When teams looked at their schedule and saw Archbishop Wood coming up, they implemented a strategy — do not let Joey Lancellotti beat you.
Teams avoided the junior by pitching around him. He was walked 26 times in 22 games.
That strategy, however, was not successful.
Lancellotti still led the team in most offensive categories and led the Vikings to a District 12 Class AAA championship. And that is why he is the 2016 Montgomery area Player of the Year.
He led Wood in hits (26), runs (26), average (.473), triples (1), home runs (4) and RBI (21). He struck out just six times and posted a .640 on base percentage.
“Especially in the beginning of the year I was very antsy and jumping out at the ball,” Lancellotti said. “I had to learn how to be more patient — just not swinging at every ball near the strike zone — waiting for your pitch, sitting back, not getting too anxious when the ball did come to me.”
The Bensalem native has been a key member of the Vikings since he first joined the team. He batted in the No. 5 spot as a freshman, bumped up to third as a sophomore and stayed there as a junior while taking on more leadership responsibilities.
“My sophomore year we had a lot of senior leadership,” Lancellotti said. “We had two really good captains, so my leadership role wasn’t as big. It really came into play my junior year where I had to take charge of the team along with the other captains and just be a role model for the younger kids that we had on our team and just lead our team into the best direction we could go.”
Lancellotti’s decorated junior season did not get off to the best start. He had mononucleosis at the end of January and an enlarged spleen was hurting his comeback. He was unable to throw for a couple of months, so he started a one-month throwing program that went into the middle of the season.
He moved from his sophomore home of right field to second base for two reasons — a shorter throw while building up his arm strength and to make up for the lack of infielders Wood had due to 2015 graduates.
A dynamic pitcher as a sophomore, Lancellotti wasn’t able to pitch until the later parts of the 2016 season due to the illness. He appeared in four games and went 1-0 with a 0.72 ERA in 9.2 innings. He struck out 15 batters compared to six walks.
He sees his future in the outfield and pitching. When he graduates from Wood next season, he will be attending the University of North Carolina.
He committed to the Tar Heels during the summer between his freshman and sophomore years.
“It’s definitely getting more normal,” Lancellotti said of committing at such a young age. “Everyone doesn’t do it that early. I was down there on campus for a tournament actually and I was pitching a game down there and I threw very well. They had me on a visit on campus right after the game.
“It was definitely my dream school since I was a little kid, so I was very excited for the visit. When I visited it was everything I expected. I loved it. I loved the coaching staff, so we talked it over and I told them there is no point in waiting around for other schools because I knew that was going to be my favorite so I just committed right on the spot.”
Coming off a Philadelphia Catholic League championship in 2015, Wood was disappointed with its quarterfinal exit from the league playoffs this season.
A young team with a year of experience, Lancellotti expects them to return to form in 2017.
“We only lose one of our pitchers and our team is pretty good,” he said. “We have six or seven starters returning. It will be good.”
