Shaw makes his shot count as Souderton tops Dock Mennonite on Senior Day

LOWER SALFORD >> Dean Shaw trying to swing for the fences.

The Souderton senior hasn’t gotten a lot of at-bats this year, but that hasn’t stopped him from showing up to practices and games every day ready to work hard and do his team needs. It’s a trait the rest of Shaw’s senior classmates embody and it’s a big reason why the Indians won the SOL Continental this year.

Given a chance to use his bat on Friday, Shaw didn’t waste it, hitting a three-run home run as Souderton topped Dock Mennonite 4-1 on Senior Day at the Harleysville Community Center.

“It felt amazing,” Shaw said. “I’m not playing in college and with this being my last year of baseball, that was the first home run of my high school career, so it was awesome being able to get it on this day.”

Souderton has more than a starting lineup worth of seniors this spring, so the Indians were able to roll out an entire batting order worth of seniors, with a couple of usual starters ceding their spots to guys like Shaw, Danny Pineda and Austin Jones. Right away, those starters made an impact.

Pineda made a tremendous catch deep in center field to rob Dock standout Nolan Bolton of an extra-base hit in the top half of the first. Catcher Billy Norbeck threw out a runner to end the first inning and cut down another runner trying to take third base to end the third inning.

“I’ve only really been base-running this year, so I’ve been on the bench most of the time,” Shaw said. “It’s a brotherhood here, everyone shows up and if you’re not starting, your job is to be here to motivate your teammates.”

Senior Evan Bromley led off the second with a double and Pineda was hit by a pitch with two outs to turn the lineup over. Shaw, who had reached on an error his first time up, was determined to make something happen.

“I got up there and said to myself ‘I’m swinging as hard as I can and I am ripping this ball,’” Shaw said. “Thankfully, that’s what happened.”

The ball flew off Shaw’s bat, landing just over the left-center fence at the base of the Vic Alderfer Memorial Ball Park scoreboard. Shaw rounded third, getting a low-five from coach Mike Childs before letting out a yell of celebration and getting mobbed at home plate by his teammates.

“I didn’t really think it was going out,” Shaw, who is attending the University of Delaware to study biomedical engineering, said. “I just hit it and started running, that was it.”

Dock coach Jim Smith had no issues with his team’s effort on Friday save for a lack of a big hit. The Pioneers had at least one runner reach in five of the seven innings and pitcher Mason Keller threw a really good six innings.

Playing in the BAL, Dock doesn’t see many teams with the total lineup depth that Souderton has and with the Indians being a local rival, it’s the type of game Smith wants on the nonleague schedule.

“It’s always a great game, we want to make sure we try to keep everything local and showcase the talent we have in the area,” Smith said. “Mason did a great job of competing all day long. That’s the kind of game we’re playing, it’s a low-scoring affair. He did his job and did a great job.”

Keller wasn’t the only pitcher who was up for the game. Souderton starter Andrew Curran threw four solid innings, with the senior allowing just one unearned run on Christian Rush’s RBI double in the third.

Senior Aaron Groller, who’s been battling an arm injury most of the year, came on in relief of Curran and pitched two strong innings. The left-hander said he felt a lot better than his last outing and he struck out four of the eight hitters he faced.

“It was a good day, we’ve all put in four years of work that builds to this game and it was good for all of us to be appreciated for a day,” Groller said. “I feel like it’s brought us together more as a team, even though some kids aren’t playing, the bench contribution is so big to this team.

“It felt good today, it felt a lot better and I think I’m on the right track. I was just looking to throw more strikes.”

Moses Clemens, one of the usual starting seniors who gave up his spot, added an RBI double in the fifth inning.

Souderton’s quest for the top overall seed in the District 1-6A bracket took a hit with a loss to Neshaminy on Thursday, but Shaw and Groller were still confident this team will do some damage in the postseason. The Indians have been close for a few years, but this senior class feels like it has the right mix to break through into the state tournament.

“We have a lot of personal confidence,” Groller said. “We know what we can do on the field, we stick up for each other and all of us together, we just play well.”

Dock has four straight District 1 titles and the Pioneers are approaching the postseason playing their best baseball of the year. They get a shot at New Hope-Solebury next week and have gained confidence with wins over Holy Ghost Prep and Lower Moreland in the latter half of the year.

“The second half of the year, we’ve been treating these games as state trial runs,” Smith said. “We’re trying to play these bigger teams by playing up to the occasion and trying to make ourselves ready for that kind of run.

“We’ve been becoming a unit all year long, we’ve been gelling together, finding ourselves and finding a way to get the lineup to be one cohesive unit.”

SOUDERTON 4, DOCK MENNONITE 1
DOCK MENNONITE 001 000 0 – 1 1 2
SOUDERTON 030 010 x  – 4 4 1
HR: S – Dean Shaw. 2B: S – Moses Clemens, Evan Bromley; D – Christian Rush.