Holy Ghost Prep rolls past Springfield-Montco for District 1-4A title

BENSALEM >> Defense ignited Holy Ghost Prep baseball’s offense in the third inning.

With two outs in the top of the frame, Springfield-Montco looked to have executed a perfect first-to-third hit-and-run on Jack O’Malley’s single to center field.

But Aiden Robbins dashed the Spartans’ plans for runners at the corners. The sophomore center fielder took the ball on a hop and delivered an throw to third baseman Tyler McCord just ahead of the runner – McCord reaching out and applying the tag for the third out to provide the Firebirds with some much-needed energy.

“I heard the third base coach kind of say like, ‘Go,’ and then I saw him like half way down and threw it as hard as I could,” Robbins said.

After going down in order the first two frames, Matt Goldenbaum started the Firebirds’ half of the third with a double to left center and by the end of the inning top-seeded HGP had a 2-0 lead.

“It’s a game of momentum and momentum swings,” Holy Ghost coach Greg Olenski said. “And that really set the tone. It brought us all the momentum we were looking for.”

No. 2 Springfield struck for a run in top of the fourth but that was all right-hander Matt Long allowed the visitors. The Firebirds, meanwhile, kept adding runs and went on to claim the District 1-4A championship with a 10-1 victory over Spartans Friday afternoon.

“It feels amazing,” Long said. “All the hard work we put in, going through COVID shutdowns, getting vaccinated, it’s just been a lot so it means a lot to us as a team.”

Both the Spartans and Firebirds came into the contest looking to capture their second straight district title, Springfield having won 4A in 2019 while HGP secured the 5A crown the same season.

“It was a really good year.” Springfield coach Dennis Primavera said. “If you would have asked me in the beginning of the year whether we’d be here, I would of said it’s a 50/50 shot. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that two years ago, we won District 1 and Holy Ghost won District 1 at the 5A level so apparently they must of lost some people and they’re now at the 4A, so we’re just going to have to deal with them until they get more kids in their schools.”

The SOL Freedom Division champ Spartans put their leadoff batter on base in four of the first five innings but came away with one run on Dan Matthews’ RBI double in the fourth that made it 2-1.

Matthews went to third on a steal but was stranded there after a groundout to Long and a strikeout.

Holy Ghost answered by sending nine to the plate in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs for a 5-1 lead. The Firebirds added two more in the fifth then another three in the sixth in earning 4A’s lone PIAA tournament berth while Springfield ended its season at 10-11.

“I’m just grateful we had a season,” Spartans senior catcher Gabe Franczyk said. “Going into this game we knew it was going to be a tough matchup but we actually stayed in there and we had more heart than game so we just came in we had energy to begin with and we kind of went with that.

“It kind of started to fall apart in the fourth inning but we played our hardest and that really that’s all that matters.”

Franczyk, one of Springfield’s eight seniors, reached base on all four of his plate appearances, the Widener commit finishing 3-for-4 with a double while Matthews went 2-for-3.

“I was feeling good today,” Franczyk said. “I was seeing it good. I was being patient. I was waiting for my pitch. I started to stay back more and just went for the best one I had.”

Robbins was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a run scored for Holy Ghost Prep (13-8), who faces the District 11 champ – either Northwestern Lehigh or Allentown Central Catholic – in the state first round June 7. Isaac Acosta went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored while McCord scored three runs and Liam Parsons had two RBIs.

“We start five underclassmen – I’ve got four sophomores and one freshman start,” Olenski said. “That’s how it’s been all year, we’ve been playing with a young group of guys, we threw them into the fire  with a tough non-league schedule being an independent school and we came out pretty much were I thought we would be but they surprised us here with two big wins in the districts.”

After giving up the RBI double to Matthews in the fourth, Long allowed just one more hit – Franczyk’s two-out double to left center in the top of the seventh. On the next at-bat, right fielder Acosta sealed the win with a fantastic catch – snagging the ball as he reached up and fell back.

Long gave up one run – earned – on eight hits and no walks with the senior Immaculata commit striking out 11 in a complete-game win.

“Honestly, my curveball I was putting that down for first strikes which sometimes I have trouble with,” Long said. “And coming back with the fastball outside corner and it was a really good day.”

Goldenbaum led off the bottom of the fourth with a double the left fielder could not haul in, went to third on a balk and scored on Parson’s RBI sac fly to left center. With two outs, McDermott reached second after an error on his fly ball to right then came home to make it 2-0 on Acosta’s RBI single to left center.

“Against a good team like Holy Ghost, you got to stay and the game and you can’t make mistakes,” Primavera said. “There was at least two catchable balls where if we catch those balls we’re talking about a one or two run game and that can stay around for a while. But they wore us down and that’s what happens when you play a good team.”

Willum Conlin started Springfield half of the fifth with an infield single with his pinch runner Quadire Eberhardt going to second on Joe Smith’s sac bunt. Matthews followed with his RBI double to right to get the Spartans within 2-1.

McCord and Acord opened the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back singles to give HGP first and third with no outs. Robbins’ sac fly to center plated McCord for a 3-1 lead.

“I’ve been just seeing it really well,” Robbins said. “And I’ve been getting a lot of help from other guys on the team and just streaking at the right time.”

A Hunter Findlay single and Goldenbaum walk loaded the bases for Parsons, who made it 4-1 with an RBI single through the left side of the infield. Two batters later, Jack McDermott’s bases-loaded walk had the hosts up four.

Holy Ghost took a 7-1 lead with two runs in the fifth – Robbins driving the first with an RBI double to left then scoring as Goldenbaum reached on a two-out error.

The Firebirds began the bottom of the seventh with three straight singles, the third by Acosta to right driving in a run. A McCord walk loaded the bases and two batters later Robbins’ one-out single through the left side score twice for a 10-1 lead.