SOL American-Continental enjoys Carpenter Cup experience despite loss to Lehigh Valley

PHILADELPHIA >> It may have taken until his senior year to make the Carpenter Cup, but Anthony Tomassetti was sure glad he did.

The Plymouth Whitemarsh senior and his teammates on the Suburban One American-Continental squad didn’t have the stay in the tournament they hoped for, but the experience was worth the trip to FDR Park in South Philly. A slow start, compounded by a handful of early errors and one bad inning, proved too much to overcome.

SOL A-C rallied, but ultimately fell short to Lehigh Valley 8-4 in the opening round Wednesday afternoon.

“I was so excited to be on the team in the first place, I’d always wanted to since I was freshman so it was just an awesome experience,” Tomassetti said. “Everybody contributed to the effort, everybody was locked in the game from the beginning of the game.”

Lehigh Valley pounced first, scoring a run in the first inning and another in the second aided by three SOL errors. The game broke open in the fourth inning, when Lehigh Valley hitters strung together five straight one-out hits to plate four runs and go up 6-0.

SOL also couldn’t get much going offensively the first few innings. Tomassetti had a nice piece of hitting on a second inning double, one pitch after clocking a foul ball off his shin, but he was stranded at second base.

An inning later, the SOL A-C left two runners on after singles by PW’s Michael Orensky and Cheltenham’s Lukas Nakkula.

“We did dig ourselves into a hole, but we came back and got within two and felt like we were in a good spot,” SOL A-C and PW coach Chris Manero said. “But you don’t have any room for error, we gave up a couple more and it’s tough to dig out of a hole, get so close and then give up a few more.”

The second lineup in for SOL A-C finally found an offensive spark in the sixth inning. Hatboro-Horsham’s Jimmy Tooley started the four-run rally by getting hit with a pitch then scored on an RBI double by Pennridge’s Ray Knight.

Knight was a late add to the roster, but reached base all three times he came to the plate Wednesday.

“I was just hoping to seize the moment,” Knight said. “I got an opportunity to play with a bunch of other guys from the league, play in front of college coaches and represent our program.”

Pennridge has typically had strong ties to the Carpenter Cup team. Rams coach Tom Nuneviller played in the tournament back in his high school days and guys from the program routinely make the effort to try out and play in the event.

Knight was joined by teammate Paul Croyle, who said that following that tradition, as well getting to play against some longtime conference rivals, was a major factor in pushing him to try out.

“It’s a good experience, it’s good competition and a chance to play with the best kids in the area,” Croyle said. “It’s awesome to be able to do this. Coach Nuneviller was a part of it, his sons played and were a part of it and it’s a good experience for everyone who gets on the team.”

North Penn is another program annually well-represented on the SOL A-C roster and the Knights had four players on the 2019 squad. Pitcher Joey Valenti got the start, Josh Lowe threw a scoreless fifth inning while Kolby Barrow and Colby Chan played in the field.

Chan drew a key walk during the sixth-inning rally that loaded the bases with no outs.

“That inning we had a lot of energy going into it and I think that’s what got it started,” Chan said. “With everyone in that dugout, there’s a lot of great players and plenty of things you can learn from them.”

“You have more fun when your coach is backing you up, we always have guys in it,” Barrow said. “Everyone knows each other. It’s neat to see the way everyone comes together.”

Upper Dublin’s Sean Curran had a strong outing on the hill, throwing two scoreless innings and facing the minimum six batters. He got an assist from PW catcher Kevin Reilly, who combined with Wissahickon’s Jackson Tappen to throw out a base stealer in the sixth inning.

Curran, who was playing for UD coach and SOL assistant Ed Wall, said the outing gave him some confidence heading into the summer.

“I was just looking to have some fun and try something new, it was a lot of fun being with everyone else here,” Curran said. “It’s the best players around, so really cool to be here. I expected to do well, but not that well, so my confidence is really high right now.

“I trusted Kevin behind the plate, he’s never caught me before, but I had confidence in the pitches he was calling.”

Quakertown’s Dennis Pierce and Tappen both drew bases loaded walks in the sixth while Central Bucks East’s Jack Nugent hit a sac fly for the fourth run. The only thing the SOL A-C didn’t get in the frame was a game-breaking hit, which came back to hurt the squad when Lehigh Valley tagged on two more runs in the eighth inning.

While the defense had some miscues early, the SOL turned in some gems as well. Right fielder Matt McCarthy from CB West threw out a run at home, Tappen made a few nice plays at second and CB East’s Tyler Young made a spectacular play in the gap at second during his spell on the infield.

Sophomore Nick Bitsko of CB East drew some eyes when he hit in the low 90s consistently on several scout and college coaches’ radar guns during his two innings of work on the hill.

The SOL players were unanimous in saying they’d encourage anyone, teammate or on another roster, thinking of trying out to go for it.

“I compete against these guys all the time, I strike out against these guys, I get out against these guys and get hits against these guys but it’s really fun to see their personalities because when you’re competing, you’re almost a different person because you’re so focused,” Tomassetti said. “Hanging out with these guys and just being around them has been really fun.

“It’s a great team, the best thing about sports is competitiveness, every one of these guys is a great baseball player. I wish I did it in years past, it’s a great experience and the jerseys are really cool, too.”