Day One at Cal Ripken states
By James D’Arcangelo
For BucksLocalSports.com
Langhorne edges Tri-Township in pitchers’ dual
Pitchers’ dual or, for batters, “pitchers cruel” at Central Perkiomen’s fields during the Cal Ripken State Tournament as Langhorne locked horns with Tri-Township. For Langhorne, Nolan Jones threw a complete game two-hitter, slightly besting Alec Thompson’s complete game, three-hitter. Langhorne’s Nolan Jones helped himself to the tune of a solo home run, and Josh Lehman scored the other run in a 2-1 victory. The hard-luck Tri-Township Titans’ only run came from the bat of Alex Bariahtaris, who crushed a solo home run of his own.***
Langhorne dismantles Towamencin
The scouting report of Nolan Jones: the kid can throw – oh, and he can hit a bit too. Fresh off of throwing a two-hitter, lead-off batter Nolan Jones’s white-hot state championship tournament got even hotter as he jacked three home runs against Towamencin. Jones’ teammate, and following him in the line-up batting second, Tyler Galazin, hit two of his own. Langhorne got an extra push from pitcher Timmy Mulhern, who threw a two-run complete game in an 11-2 win.***
Central Perk Beats Tri-Township
Central Perkiomen, the host for this year’s Cal Ripken State Tournament, edged Tri-Township in a wild game, winning 6-5. Tri-Township had a 3-0 lead after three innings, only to have “Central Perk” tie the game up at three in their half of the fifth.Central Perk Beats Tri-Township
But, in their fifth, Tri-Township took the lead on runs scored by Alec Thompson and Carter Usowski, who each had two runs on the day. Central Perkiomen ended up winning, off of runs scored by David Terry, Jonuer Nieves and Adam Grosshanten, in an exciting game-closing performance.
***
Warrington holds off BYC
Jumping out fast and scoring four in the first inning, BYC couldn’t tame the baseball beast called Warrington with Andrew Chobany crossing the plate for two runs. Warrington jumped out to a 6-4 lead in the second inning, as Ty Rossi, Ky Rossi, Connor Moffat, Jared Conroy, T.J. Anthony and Will Moller came home. In the third, their lead was upped to 7-4, as Jake Fitts scored.Warrington holds off BYC
BYC climbed up the comeback ladder a short time later as Nicholas Talley made the score 7-6. But Zach Dennis took the mound and threw two 1-2-3 innings, preserving the slim lead and giving the Warrington Wolf Pack a dramatic 7-6 win.
***
Warrington Blanks Upper Makefield
By James D’Arcangelo
For BucksLocalSports.com
Yet another meeting between the Warrington and Upper Makefield, teams which have met four times previously this year. Another game between these River League foes. It was only two weeks ago when they last met, in the Cal Ripken District 3 Tournament, and Warrington came out on top with a 12-0 shutout at the Cal Ripken PA State Championships hosted by Central Perkiomen.
Well, if one reads into scores, not a whole lot changed in the last few weeks.
Warrington outdistanced the Mavericks, just as they had a fortnight ago, and it would seem that Warrington has gotten deep in the Mavericks’ heads. It started in the second inning when J.M. Clauss tallied a double and Ky Rossi smashed a single and Warrington went up 3-0. But for a few Upper Makefield clutch defensive plays, Warrington could have doubled that lead.
The Mavs came off the field feeling relatively good, and they looked determined to build some momentum of their own to answer. And they did set the table for a comeback. Upper Makefield loaded the bases off of a Chase D’Arcangelo deep single to left and a couple of early walks. They got plenty of runners on, but Warrington stopped them from cashing in on their opportunity. “Close, but not close enough” was the phrase that summed up Upper Makefield’s offense in this game.
But they did not give in. Warrington stacked the bases in their half of the third inning, but couldn’t get any men across home, as the Mavericks answered with a stop of their own. The score remained 3-0 for two innings, until the fifth, which, unfortunately for Upper Makefield, resembled the third…squared. Jared Conroy bombed a two-run home run, scoring Zach Dennis, who had walked. Earlier in the game, Conroy took a pitch to the head, but he took this pitch the bleachers. Conroy’s going yard sent Warrington off to a win going away.
In that fifth inning, every Warrington player in the line-up both batted and scored as Warrington jacked the lead from 3-0 to 12-0. Tommy Funk went 3-for-4 with three singles. Jared Conroy, the offensive M.V.P. of the game for Warrington, went 2-for-3 with his towering two-run home run and a double, leading to four R.B.I.
As it was back in mid-July, the arms for Warrington were lights-out. T.J. Anthony started, with Ky Rossi and Brendan Parker relieving him to throw shutout baseball. This game was won in typical Warrington fashion – they pitched hard, they hit harder, and they fielded with soft hands. While the Mavs contemplate a rematch down the road in this tournament, Warrington’s play left their fans thinking they just well might be good enough to win the state championship.
***
Upper Makefield Mavs top Harleysville
By James D’Arcangelo
For BucksLocalSports.com
Crack. Crack. Pop. Crack. No, it’s not the Fourth of July. Fireworks were exploding off of the Mavs’ bats. The fireworks didn’t light up the sky, but they sure lit up the scoreboard. Upper Makfield rode the long ball to a 12-6 win over Harleysville.
Coming off of a tough loss to Warrington, Upper Makefield looked like a different team, one that really wanted to prove itself here in the Cal Ripken State Championship Tournament. Prove themselves, they did.
It only took two outs for the Mavs bats to wake up as slugger Andrew Greubel snapped into action. First-pitch swinging, he rocketed a ball to left-center, crashing into fans’ tents 20 feet beyond the fence. Nick Roda, first baseman for the Mavs, crushed his first of the tournament in the second inning. Though it was only 2-0, these home runs gave U.M. the confidence they needed to play a “complete” game against Harleysville.
Chase D’Arcangelo scored Juliano Kovalcik with a double to left field, and Brett Miller scored off of a Riley Thompson single in the same inning. With the score 4-0, the Mavs had a whole new energy of a seemingly whole new day.
Miller scored Kovalcik in the third inning with an opposite field grounder the snuck past the shortstop. An inning later, Miller and D’Arcangelo scored on Andrew Greubel’s liner up the middle. Jackson Parker scored Kovalcik with his own single up the middle, and Drew Burschlag sacrificed a run in with a groundout.
Juliano Kovalcik was superior, once again, as starting pitcher for Upper Makefield. He helped himself out, scoring four of the Mavs’ runs, while slamming two singles. Kovalcik mixed well-placed fastballs with his bat-freezing changeup, receiving much-deserved applause as he was relieved by Joey Rutkowski in the fifth inning.
Harleysville scratched out runs late to make it interesting, including a Nate Luscombe home run in the bottom of the sixth, but it was too little, too late. The Mavs darted from the bench to congratulate themselves and their teammates, with a great “team win” under their belts. More “cracks” and “pops” are sure to be still left in those Mavs bats as they move deeper into the State Championship tournament.
2 Comments:
James,
You have done an incredible job reporting on our trip to States, Pittsburgh and our entire District season. The game against Harleysville was so exciting to watch, especially after the game against Warrington that morning. I just wanted to add "hats off to Riley Thompson" for his great plays in the field and pitching efforts!! Without Riley that game would have been a different story!!!
In fact, as I sat in the outfield with some Harleysville fans, their parting words to me were, "that #5 was definitely the game MVP!!!!!"
Keep up the great work James! You have a talent!!!!
Tracey Burschlag
Brett Miller pitched a amazing game and with nicks shot out of the park helped Brett
Post a Comment
<< Home