Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
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Chesco teams hope to build on last year’s success
The past few seasons have been good to county teams in the postseason. The county has had district champions in Avon Grove and Villa Maria, and a slew of state qualifiers, with Avon Grove reaching the state finals last year. The 2017 postseason gets underway for our local teams Wednesday, and the county will have eight teams battling for a chance to play for District 1 supremacy and the right to move on to the PIAA tourney.
Ches-Mont National champ Coatesville is the county’s top seed in Class 6A, nailing down the No. 3 seed. The Red Raiders have swung hot bats all year, and have outscored opponents 195-69 for the season.
Leading the Coatesville offense are Ashley Mendenhall (Ashley Mendenhall .500 avg, 11 2B, 9 HR, 37 RBI, 28 R, 1.042 slugging), Maggie Kane (.456 avg, 32 R, 7 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR), Payton Landis (.500 avg, 4 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 24 RBI) and Brianna White (.397 avg, 5 2B, 7 HR, 31 RBI).
White has been the Red Raiders’ ace in the circle, finishing with a record of 12-3 while strik-
ing out 100 batters.
“After a very good regular season and a first place finish in the Ches-Mont National Division we’re optimistic that we can make a deep run into the district playoffs,” said Coatesville Coach Bill Mendenhall.
Having earned a firstround bye, the Raiders await the winner of No. 14 Pennsbury and No. 19 Pennridge.
Avon Grove (15-5) also gets a first round bye with the ten seed, and will open with a round of 16 matchup with No. 7 Hatboro-Horsham (17-3). The Red Devils are on the same side of the bracket and could hit Coatesville in the semifinals. Spring-Ford is the top seed in Class 6A.
Fully one third of the teams in the Class 5A bracket are from the ChesMont — five of the eight teams in the bottom half.
Bishop Shanahan (14-6) is the No. 2 seed, and opens with No. 15 Radnor. No discussion of the Eagles can begin anywhere but with their ace in the circle, Devon Miller. When Miller is on, she is as dominant as anyone. In one three game stretch, she struck out 56, and finished with 236 Ks in 134 innings pitched, for an average of 12.14 per game.
Miller has also gotten it done at the plate, with a team high six home runs. Miller hit .430 for the year, with an .810 slugging percentage. Anne Weyand chipped in with five home runs and 13 RBI to go along with her .430 average.
Should the Eagles get past Radnor, they will likely face Sun Valley (128), the No. 7 seed. The Vanguards finished in the three-way tie with Great Valley and Kennett for the Ches-Mont American title.
Great Valley (11-9) went on a tear to end its regular season, and picked up the No. 8 seed. Led by pitcher Morgan Orlowski and her batterymate, catcher Kasey Bryan, the Patriots have leadership that has been there before and know how to carry momentum deep into a postseason. The Patriots open with No. 9 Phoenixville (12-8).
Kennett (11-8) is seeded 11th, and kicks off district play against No. 6 West Chester East (11-9). The Blue Demons are led by the senior trio of Maddie Bowe, Kylie Harvey and Jamie Wessels.
“With the tournament being composed of a lot of Chest-Mont teams, we’ve all seen it plays to each other previously, which will make for some exciting matchups,” said Blue Demon Coach Lauren Gottstein. “Our team is looking forward to it and hoping to get some runs on the board early and protect and build upon our lead.”
The Vikings will look to Amelia Lark to continue to step it up in the circle, while still swinging a hot bat at the plate. Amilia Andraos has been an offensive leader for the Vikings all season, while catcher Sam Gomez has been a field general as well as a threat with the stick.
“It’s great to see the amount of teams from our league in the playoffs,” said Vikings’ coach Bobby Swier. “This helps to make a point about the quality of softball that is being played in our league. But it could be a one game season from here on out and regardless of who it is, we have to be prepared.”
West Chester Henderson (12-8) earned the No. 3 seed, and being tournament play with a matchup against No. 14 Harriton, with a win pitting the Warriors against the KennettWest Chester East winner.
The Warriors point to their prowess with the leather as a reason for their success, and hope continue that trend in the post-season. Offensively, the Warriors will look to Kasey Collins(.466 AVG, 24R, 13SB), Cameron Trotter (.355 AVG, 4 HR, 29 RBI) and Grace Abbonizio (367 AVG, 21 R, 17 RBI).
“Being in the Ches-Mont League allows our players and coaches to see some of the premier talent in the area throughout the season,” said Warriors’ Coach Chris Hessler The games between the teams are always close and down to the last inning. The downfall to ches Mont is with so many teams making it, at some point, we may have to start eliminating each other.”
