Day Two at Cal Ripken states
By James D’Arcangelo
For BucksLocalSports.com
Big ‘Z’ Delivers a Big ‘W’ versus Harleysville
For the second time in two days, the Warrington team was caught in a predicament. They were trailing big after an inning. Undaunted, they steadily and assuredly chipped away at the margin. Will Moller and Jared Conroy each scored in the second inning. And Zach Dennis scored in the third in what was the first of what would be two large shoes he would drop in what would become yet another Warrington win.After Warrington inevitably tied the game at 4, and with his teammates chanting “Big Z” as he stepped to the plate, Zach Dennis slammed a two-run single that put Harleysville in a 6-4 baseball tar pit, trailing for the first time in the game. Harleysville scored a run late to make it 6-5, but, like all games in which they have played in this tournament, this game was to go Warrington’s way. Dennis, along with T.J. Anthony and Ky Rossi, pitched great baseball working for the clamp down. Harleysville’s Nate Luscombe, pitched a complete game in the tough loss.
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Undefeated Warrington trounces Towamencin
It was the end of the day on Sunday. The sign at the snack shed said, “No More Meatballs,” and so did the umpires, as they called the ten-run “mercy” rule to close out the Warrington-Towamencin game. No, the Towamencin hurlers weren’t throwing meatball pitches. Warrington just made it seem that way as they won 11-1.Undefeated Warrington trounces Towamencin
Ray Maletz and Jake Fitts each went 2-for-3 with two singles and two runs scored. Eight of Warrington’s nine starters scored runs. In the third inning, Will Moller drilled a two-run bank shot that dented the State of Pennsylvanis’s flag pole in left center field. For Towamencin, Dalton Baum hit a double and scored the lone run off of a Jared Gorman single.
As they have all tournament, Warrington baffled their opponents with lights-out pitching. Will Moller and Brendan Parker combined to allow a mere, single run and only two hits, in Warrington’s 11-1 win. Warrington went through the qualifications rounds as the only undefeated team, carrying unbridled momentum into the State Championship semi-finals.
*** No Keeping up with the Jones’ as Langhorne outpaces Central Perk
Like Ricky Henderson (who was being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on this day) so often did in his hey-day, Nolan Jones hit a yet another leadoff home run in this tournament, this time giving host Central Perkiomen a rude welcome to the game. Jones’s home run was his fifth of the tournament.Overall, the whole Langhorne team was in a pretty “offensive” mood versus the tournament host as they won, 14-6. Tyler Galazin hit a two-run homer in the fourth, which was his third in two days. Joel Thibodeau, Zach Winkler, Anthony Titano, Eric Chapman and James Lehman each scored two runs, and Tyler Galazin threw five innings for the Lions.
For Central Perkiomen, Sonny Rennard hit two homers in the game. His solo shot came in the 2nd, and his two-run blast was hit in the 5th. The other runs were scored by Dave Terry, Liam Strausser and Adam Grosshanten. David Terry, the starter for Central Perkiomen, pitched the first five innings for his team before being relieved by Matt Rice.
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Carter Usowski powers Tri-Township walkoff against Towamencin
In the first game of the Cal Ripken State Tournament that required extra innings, Tri-Township walked off of the field with beaming smiles. A tied, tight battle after six innings resulted from Tri-Township’s Nick Rodstrom’s home run as well as Chris Woolslayer’s score while Towamencin’s Justin Campanella, Eric Beideman and Matt Pizzo scored runs in the teeter-totter affair. But this all served as a precursor to the Big Play when Carter Usowski absolutely demolished the ball in the seventh inning, a dead red shot to center that sent parents running for cover, and Tri-Township to a dramatic win to start their day.Carter Usowski powers Tri-Township walkoff against Towamencin
*** Tri-Township tops Harleysville
All of the other teams had long gone home, but Carter Usowski was still getting warmed up for Tri-Township. Following a walk-off jack in the previous game, Usowski crushed a home run to dead centerfield and helped boost Tri-Township to a 2-0 lead after one inning. Robbie Fasciocco scored in the third off of an Alec Thompson single. In the 5th and 6th, Jack Hogan scored as Tri-Township fought back to put the game away.Harleysville scored three runs in the 2nd inning, as Connor Lennon and Mitch Amenta spanked singles and were hit home by Blake Gular, who jacked a three-run homerun. In the bottom of the sixth, attempting to make a walk-off comeback bid of their own, Blake Gular singled and Chris Toler smashed an opposite field two-run homerun for Harleysville. But Alec Thompson, the Tri-Township pitcher, hunkered down and got the final out, as his team triumphed 6-5 to end the day.
