Dan Errigo, Neshaminy silence Plymouth Whitemarsh bats in District 1-6A semifinals

WHITEMARSH >> Plymouth Whitemarsh had plenty of chances to score against Neshaminy.

The Colonials had runners in scoring position in four of the seven innings Tuesday afternoon, but never came through with a hit against Redskins pitcher Dan Errigo.

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s only run came on a bases loaded wild pitch as its District 1 championship dreams came to an end in the Class 6A semifinals against Neshaminy, 3-1, at Colonial Yards at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

The sixth-seeded Colonials left seven runners on base in the game — five of which were in scoring position.

“We created a lot of opportunities today,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “We didn’t give anything away. Whoever was going to win this game … One team was just going to be a little bit better than the other. Our guys should feel confident that they created those opportunities. We had some big hits, we just left some guys out there. That’s something to learn from.

“We can still find ways to learn from what didn’t work. We hopefully have a lot of baseball left and using that, ingraining that in our mind of leaving those guys out there, that’s a goal and that’s a motivator going into the rest of this thing.”

The first scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the first inning. Kevin Reilly was left at second base after a two-out double.

In the third, Richie Werner led off with a double that was inches away from being a home run and advanced to third on a wild pitch with no outs. After a fly ball wasn’t deep enough to score him, he got thrown out at the plate on a grounder to shortstop. Reilly walked to put runners on first and second, but Neshaminy’s Errigo got out of the jam.

PW’s best opportunity came in the bottom of the fifth. Joe Jaconski hit a two-out double, Drew Kliesh got hit by a pitch and Reilly walked to load the bases. Jaconski scored on a wild pitch and the other runners advanced to put the tying run on second and the go-ahead run at the plate, but Errigo was able to get Ben Mascio to ground out to first.

The Colonials last chance came in the bottom of the seventh. Mike Orensky led off with a single and moved to second on a throwing error. He never advanced past second. Errigo tallied a strikeout and back-to-back infield pop ups to end the game and send the Redskins to their first district championship game since they won the title in 1992.

“Danny’s a stud,” Neshaminy first baseman Dalton Turner said of his pitcher. “He does his job every single time and everything we ask of him he does. It’s amazing. Kid’s a great player.”

Errigo scattered four hits over seven innings while striking out three batters to three walks.

“He mixes his pitches up nicely,” Manero said of what makes the Neshaminy right-hander tough. “He uses the whole plate, which is good. We didn’t have opportunities to walk too much. We had to create opportunities against him. That part we did, it was just a matter of getting a big hit when we needed to. Maybe we chased a couple pitches, which is uncharacteristic of our guys, but the moment sometimes does that to you. Every pitcher you’re going to see is good. It’s a matter of trying to be a little bit better.”

No. 7 Neshaminy got all the offense it needed in the top of the second. Turner and Tyler Jones started the inning with back-to-back doubles to make it 1-0. Gus Natelli sacrifice bunted Jones to third before Tom Pease worked a two-out walk. Pease got caught in a rundown between first and second while Jones crossed the plate to double the lead to 2-0.

The Redskins added another run in the fourth when Turner led off with a solo home run to left-center field.

“We had a little bit of film from YouTube we were watching,” Turner said of PW pitcher Mascio. “We knew he had a 12-6, had a slider, hard fastball. That’s pretty much all we had on him.

“I was sitting fastball all game pretty much. Sit fastball, adjust curve. He gave me a fastball right down the plate both times and I took advantage of it.”

Mascio went 6 1/3 innings for PW. He struck out three batters to two walks and allowed three runs on six hits.

“Ben’s performance today was outstanding again,” Manero said of his lefty with a sub-one ERA. “The deeper we get, all of our pitchers know, nothing is going to come easy. Three runs over seven innings — that wins you most baseball games, but in the postseason someone is going to match you. Ben should absolutely be confident that he was strong today, he was sharp today. If Ben pitches like that, nine out of 10 games the rest of the year we’re walking out of here a winner.”

Neshaminy will face No. 5 Central Bucks South, a 5-3 semifinals winner over No. 5 Downingtown East in six innings, in the championship Thursday at Immaculata University at 4 p.m.

Plymouth Whitemarsh will face Downingtown East Thursday in the third place game.