Faith beats Delco Christian in 8, pulls off District 1-1A three-peat

EAST WHITELAND >> It was their third District 1-1A title in a row, and, like coach Ed Curry said, their hardest.

“Delco (Christian) — they’re such great competitors,” Curry said after his Faith Christian baseball team went eight innings to beat the rival Knights Thursday. “They beat us twice in the regular season and I felt like they beat us a couple times today.

“Neither team backed down.”

Peyton Curry doubled to deep left and came around to score on an error to put Faith up in the top of the eighth, and then a double play — including a rundown between third and home — ended things in the bottom half to give the Lions a hard-fought 4-3 victory at Immaculata University.

Said Jacob Davis, who went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI’s in the victory: “We were starting to get tired but our fight didn’t leave.”

The win sends No. 2 Faith (12-2) onto states while an impressive season for the top-seeded Knights (12-2) came to a close.

“My guys never quit. We battled the whole entire season,” said the Knights’ Tyler Rossini, who went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI on the field he’ll be playing his college ball at next season. “We beat them twice during the regular season but they came out with more fire, made more plays when it mattered most, and they got the win.”

Delco went up 2-0 in its first at-bat, with Rossini singling and later scoring on a wild pitch and David Miller reaching on an error then coming home on a second error by Faith. The Lions played error-free ball the rest of the way.

Faith cut into the lead in the second, when Davis smacked a double to right center to plate Peyton Curry.

“Jacob Davis is as hot as hot can get,” Ed Curry said.

Davis, who launched a homer in Faith’s semifinal win over Plumstead Christian, came through again in the sixth, when he ripped a single up the middle to bring in Parker Curry (walk).

“I came out here, brought the same swing (from Tuesday) and got a few big hits,” Davis said.
The Lions took their first lead in the seventh, when Aidan Fretz belted a triple and then scored on a single by Carter Heller. Back came Delco, which knotted things up on an RBI single by Rossini.

The two teams pressed into extras, with Peyton Curry supplying a two-out double. Parker Curry hit a tricky fly ball to right that Ben Iott tried to get to but dropped, allowing Peyton Curry to race home.

Joey Smith, who started the game for the Lions, returned to the mound in the eighth to lock things down. Penn Schmidt and Brett Tanis led off the inning with hits and moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Jeremiah Chow.

Iott followed with another bunt, was thrown out at first, and with Tanis racing to third, Schmidt had to try and make it to home but was caught in a rundown.

It didn’t come easy, making the win all the sweeter for the Lions.

“We were waiting for this all year,” Davis said. “It was a heck of a ride to get here.”

District 1-A Final
Faith Christian 4, Delco Christian 3 (8)
Faith Christian 010 001 11 — 4 5 2
Delco Christian 200 000 10 — 3 7 2
WP: Brendan Moyer (1IP, 1R, 1ER, 1H, 0K, 2BB).
LP: Rob Lucas (1IP, 1R, 0ER, 1H, 0K, 0BB).
3B: F-Aidan Fretz. 2B: FC-Peyton Curry, Jacob Davi.
Multiple hits: FC-Davis 2-for-4, 2RBI; DC-Tyler Rossini 3-for-4, R, RBI; Brett Tanis 2-for-3, BB.