Plymouth Whitemarsh handles Hatboro-Horsham to improve district chances
WHITEMARSH >> Both teams knew the importance of Tuesday afternoon’s game.
Plymouth Whitemarsh and Hatboro-Horsham are fighting for spots in the District 1 Class-6A playoffs. PW entered Tuesday’s contest as the No. 17 seed while HH was No. 22. The top 20 teams earn a postseason berth.
The Colonials improved their chances and hurt the Hatters’ with a 10-0 Suburban One League American Conference win in six innings at Colonials Field at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
“What we didn’t ever want to do was put our backs against the wall,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “At this point coming into this game, we knew we controlled our own destiny. As long as we keep winning, we’ll be in good shape. I think every game coming up here is extremely important. To start this week with a win really puts us in a spot where we wanted to be.”
“A big game today but the rest are just as important,” PW’s Brad Krenicky said. “We have to keep winning. Same mentality for the rest of the season — keep the pedal to the metal and don’t stop wanting that top seed. Between our pitching and our defense it was overall a good day. Hopefully we can carry that throughout the rest of the season.”
“It’s very deflating,” Hatters coach Pete Moore said. “I would’ve liked to see us compete a little bit better, put together some better at-bats. To lose a 10-0 game — it hurts. It hurts in a game like this where I felt like coming into this if we could have won this it would have put us in the right direction going into our last two league games to finish .500. I think somebody is going to get in at .500 this year. It would’ve been nice for us to give our guys a shot to get in the playoffs.”
PW got it done in all facets of the game.
Brett Bottinger started on the mound and threw a complete game shutout. He struck out eight batters to one walk and allowed just two hits.
“He keeps guys off balance,” Manero said. “He can be sneaky fast. Today he definitely cranked it up a little bit. He’s well-rested — he actually missed his last start because of a stomach virus. I think he came out today a little extra amped up.”
Hatboro’s leadoff batter in the first inning was the only one to reach second base against Bottinger. The left-hander never faced more than four batters in an inning.
Offensively for the Colonials it was the meat of the order that did the damage. Krenicky and Jacob Nunez combined for six RBI, two triples and a home run.
“We juggled the lineup a little to begin this week,” Manero said. “Nunez had been leading off. Brad had been batting fourth. We put (Stephen) Longo at leadoff, moved Nunez to four, moved Brad to three. The last two days both those guys have picked up some big hits for us.”
“It’s one of a kind,” Krenicky added. “We (Krenicky and Nunez) feed off each other. If it’s Nunez above me or vice versa, it’s just feeding off each other and piecing things together … Chemistry has been good recently.”
Hatboro-Horsham had some tough luck early on. Ace pitcher Alex Crim got the start and had to leave the game after three batters when he felt something in his right shoulder. He recorded one out, walked Ben Mascio and gave up a triple to Krenicky before exiting.
“He’s our senior,” Moore said. “He’s going to Rider next year. We’ve given him the ball in all the big games.”
PW took a 2-0 lead in the first when Krenicky tripled home Mascio and scored on a Nunez single.
Two more runs came across in the third on Krenicky’s two-run home run.
The game blew wide open in the fifth. PW put up four runs to take a commanding 8-0 advantage. Matt Mitchell, Jack Mangan, Kevin Reilly and Mike Orensky each knocked in one run.
The game ended in the bottom of the sixth when Nunez hit a two-run triple to put the 10-run mercy rule into effect.
