Wible, Witmer send Spring-Ford to 9-inning comeback win over Owen J. Roberts

BUCKTOWN >> Spring-Ford struggled through the first two innings on Wednesday afternoon at Owen J. Roberts while falling behind by four runs. But after that, the Rams did exactly what they needed to do and rallied for a 6-5, 9-inning win in the second round of the District 1-6A baseball playoffs.

Andrew Wible allowed Spring-Ford to claw its way back into the game by throwing 6 1/3 strong innings in relief, Nick Flores homered, Jake Witmer drilled a two-out double in the ninth to knock in the winning run and Dan Ditterline tossed a perfect bottom of the inning to nail down the win.

The No. 13 seed Rams (14-8) advance to a quarterfinal contest on Friday at No. 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh, a 5-0 winner over West Chester Henderson, needing one more win to advance to the PIAA Class 6A Tournament. The season ended for the fourth-seeded Wildcats (15-7), who got three hits from Nick Remo and two each from Tyler Nau and Max Santise.

“We were chipping away, which is what we needed to do,” said Wible. “I told them the whole game, one inning at a time.”

“We’ve been down before,” said Witmer. “We knew we had guys in the dugout who can get hits.”

The Wildcats scored two in the first on an RBI single by Remo and a run-scoring groundout by Dyson Neill. They added two in the second on a sacrifice fly by Lucas Zachesky and a single by Nau.

Meanwhile, Roberts starter Tyler Brashear seemed to be on the way to an overpowering performance as he struck out six through the first two frames while allowing only a walk.

“He really kept us off-balance the first couple innings,” said Wible.

“We knew we were facing a really good pitcher,” said Spring-Ford coach Rick Harrison.

But the Rams scored one in the third on a double by Flores and a single by David Ruckman. Then they tied it with three in the fourth on four walks, a single and an error. Wible relieved starter Dom Ruggiero with two out in the second and got the final out on a grounder to first.

The next two innings were difficult for Wible as he gave up a double to Jackson Waters and hit a batter in the third and the Wildcats regained the lead in the fourth on a two-base hit by Nau and an RBI single by Remo.

“I came out in the first few innings not throwing all three pitches for strikes,” said Wible. “But I threw on the sidelines between innings and had all three pitches after that and used them well. Our coaches told me I was the first reliever today and I had to be ready.”

“He came out and he went crazy, pitch after pitch,” said Witmer. “All we needed him to do. He kept us in the game.”

Flores drove one over the fence in center to tie the score at 5-5 with two out in the sixth. Then both teams had their chances to go on top after that, but it took the big hit by Witmer to break the tie.

Brennan McVey singled to left with two out in the Ram ninth and Witmer lined a hit into left-center to bring home what proved to be the game-winner.

“In that spot, the first swing I took I hit a foul ball,” said Witmer, who reached base all five times on two walks, two singles and the double. “I knew I was on it. I wanted to hit it the other way and hit the gap and that’s exactly what happened.”

Then Ditterline came to the mound to replace Wible – who had used up his eligibility by throwing 105 pitches – and retired the side in order on a grounder to third, a strikeout and a fly to center.

“We got a big two-out hit and a close play at the plate,” said Harrison. “Ditterline pitched most of the time on our JV team. He did exactly what we needed him to do. I was really proud of the whole lineup today and the staff and the way they competed. Wible did a phenomenal job. He’s gotten stronger as the season has progressed. The team as a whole has.”

The Wildcats ended the season with a disappointing extra-inning loss to Phoenixville in the Pioneer Athletic Conference semifinals and then couldn’t find a way to win against the Rams, a team they had beaten in two close games during the PAC regular season.

“There’s never a good way for it to end,” said OJR coach Alex Condello. “I thought we battled. A lot of credit to Spring-Ford. They’re a really good team. Credit their pitcher. He got them all the way through the eighth inning. We came up a  little short this time. That’s a testament to our league. They’re as good as anybody in the district. It was a good season. We did a lot of things well. The last two games didn’t go our way.”

A win on Friday will clinch a state berth for the Rams. If they lose, they will need to win a playback contest to claim one of the district’s six PIAA berths.

“We were looking forward to this game,” said Harrison. “It was a great ballgame between two good teams. From the disappointment of not making the PAC playoffs, I don’t think they’d ever planned on laying down.”