Murphy, Campbell set pace as Springfield tops Lower Moreland for District 1-4A title

PLYMOUTH >> It was a long time coming for Brian Murphy and his Springfield Township teammates.

One of eight senior starters in Friday’s District 1-4A baseball title game, Murphy had run the full gauntlet the prior three years, losing the district final as a freshman, missing the playoffs as a sophomore and losing a semifinal game he and his classmates felt was theirs last year. But that was all in the past and in the present, the Spartans are a team playing their best baseball of the year.

It wasn’t a typical Springfield win on Friday, with a lot of small ball sprinkled it, but it was exactly what the second-seeded Spartans needed to dethrone top seed and defending champion Lower Moreland 7-1 at Villanova Ballpark.

“We’ve been working a lot at practice on hitting, seeing a lot of pitches and hitting as many balls as possible,” Murphy said. “That really allowed me, and the rest of the team, to see the ball and hit as well as we could. We put up seven runs, which is a decent amount of runs, on a good team and I’m just really proud of my boys.”

Murphy, the senior catcher, left a major imprint on the game behind the plate guiding junior Jackson Campbell’s 88-pitch, three-hit gem and at the plate, reaching base all four times he stepped into the batter’s box. Defensively, he initiated a pickoff rundown that ended the third inning and masterfully handled a sac bunt in the fifth that allowed him to throw out the lead runner at second.

Normally a team that likes to swing away and let the power guys up top do the damage, the Spartans weren’t able to do it against Lions starter Matt Haggerty. So, coach Dennis Primavera decided to change things up and put in a steady diet of small ball that paid off in a four-run sixth inning that finally broke open a close game.

“It was one of those games where they were just trying too much,” Primavera said. “We went to small ball, and these guys have some talent so you saw what we did there in the sixth inning. We work on it every day at practice and those guys at the bottom of the order, I know what they can do because they work hard at it.”

Lower Moreland, with Haggerty battling, did all it could to stay in the game but a handful of errors eventually caught up to the top seed. Errors led to two Springfield Twp runs, a leadoff double in fourth turned into an out when the runner missed first base on the turn and the Spartans’ small-ball all added up.

“We didn’t play a clean game today, too many mistakes and they’re such a good baseball team we had to play a near-perfect game,” Lions coach Tony Martino said. “We weren’t expecting as much small-ball as they did, they kind of played our game today and executed. Usually, the team that executes wins and hat’s off to them.”

The Lions started out great. Haggerty needed just five pitches to retire the side in the top half of the first inning and Emmett Cousins worked a two-out walk to bring up mashing first baseman Connor Duddy.

Duddy delivered with a double that just barely eluded the glove of Max Perry to push the Lions up 1-0. Lower Moreland has hit, and hit well, for most of the year but after posting 13 runs in the district semifinal, the Lions’ bats never came to life Friday.

Still, it doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of the team’s five seniors and the solid core of underclassmen who will return next spring.

“It’s a great group, they work hard, they battle and they never give up,” Martino said. “They have great personalities and I enjoy coaching them. We just have to keep working hard and keep learning. We have a good core in place, we’ll need some younger guys to fill in, but it’s there for us.”

Murphy was the on-base machine, but he never actually crossed the plate. Sophomore Gabe Franzcyk courtesy ran all four times the senior catcher got on and the first three times, he came in to score key runs.

Springfield tied the game in the second inning when a Lower Moreland error on a rundown allowed Franzcyk to scoot home from third. He would then score the go-ahead run in the fourth inning when Campbell aided his own cause with an RBI groundout and Franzcyk was the first run to score in the Spartan’s four-run sixth.

“I know he’s going to make something happen, I love that kid and I’m happy he’s the one running the bases for me,” Murphy said. “I’m not too fast, so it’s nice to get that speed on the bases. He puts us in better position to be scoring runs.”

Campbell said he had no idea the Lions put up 13 runs last time out and all he was focused on was throwing his game. The junior, who missed three weeks to injury during the season, also gave a ton of credit to his catcher and his defense.

Kevin Keown made a spectacular play on a bunt to lead off the bottom of the third and Ryan Deal was solid as a rock at shortstop. Campbell only struck out one batter, but he also only walked on hitter and surrendered just three hits. When healthy, he and junior pitcher Ethan Hamilton have pushed each other to try and one-up the other’s previous outing.

“I just had to make my pitches, keep the ball down and hope they didn’t do anything with them,” Campbell said. “I have to compete with (Hamilton), we’re both gunning for that ace spot.”

Spartans No. 9 hitter Joe McLaughlin really got things going in the sixth inning when he put down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Deal. Perry then delivered the knockout shot with a two-run single he looped over the Lions’ drawn-in infielders.

“It all started coming together, Joey McLaughlin did great with that squeeze and that set it off,” Perry said. “I came up, was able to drive in a couple runs and we were really firing on all cylinders.

“Momentum’s been huge for us all year. In the first half of the year, we didn’t have much but we started to get some hits and put it together, so it’s really been a big part of our season.”

The Spartans will try to stay sharp next week and then head into the state tournament that begins June 3.

“This means so much to me and I know it means a lot to our other seniors too,” Murphy said. “It’s incredible, it’s the best feeling on the Earth right now. Being able to win this game, it means a lot to me, I was tearing up, I was a little emotional but it’s an awesome feeling sharing it with these guys.”

SPRINGFIELD TWP 010 104 1 – 7 6 0

LOWER MORELAND 100 000 0 – 1 3 2