*** BYC scratches back to beat Upper Makefield
BYC, for the second day in a row, showed it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish, in these Cal Ripken State Championships. After going up on 4-0 on Warrington yesterday, but losing, 7-6, BYC reversed those roles today, falling behind 4-0 in the first, but coming back to win 5-4 against Upper Makefield.Upper Makefield flexed their considerable long ball muscles in the first inning, on two monster-shots by Andrew Greubel and Juliano Kovalcik. Both players turned on fastballs and drove them 230-plus feet to dead center. Overall, the Mavs played outstanding baseball through the first three innings.
Though no other players crossed home, Upper Makefield made up for that by executing flawless defense and pitching. Starter Andrew Greubel was cruising with five strikeouts through three-plus innings pitched, but then seemed to start to run out of gas, still building stamina after overcoming a mid-season leg injury.
After BYC chipped in a run using a small ball approach, and with the score now 4-1, their big hitter Andrew Chobany stepped into the box with runners on second and third. Chobany took a high fastball out of the park in deep right-center. His three-run smash scored Nicholas Vandervere and Ryan McCrossan, who each walked earlier in the inning. Just like that the game now belonged to either team, tied at 4-4.
The winning run saw BYC go back to small ball in the top of the sixth. An innocuous error, a few stolen bases, and a score on a ground out ended up putting BYC back on top, 5-4. With the win almost in their grasp, BYC’s flame-throwing Andrew Chobany, who had taken the mound for Nick Talley, and who threw the final two innings to the tune of a 1-2-3 beat, shut down any possible Mavs comeback.
Capitalizing on their chances and winning a game that was too precious to let slip away, BYC was in the driver’s seat to move onto the States semi-finals as they headed into a game versus the hosts, Central Perkiomen while Upper Makefield reflected on what slipped away, knowing a big win versus Langhorne and other cooperative factors would need to fall into place for them to make the state’s final four.
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Upper Makefield wins final game vs. Langhorne
Upper Makefield wins final game vs. Langhorne
Hit well, pitch well, and field well. Hard as that is to do, that’s all you have to do to win competitive baseball games, and that is all that Upper Makefield did in their last game of their season – ending on a high note with all feeling good.
In a game that was purely for fun for Langhorne from the start (they had already qualified for the semi-finals) and became that way for Upper Makefield by the halfway point, the Mavs beat the Langhorne Lions, 15-7.
With urgency, Upper Makefield jumped out and scored three runs in the first. With less urgency, but as much determination, Langhorne counteracted the surge. The Lions’ lead four batters, the Fantastic Four one might call them in this tournament, bit back as Zach Winkler smashed a three-run homer to score Nolan Jones and Tyler Galazin. Joel Thibodeau also scored later in the inning.
However, the Mavs were not ready to step down and sag shoulders, fighting for their tournament lives. They collected five runs in a second inning to show their own toughness. Their five run inning was powered by simple “small ball,” as Riley Thompson and Nick Roda hit singles, drove in runs and then scored on walks and steals. Brett Miller also scored in the inning, as he and Thompson each had three runs in the game.
In the fourth inning, Upper Makefield scored twice as Chase D’Arcangelo and Brett Miller scampered to tally runs. The two runs made the game 10-4 for the Mavs, and they gave them space to effectively end the game as a competitive endeavor.
Never ones to quit though, in the bottom of the fifth Langhorne scraped out two runs. Evan Kelbaugh cracked a solo shot to left center, closing the deficit to four runs. In the top of the sixth, the Mavs lived up to “when it rains, it pours” syndrome, cranking up their offense again.
Upper Makefield had yet another 5-run inning. Chase D’Arcangelo, who was 4-for-4 on the day, had a towering ground-rule double and three RBI. Fellow partner in crime, Drew Burschlag, also had a ground-rule double right behind him. Burschlag was a solid contributor, going 3-for-3 with 5 RBI.
To shut down the game and the season, Chase D’Arcangelo took the mound and kept the Fantastic Four’s Jones, Galazin, and Thibodeau off balance as he popped them up and grounded them out, finishing off what T.J. Roberts and Brett Miller had started. Though they are going home with their season finished, the Upper Makefield Mavericks look forward to next season while District III champ Langhorne looks forward to a run at the state championship.
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