Lugara takes perfect game into 5th, helps North Penn top Council Rock South for 6th straight win
TOWAMENCIN >> Trevor Lugara recognized he was flirting with perfection, even with his North Penn teammates staying silent on the matter in order to avoid jinxing the sophomore left-hander.
“Nobody said which I’m shocked but I knew,” Lugara said. “I knew I had it.”
Lugara retired the first 14 Council Rock South batters he faced in Thursday afternoon’ SOL crossover before his bid for a perfect game ended when he hit Billy O’Neill with a pitch with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The chance at a no-hitter remained intact heading into the seventh only for Chase Ennis to send Lugara’s opening pitch of the frame into left center field for a double.
“I left a fastball up in the zone, he took it,” Lugara said.
Two batters later, the shutout was over. The Golden Hawks proceeded to score again then put the tying run on base with two outs but Lugara collected a strikeout to lock down a 3-2 victory as the host Knights extended their winning streak to six.
“Trevor was awesome today,” North Penn coach Kevin Manero said. “Man, he was sniffing a perfect game and then he was on the brink of a no-hitter and that’s a real special thing – it’s hard to do and that’s why it’s so hard to do.
“But he did an outstanding job and that’s two starts in a row where he just went out there and finished the week for us with an exclamation point. I mean he’s just pounding the zone and he’s working quick. He’s got ice in his veins and that’s what we need.”
Lugara’s prior outing on the mound saw him throw a three-hit shutout as the Knights beat Neshaminy 2-0 last Friday. He posted another complete-game effort Thursday, allowing two runs – both earned – on three hits, a walk, a hit batter and four strikeouts.
“I threw a lot of fastballs today,” Lugara said. “I think I might have thrown a couple changeups, one curveball but other than that it was just fastball.”
Ben Farley reached base on all three of his plate appearances in going 2-for-3 and had a hand in all three runs for North Penn (10-1, 8-1 SOL Colonial) – diving in the first in the bottom of the first then coming in the score in both the fourth and sixth.
“Just getting something to hit, something over the plate, put something in play, make the defense work,” Farley said. “And that’s what we did today and it helped us out big.”
Lugara posted four straight 1-2-3- innings and looked on the way to another in the fifth after a groundout to the shortstop and a fly out to center. However, the lefty’s perfect day stopped when O’Neill – South’s 15th batter of the afternoon – was hit by a pitch. O’Neill went to second on a passed ball before Lugara got a groundout to keep the Knights up 2-0.
“I felt like I had total control,” Lugara said. “And I felt completely comfortable with them putting balls in play cause everybody behind me.”
In the top of the sixth, Mason Cartier drew a leadoff walk. After a strikeout, Cartier advanced to second on a groundout with an error on a pickoff attempt allowing him to reach third. Lugara, however, stranded him there with a strikeout.
“He’s not a kid who’s going to spiral,” Manero said. “If a guy gets on base he follows it with an out. He’s going to bear down, he generally doesn’t make two bad pitches in a row. So yeah he’s a guy that we know that he can dig deep and get that big out.”
North Penn added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth that eventually came in handy.
Farley led off reaching on an error, stole second and went to third on a Brady Dolder sacrifice bunt. Michael Cliver followed with a grounder up the middle and Farley’s slide beat the throw home to make it 3-0.
“I saw it was definitely soft hit, enough to where the shortstop had to move laterally to get the ball,” Farley said. “Read it right off the bat and just booked for home and knew it was a big run so it was a good read.”
Lugara’s no-hitter ended when Ennis hit the first pitch of the seventh for a double. Trey Sajeski’s single put runners on the corners with Ennis scoring on Braden Keller’s RBI sacrifice fly.
“I feel like I started to lose it a little bit in the sixth,” Lugara said. “Cause in the first five innings it was just down, down, down and then the sixth and seventh I started to elevate pitches and they started putting more contact on the ball, putting hits in play.”
Sajeski stole second, went to third on a wild pitch then came in on an O’Neill groundout to pull South to within 3-2. Sam Serpiello singled to right with two outs but Lugara halted the Golden Hawks’ rally by striking out the next batter.
“That was just don’t blow the game,” Lugara said. “Just get it over with.”
CR South starting pitcher Ennis was solid in a complete-game loss, the right-hander allowing three runs – one earned – on four hits in six innings. He walked one, hit one batter and struck out two.
“Ennis is a big arm, he’s one of the good ones in the league,” Manero said. “There’s those top-tier pitches and he’s definitely up there. And when you get in a battle with a tough pitcher you just have to get in there, put together good at-bats. I thought we did that.
“I didn’t think we went out of the zone too much, I thought we really battled, did a good job putting the ball in play with two strikes a couple of times and barreled up when we needed to.”
North Penn, ranked first in the District 1-6A rankings, is set to host Spring-Ford in a nonleague matchup 11 a.m. Saturday then is home again Monday for a SOL crossover against Bensalem at 3:45 p.m.
Council Rock South (5-6, 4-5 SOL Patriot), which has lost its last three, hosts Pennridge in an SOL crossover 3:30 p.m. Monday.
The Knights took a 1-0 lead in their half of the first. With one out, Kevin Brace was hit by a pitch while Jack Picozzi followed with a walk. The next batter lined out to the shortstop but an error trying to double up Brace at second advanced the runners. Farley’s two-out infield single scored Brace for the day’s opening run.
In the bottom of the fourth, Farley led off with a single, stole second, took third on a wild pitch then came home to double the Knights’ advantage on Dolder’s RBI sacrifice fly.
North Penn 3, Council Rock South 2
Council Rock South 000 000 2 – 2 3 5
North Penn 100 101 x – 3 4 1
WP: Trevor Lugara 7 IP 3 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 4 SO 1 HB.
LP: Chase Ennis 6 IP 4 H 3 R 1 ER 1 BB 2 SO 1 HB.
North Penn: Ben Farley 2-3, RBI, 2 R.