Finally, in Class 4A, Villa Maria will look to make it two straight district championships. The ACAA champion Hurricanes, finished the regular season with a record of 163, including an early season victory over Class 6A Avon Grove. The Hurricanes are the number two seed, and will host Nazareth Academy in the first round Wednesday.
Alyssa Viscardo has been as solid as they come in the circle, while Bri Wright is one of the most clutch hitters in the area.
“Villa has handled the pressures of close games with highlighted plays and clutch hits to come out on top,” said Hurricane Coach Nicole Hartshorn. “We are prepared for post season pressure and we have each other’s backs all the way. ‘Got your back!’ is our slogan this year and we look forward to the challenges ahead.”
The Union aren’t a superstar-driven squad by any stretch of the imagination. But even by their modest standards, the Union’s highest earners weren’t yielding commensurate rewards through eight games. Haris Medunjanin’s defensive flaws were exposed and uncompensated for. Alejandro Bedoya was ineffectual and out of position. Chris Pontius failed to hit the highs of the last campaign after a disjointed preseason disrupted by his first U.S. caps. Ilsinho again struggled for fitness.
Since, the higher earners have excelled, and the Union have flourished in turn. Pontius has dished five assists in the six-game unbeaten spree. Medunjanin has two goals and three assists in that string, and both rank among the top assist-providers in MLS. Medunjanin’s goaland-two-assists performance against D.C. United two weeks ago would’ve been worthy of MLS Player of the Week were it not for Justin Meram’s hat trick. Ilsinho has a goal to offer quantitative proof of his impact. Which dovetails nicely with the next key …
Players returning to best positions
If there was one legitimate knock against Jim Curtin in the first two months of the season, it may have been his reticence to put players in their most impactful positions, choosing to shoehorn them into unfamiliar positions instead of constructing a team around
his tent poles. Bedoya has resembled the cornerstone piece he’s paid as since his restoration to the No. 8 position; even if the goals and assists haven’t flowed yet, his two-way influence is obvious. It’s also evident to Curtin, who preferred displacing Ilsinho from the wing (a position of strength) rather than Bedoya (from a position of scarcity) to fill in for the injured Roland Alberg.
Pontius is another case. He performed ably on the left wing this year and in the past, with his defensive aptitude valuable in front of Fabinho, the fullback more likely to be caught out going forward. On the right, though, Pontius’ ability to exploit space behind left backs with a tendency to get forward recklessly has helped his resurgence. Curtin’s decision to turn the defensively suspect Ilsinho inside seems to have enlivened him, as well.
Turning up the D
The most severe malady was the Union’s porosity: In 16 winless outings, the Union allowed multiple goals 12 times and kept just two clean sheets. In the last five games, the Union have conceded just once. They haven’t surrendered an away goal in 243 minutes, dating to April 1.
The backline that has done the job isn’t the one most would’ve drafted in the preseason. Jack Elliott and Oguchi Onyewu have kept Richie Marquez rooted to the bench. Ray Gaddis has temporarily supplanted Keegan Rosenberry, though the latter is still regarded as the right back of the future. And Giliano Wijnaldum’s debut performance against Colorado Saturday promises to intensify the battle with Fabinho for minutes. Curtin has options in defense; it’s a matter of tailoring them week to week.
It was obscured as a secondary problem through nine games, but only four players had scored; seven of the 11 goals were provided by CJ Sapong, an unsustainable proportion.
Then four players not named Sapong tallied against D.C. United, and Ilsinho opened his account the following week against Houston. Nine Union players have scored this season, equal to all of the 2010 season and on pace to match recent season tallies. That cohort doesn’t yet include Bedoya, and highly paid striker Jay Simpson has contributed just one goal, leaving room for improvement.
Continued brilliance of Sapong
Yes, the striker has eight goals this season, six from open play, ranking in the top five in MLS in both categories. Yes, his careerhigh for a season is a modest yet seemingly unbreakable nine.
But arguably his best play of the season came against Houston when he didn’t score. The exquisite control he showed on Fafa Picault’s opener, cushioning an aerial ball near the edge of the box with a deft touch right into Ilsinho’s path for the Brazilian to trigger the buildup, was masterful. It was the kind of finesse play that people underestimate in Sapong’s rough-and-tumble physicality. Sapong’s goal return likely won’t scale to 34 games, and I wouldn’t put money on him cracking 20 goals just yet. But however you measure it, the benefits he brings the Union are increasing year on year.
To contact Matthew De George, email mdegeorge@21stcenturymedia.com.