners to be aggressive and it led to an offense that mashed the ball and had a lot of fun while doing it. Senior catcher Tim DiLoreto was an excellent leadoff man, surpassing 100 career hits during the season while Tyler Alderfer was a menace on the basepaths whenever he got on.
Senior Rashid Saint-Fleur and junior Andrew Walters rounded out the top four of the lineup and they produced a lot of runs for an offense that won a lot of run-rule games in the regular season. Walters joins Sabath and Keller in the returning core, which also includes Justin Burkholder, Nolan Bolton and Ryan Nichols.
It was another strong season for Wood’s baseball program with the Vikings finishing second in the PCL regular season standings and taking their third straight District 12 AAA title. They couldn’t break their first-round state hex, falling to a District 3 team for the third year in a row but Wood still put together a good campaign after losing several key players from last year.
Ryan Logan transferred from Lansdale Catholic for his senior year, and made an immediate impact, winning PCL Pitcher of the Year and taking the ace mantle. Senior Sean Kelly moved back to his spot at catcher and was strong bat at cleanup with Logan and Joey Lancellotti hitting in front of him.
It was a senior heavy lineup for the Vikings, but a few underclassmen made key impacts like Sam Reynolds at third base and Mike Ferrara at first base. Likewise, the pitching staff had a number of key underclassmen arms including No. 2 starter Sean Hughes and top reliever Kody Cracknell.
While Wood baseball has been used to postseason play the last few seasons, that hasn’t been the case for the softball team. After a sub-.500 finish last year, the Vikings had a breakout year in 2016, finishing second in the PCL during the regular season. While they had a tough loss in the PCL quarterfinals, they were still able to contend for the District 12 title and won it.
Second-year coach Kevin Rosini had great leaders in his five seniors, especially first baseman Andria Narisi, a four-year starter. Sophomore Marisa Browne, a transfer from St. Basil, was electric, winning the PCL Pitcher of the Year while outfielder Taylor Carter was in the mix for league MVP.
Wood will miss the leadership and focus of its seniors, but with underclassmen like Sophia Kent, Jules Donchez, Gia Lancellotti and Delanie Boyk back, they have the pieces to build on this year’s run.
St. Basil had quite a run the last three years, winning back-to-back-to-back District I AA titles. Unfortunately for the Panthers, their bats couldn’t produce off a good pitcher in states, losing in extra innings thanks to the tiebreaker rule that has very few fans.
It marked the end for a decorated senior class that led the program to its first state win two years ago and all the way to the state semifinals last year. Senior second baseman Abby Carter, an outstanding defender, is an all-state caliber player and Amanda Clark drove in a lot of runs for the Panthers.
With nine seniors on the roster, St. Basil will have a much different look next season.