Haveson helps local team to national tournament title
WEST GOSHEN » A Chester County-based baseball squad from around the country has won an under-15 national championship tournament in Florida. The Pennsylvania Playmakers, which has Garnet Valley rising sophomore Jack Haveson as its top pitcher, went 12-0-1 in the Perfect Game Super25 National Championships in Fort Myers.
The club consists mostly of players from Chester County schools, three others from Delaware and only Haveson from Delaware County.
“There were a handful of teams from this region that could have gone very deep in this tournament,” said Playmakers’ head coach Scott Kelley. “There is a perception that baseball in the Northeast is not as strong as in the South, mainly because of the weather. But this kind of turned that notion on its head. This is a very talented area for baseball.
“You can have two players from out of your region, but we didn’t even need that,” added Kelley, the head baseball coach at West Chester East. “They still went out and made a name for themselves on the national level. For its level, this is the best team I’ve coached. They put pressure on opponents every inning offensively, the pitching is incredibly deep and our defense is based on speed and being fundamentally sound.”
A travel team, Kelley has coached the Playmakers for three seasons, and the core of the squad has been together even longer. It qualified for the national tournament by going 6-0 in the tough 16team Mid-Atlantic Regional in mid-June in Vineland, N.J. The region covers teams from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Maryland.
“There were a couple teams that were combined super-teams,” Kelley said. “It was pretty tough, so just getting out of the Mid-Atlantic was a huge accomplishment. I thought we had a shot but I also knew it was going to be tough.”
In Florida, the Playmakers opened on July 1 with a 1-1 tie against the East Cobb (Georgia) Astros. Haveson was the star in a taut pitcher’s duel.
The Playmakers topped the North Carolina Rivercats, 7-4, in game two, and then wrapped up a 3-0-1 record in pool play with wins against the Missouri Gators (7-5) and the West Coast (California) Braves (10-5) on July 3.
Now on a roll, the Playmakers entered the championship round with a vengeance, blasting the Elk River (Oklahoma) Hurricanes and the Tri-City (Tennessee) Titans in a pair of mercy-rule shortened clashes by a combined score of 25-3.
“I would compare it to sharks smelling blood in the water,” Kelley said. “When they got to the playoff round, they wanted more and more with each game. They pretty much demolished anybody in their way.”
It set up a rematch in the title game on July 6 against the Missouri Gators at JetBlue Stadium at the Boston Red Sox Spring Training Complex. And the Playmakers were confident because Haveson was eligible to pitch.
“The stadium had the same dimensions as Fenway Park, with a Green Monster and everything. It was a lot of fun,” Kelley said.
The Gators led 1-0 through two innings, but the Playmakers nabbed the lead for good with a three-run third inning that included an RBI hit from Riley Davis, who played varsity ball this season as a sophomore at Avon Grove.
“When we were down early, I really wasn’t worried,” Kelley said. “We had our ace on the mound and our guys were rolling.”
Davis delivered a runscoring double in the fifth, and Haveson sent the Gators down 1-2-3 in the seventh to preserve a hard-earned 5-4 triumph. Haveson was named the tourney’s most valuable pitcher and Davis batted .450, knocked in seven runs to take home MVP honors.
“When this team gets on a roll, you just let them go and they win,” Kelley said. “They know how good they are. They have the desire and the attitude that just kind of takes over, and it didn’t really matter who they are playing, or if they were down early.”
In all, the Playmakers scored 55 runs in seven games in Florida, and received production from the top to the bottom of the lineup. Pat McDonough (West Chester Rustin) was the team’s cleanup hitter, Andrew Nole (Avon Grove) and Ryan Santangelo (Oxford) shared duties at catcher, and the speedy Connor Schilling (Unionville) was a defensive standout in centerfield. Kyle Lyons (Unionville) and Downingtown’s Michael Eze (The Hill School) shared second base and outfield duties, and Kennett’s Ethan Sarosi was the squad’s number two pitcher hitter.
“We go 11 deep in our hitting lineup,” Kelley explained. “Some teams there will be a drop-off when you go deep, but I don’t think there was a game where I didn’t hit at least 11 guys.
“The team is so deep, our nine-, 10- and 11-hole hitters could be just as productive as our 1-2-3. They are all fast, they can hit hard, they get on base, they bunt, they steal … it’s fairly easy to make a lineup because they will do the job whereever you put them.”
For Kelley, there was only one negative about the 2017 Playmakers.
“None of the kids on this team play for (West Chester) East,” he said with a laugh. as well as a valuable