Catholic League pitchers continue to dominate in Carpenter Cup semifinals

PHILADELPHIA >> Pitching wins in the postseason. It doesn’t matter if it’s a conference playoff game, district playoff game or state playoff game — pitching comes through. It even gets the job done in postseason showcases.

The Philadelphia Catholic League pitched its way to a 3-1 Carpenter Cup semifinal victory over Suburban One League National/Bicentennial Tuesday morning at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

The Catholic League used six pitchers who combined to allow just one run over nine innings. They totaled eight strikeouts to four walks and seven hits.

“It’s pretty exciting,” PCL and Archbishop Wood coach Jim DiGuiseppe Jr. said. “That’s three games where they went out there and they’ve been pretty dominant. It’s good stuff. It’s exciting.

“They’re all leaders on their staffs, so to speak. They’ve been in some pressure type situations throughout the year. They just go out there, lock in and get after it.”

Neumann-Goretti’s Jeff Ciocco started and picked up the win. He allowed two hits over three scoreless innings while walking one batter and striking out three.

Teammate Ethan Pritchett followed with two shutout innings. He gave up two hits, struck out one batter and walked one.

The other four PCL pitchers threw one inning each.

Archbishop Carroll’s James Kelly threw a perfect sixth inning and Roman Catholic’s Aidan Welch a perfect seventh.

After the first two batters reached on a walk and an error in the eighth, Archbishop Wood’s Sean Hughes struck out three straight batters to end his inning. Teammate Kody Cracknell allowed one run in the ninth. He surrendered three hits — all in a row to start the inning — and walked one batter.

“It’s so solid,” Kelly said of the pitching group. “I go out and I know everyone is going to make the plays behind me. I can trust everybody. I feel like everything is working for us.”

“Give credit to the Catholic League pitching,” SOL National/Bicentennial and Abington coach Dave Torresani said. “You follow all the teams, but especially the ones in your bracket and you notice that their pitching is very, very tough and it was. Our pitching was great too and it was a great game.”

The SOL National/Bicentennial pitching staff kept the PCL offense in check. The Catholics’ first batter of the game scored and they were silenced until a two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth inning.

Roman’s Marquise Wood led off the game with a single and moved to second on a Gregg Sywulak (La Salle) single. Both advanced on a wild pitch and Wood scored on a John Coppola (St. Joe Prep) sacrifice fly.

“For a sophomore, Marquise really has such a bright future,” DiGuiseppe said. “He has so many tools. He’s been a lot of fun to coach over the last few weeks practicing and in games. What an upside that kid has.”

In the final inning, Archbishop Wood’s Bobby Heck was hit by a pitch with an 0-2 count and stole second. After a failed sacrifice bunt, Prep’s Jeff Manto singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Manto stole second and — after a walk to load the bases and a strike out for the second out — Bonner-Prendie’s Tim Dougherty brought both runners home with a single to extend the PCL lead to 3-0.

Other than those two instances, the SOL National/Bicentennial pitchers were lights out.

Christopher Dock’s Daniel Sabath threw the first three innings. He gave up the one run on two hits while striking out two batters and walking two.

Neshaminy’s Billy Meyer came on next and threw three shutout innings. He allowed two hits and no walks and struck out two batters.

Daniel Brace (Devon Prep) and Billy Bethel (Pennsbury) threw perfect seventh and eighth innings, respectively, combining for three strikeouts.

Council Rock North’s CJ Kilgarriff pitched the ninth inning, when he surrendered two runs on two hits and a walk. He struck out two batters.

“Through the whole tournament that’s what carried us — our pitching,” Torresani said. “We have a couple guys who didn’t pitch today … All through, every guy who pitched, pitched great. That’s why we got here. We didn’t hit the whole tournament. We took advantage of other team’s mistakes. We took advantage of the bunting game when you’re allowed to do it … You have to hit to win.”

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth, the SOL bats finally started going. Pennsbury’s Ryan McCarty led off with a double and Holy Ghost Prep’s Owen Foraker followed with a single. Council Rock South’s Evan Fisher singled to score McCarty, but Langston Livingston (La Salle) fired a strike from right field to throw out Foraker at third base.

Wood’s Cracknell sandwiched a fly out and fielder’s choice around a walk to end the threat and give the Catholics the victory.

“We fought,” Torresani said. “We came back in the ninth inning and we fought.”

Foraker getting thrown out at third wasn’t the team’s only base-running out of the game. Council Rock North’s Seth Leuz was thrown out stealing after a leadoff single in the second inning and Dock’s Tim DiLoreto was picked off first by the catcher after a leadoff single in the third.

“It’s just a shame because it’s a kid trying to make a play,” Torresani said of Foraker. “He’s hustling. During the regular season, he probably makes it, but in the excitement you forget the talent level on the field, but again let’s go back to — it’s a nine-inning game. There are lots of things that happen in a nine-inning game that get in the way. We just didn’t hit. That was the thing.”

The PCL will face Suburban One League American/Continental Friday at 10 a.m. at Citizens Bank Park for the championship.