Souderton rallies past CB South in 6A final for first PIAA title in program history

STATE COLLEGE >> For the first time in program history, the Souderton Area High School baseball team is the state champion.

The Indians rallied to a 6-3 win over Central Bucks South Friday morning in the PIAA Class 6A title game at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park on the campus of Penn State University.

“It feels crazy,” Souderton left fielder Moses Clemens said. “Coming into this game we were the hypest we’ve ever been after the hypest year we’ve ever had, most fun year of baseball I’ve ever had in my life. Lost my voice. We were down 3-0. We never gave up. That just shows how all season we never gave up. Down 3-0 we come back and win 6-3. First state championship ever. The best team in Souderton history. That’s all I have to say.”

“Amazing,” pitcher Luke Taylor added. “This is my last career high school game. To go out like that is awesome — can’t think of anything better. To come back like that. We were down 3-0, just stay in the game, stay motivated. It was awesome.”

It took a little while for the (1-5) Souderton bats to get going. CB South pitcher Ryan Rieber held the Indians scoreless for four innings and limited them to just two hits, but a one-out Jordan Morales double in the bottom of the fifth lit a spark.

Billy Norbeck followed Morales’ double with a walk and Hogan DeSpain singled to load the bases with no outs, trailing 3-0. Conlan Wall grounded out to first to score one run and Taylor stepped to the plate with two outs and the tying run on second.

Taylor pulled a dribbler between the first and second basemen. The first baseman corralled the grounder and flipped it to Rieber covering first. Taylor beat him to the bag and — while all the attention was focused on the race to first base — courtesy runner Dean Shaw and DeSpain both scored to tie the game at three.

“I hit it and I ran as fast as I could,” Taylor said. “It was probably the fastest I’ve ever run in my life. I just wanted to make sure I beat that out, try to get those two runs in to tie the game. It was huge.”

“Baseball knowledge wise, (DeSpain) is one of the smartest on our team,” Souderton coach Mike Childs said of DeSpain scoring from second on an infield single. “I’m sure he figured it out with me yelling or not yelling. I don’t remember what I said. Most likely he picked it up on his own and did it on his own. I’m still in shock.”

The Indians took their first lead in the bottom of the sixth. This rally was started by another one-out double — this time off the bat of Clemens, which knocked Reiber out of the game and brought in Joe Martino.

“I guess (Reiber) got a little bit tired,” South coach Brian Klumpp said. “He started leaving the ball up a little bit. They started to hit him a little bit harder. They played well in the last three innings.”

Dylan Kummery greeted Martino with a walk and Morales singled to load the bases with one out. Norbeck singled, scoring courtesy runner Joey Santone to make it 4-3 Souderton.

“We just stayed confident,” Clemens said of the late-inning offensive surge. “We were hitting the ball hard basically the whole time, just right to people. We finally got some balls to drop.”

DeSpain stepped up next and — after deciding to swing away instead of squeezing — delivered with a two-run single, extending the lead to a more comfortable 6-3 advantage.

“I went to Hogan,” Childs said. “We were up one run. I said, ‘Do you want to squeeze and get the insurance?’ And he goes, ‘Coach just let me hit away. I got this.’ We had a one-run lead. We’re going to live or die and he’s going to step up and let’s see if he steps up or not. He stepped up big and scored two runs.”

Andrew Curran came on for the save, getting a pair of pop ups after allowing a one-out single, and the Indians celebrated their first title in school history.

“For Curran to come in at the end and shut it down,” Childs said, “that’s absolutely awesome. He didn’t get a whole lot of innings through the playoffs. For him to come in like that and shut it down is absolutely awesome. I’m very happy for him.”

(1-2) CB South took a 2-0 lead in the first. Brock Veit worked a leadoff walk and scored on a wild pitch before Bryan Rossi singled in Joey Loynd.

The Titans advantage grew to 3-0 in the top of the fourth. Zach Steinberg worked a two-out walk and scored on a Veit single.

That was all South could get against Taylor, who allowed five hits over six innings while striking out four batters to four walks. Two of the hits and two of the walks came in the first inning.

“I had nerves in the beginning,” Taylor said. “I was walking people, not really hitting my spots. I’m glad I was able to settle in as the game went on and we were able to put up runs and beat them. It was awesome.”

“Luke was pretty quiet yesterday and today,” Childs said. “He knew it was riding on him when Jordan made the decision to pitch on Tuesday and he was ready. He had nervous energy to begin, not his sharp self in the beginning. He settled in and got some big outs when we needed it.”

Rieber took the loss. In 5 1/3 innings he allowed four runs on six hits. He struck out two batters to one walk.

“A really good year,” Klumpp said of CB South’s 2019 campaign that resulted in a second place finish in both District 1 and the state. “I’m really proud of these guys. I know they really wanted this bad, but somebody’s got to lose and unfortunately today it was us.”