Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Express Lane
Westtown blanks Lionville in playoff opener
Playoff baseball many times come down to good pitching and timely hitting to produce victories. Friday night at Downingtown East, the Westtown Express got plenty of good pitching and enough timely hitting in the first round of the Chester County American Legion Playoffs.
Westtown got a combined three-hit shutout from Pat McDonough and Andrew Hoff, and hitting star Dave Subers ripped a three-run double in the only scoring inning of the night and Westtown went on to a 4-0 triumph over Lionville.
Westtown will travel today to play top-seeded Downingtown at 11 a.m., while Lionville will have to wait to Sunday and will be playing in the losers bracket against a team to be determined.
“I thought all season that we had the pitching,” Westtown manager Tom Travers said. “And in a short tournament like this it is very important to manage your pitching. Now we go to Downingtown and they are the best team in the league but we played them twice when we did not have all our guys so we will see what happens.”
Lionville (7-7) and Westtown (7-7) both got strong performances from their starting pitchers. McDonough and Hillcats lefty Ken Kunzman traded zeroes for the first three innings with Lionville stranding three runners in the first three frames.
But the Express came alive in the top of the fourth inning. Spencer Piercy led off the inning and reached when hit by a Kunzman pitch. Gabe Puzzangara then singled to put men on first and second with no one out. Kunzman then walked Matt Fricker to load the bases.
Connor Bartholomew broke up the shutout when he ripped an RBI single to center to make it a 1-0 game. After Kunzman looked like he was going to get out of the inning by getting the next two Westtown batters and going 0-2 on Dave Subers, the roof caved in on Lionville. Subers ripped a Kunzman pitch to right center, clearing the bases with a three-run double, and suddenly it was a 4-0 Westtown advantage.
“I hit a fastball a little middle in,” Subers said. “With the bases loaded I wanted to just put a short swing on the ball and get some runners in and that is what happened.”
McDonough left with two out in the bottom of the fourth inning when he reached the 60 pitch mark and gave way to Andrew Hoff. Hoff got the final out of the fourth and Westtown had a 4-0 lead after four innings.
But, Hoff caused his own trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Anthony Bertolami grounded a ball back to Hoff. The pitcher turned and his throw pulled first baseman Harry Ianelli off the bag for an error. Then, a pickoff throw went to the fence and the runner advanced to second. A balk was called next and Bertolami was at third base with one out.
But, Hoff bore down and got two dangerous hitters — Albert Choi and Connor Lynch — to fly out and the Hillcats wasted another opportunity and it was still 4-0 game.
“I mean you don’t think about the error,” Hoff said. “It was just a fluke and I knew the hitters would not get to me. I was pumping fastballs and that was setting up the curveball. But, the mindset doesn’t change after the error. Those things happen.”
Westtown had a threat to add to its lead in the top the seventh inning when Ianelli ripped a sharp double down the left field line. But, the Express failed to get him home and Westtown headed to the seventh inning still up 4-0 .
Lionville got a one-out double from Bertolami in the bottom of the seventh inning and put two men on base when Lynch was plunked by a Hoff pitch. But Hoff was too tough and he retired another dangerous hitter, Zach Burton, on a long fly to center that Ben Watson made a nice play on, and it was Westtown that was moving on to the winners bracket with an impressive victory.
“The boys really played well today,” Travers said. “And Pat and Andrew did a real nice job for us on the mound.”