Souderton gets revenge against Plymouth Whitemarsh, heads to PIAA 6A semifinals

WORCESTER >> He who laughs last laughs best.

Souderton got the last laugh in its postseason rivalry with Plymouth Whitemarsh.

After losing to the Colonials in the District 1 quarterfinals a couple weeks ago, the Indians got their revenge at the state level.

Souderton clicked on all cylinders and hammered Plymouth Whitemarsh, 11-1 in six innings, in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at Methacton High School.

The win sends the Indians to the state semifinals, where they will face Neshaminy Monday at a site and time to be determined.

The matchup between the two Suburban One League champions was a familiar one. The Continental Conference champs had Luke Taylor on the mound while the American Conference winners trotted out Brett Bottinger, just like they did in districts.

Taylor had another quality outing for the Indians, throwing a complete game four-hitter. He struck out eight batters to one walk.

“I go in with the same mentality every game,” Taylor said. “I just pound the strike zone. I was working the corners pretty well today. That’s what helped me out the most and mixing a lot of off-speed. Everything was going pretty well today.”

“All season,” Souderton coach Mike Childs added about Taylor’s success. “All season coming up, stepping in. Little bit of struggles in the fourth inning we got some guys up (in the bullpen) just in case, but he turned it around and all of the sudden he came back firing hot again. He wanted it. He wanted it bad. It was 3-3 last time (districts) after he gave up the home run. He did this against North Penn too last year — he took a loss then won at North Penn. That’s the type of kid he is. He’s hungry. He’s got fire. He doesn’t say much but he just shows what he has on the mound and that’s what he’s been doing since he’s been in our program, especially this year.”

The (1-5) Indians offense did a much better job against Bottinger this time around. Last time, Bottinger picked up the win with a complete game effort, allowing three runs over seven innings.

This time, Souderton jumped on the senior left-hander early and often.

The scoring started in the second inning when Moses Clemens hit a leadoff double. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Jordan Morales sacrifice fly.

The Indians added three more in the third. Jacob Horton doubled the advantage to 2-0 with an RBI single and Dylan Kummery doubled that to 4-0 with a two-run double.

“It’s always nice when you’ve already seen a guy once,” Childs said, “especially with a nice off-speed like (Bottinger) has. He always kept us back on our toes but this time we were ready for it. We put the ball in play, did our thing and hit with power. They missed plays in the outfield and we took advantage of it.”

The (1-3) Colonials cut their deficit to three, 4-1, in the fourth when they scored their lone run on a Jesse Jaconski ground out with runners on the corners, but Souderton’s offense kept coming.

“That’s the reality when you get to this point,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “There’s eight teams left in the state of Pennsylvania — the fifth largest state in the country. Everyone you see is going to be good. One of the two teams playing is going to be better. Today it was them.

“Pitching aside, we only scored one run today. We know we have to score runs to win. When you score runs early, it changes the complex of the game — you make it easier for your pitcher and put the pressure of them. We didn’t really put pressure on them today and it made it an easier game for them and more difficult for us.”

Horton worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth inning to knock Bottinger from the game and Clemens greeted reliever Steve Gallagher with a two-run home run to left-center field.

“It felt good,” Clemens, who went 3-for-3 with three runs and two RBI, said. “Kind of sent a message to (the new pitcher). After that I thought he got a little bit rattled. That was good. We shut him down, got a new pitcher in and capped it off with the walk-off.”

The Indians first five runners reached base and scored in the bottom of the sixth to turn a 6-1 advantage into the 10-run mercy rule.

Taylor doubled home a run, Joey Santone worked a bases-loaded walk, Morales singled another one in and Hogan DeSpain finished it off with a two-run single.

The Colonials had a lot of small things go against them in the loss. Six of their eight strikeouts were caught looking on pitches they weren’t thrilled about. An outfielder lost a ball in the sun that turned into a Souderton double. They gave away a free base when an Indians runner moved from first to second on a ball that was called ball four before an appeal changed it to a swinging strike.

“We could stack up all the things that didn’t go right today,” Manero said, “but if you’re playing well you turn those things around. Baseball is a funny game. One ball here, one ball there, one little play here can change the complexion of a game. A lot of things didn’t work for us today and a lot of things maybe out of our control didn’t go right today. It was just the worst combination possible you want.”

The loss brings Plymouth Whitemarsh’s season to an end. The team won a league title for the first time since 2005 and an outright league title for the first time since 1996. They made their deepest run in the state playoffs since winning the championship in 1994.

“This is the best team we’ve had at PW in 25 years,” Manero said. “We have guys on this team who when they were freshman they were told that they didn’t belong on the field. For four years they fought to get better — not only as players but as leaders. They set a new standard for our baseball program. We have some very talented players coming back. They’re going to be here for one, two, three more years. If they can take anything away from the guys that are graduating it’s look at how these guys worked, look at the work they put in. None of this came to us by accident. It came from hard work. I’ve been coaching for a long time and sometimes you just get this group of kids and you just know they have something, you know they’re working for it.

“How can you say a team like that doesn’t deserve every ounce of success? The reality is these kids — a lot of them grew up together — but a lot of them came from different places. They came together in the right ways and every bit of success they had this year they earned and every bit of success they had this year they deserved.”