Hatfield faces Pennridge
Five-run lead enough to survive Post 255’s comeback bid
PERKASIE » Atlee Hasson chased down a ball Pennridge’s Ian Kacergis belted to deep center field with two on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and Hatfield-Towamencin hung on to claim a 5-3 Bux-Mont American Legion victory Friday night at Kulp Park.
“I knew I was going back for a long time,” Hasson said. “I took a peek behind me before I started running because I know I’d be catching that ball on the run.”
Along with his catch that sealed the victory, Hasson added an RBI single in the top of the fifth, helping the Titans hold a 5-0 lead after four before host Pennridge cut the margin to two after a three-run fifth.
“It was nice to pull out to a big lead but they kind of came back on us, you saw that last inning at-bat it came down to that,” Hatfield-Towamencin coach Joe Drelick said. “Little more excitement than I wanted, but lesson learned when you get a team up 5-0 you’ve got to keep going.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Andrew Fantaskey drew a oneout walk while Brock Hewitt dropped a two-out single into shallow left center to bring up Kacergis. The DeSales commit put a big charge into the ball, but unfortunately went to the deepest part of the field.
“Anywhere else in the ballpark, we’re going home a winner, we’re happy,” Pennridge coach Rocky Wright said. “We’re still happy, but we’re not as happy as we would have been. That ball was crushed, like you said anywhere, even in the power alleys it’s not that far.”
Billy Collins was 2-for-4 with an RBI while Rob Weiss scored twice for Hatfield-Towamencin
(1-0 league), which was playing its first game of the season after North Penn High School’s run to the PIAA-6A tournament pushed back the Titans start.
“Coming off our tough loss, most of us play at North Penn, so coming off Monday (a 3-1 loss to St. Joseph’s Prep in the state first round), we just wanted to relax a little bit and have a little fun,” Hasson said.
Hewitt went 2-for-4 for Pennridge, who aided Hatfield-Township with three errors as Post 255 dropped to 0-2 in the Bux-Mont.
“We’re not panicking, nothing’s broken. We’ll fix it,” Wright said. “We’ve been
on the other side before and came back and made a lot of noise and I still expect this team to do that. Their attitude’s still good. They don’t feel like they got beat, they know what they did, we don’t have to go over it and beat it up.”
Hatfield-Towamencin starting pitcher Zach Moretski earned the win, allowing three runs — all earned — on six hits in five innings. He walked two, hit two batters and struck out six. Zach Thomas picked up the save, tossing two shutout innings. Thomas gave up one hit, no walked and struck out three.
Andrew Mayhew took the loss, the Pennridge starter surrendering five runs — three earned — on nine hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out five.
The Titans took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth as O’Donnell scored on a wild pitch and Hasson’s RBI single plate Corey Stouffer.
Hatfield-Towamencin doubled their advantage in the second. Matt Marino led off with a single with Weiss following with a walk. With two outs, a Collins single to right field and an error on the play allowed both runs home.
It became a 5-0 lead for Hatfield-Towamencin in the fifth as Weiss scored after an errant throw home on a Stouffer’s grounder.
Pennridge pulled within 5-3 in the bottom of the inning. Kolby Rush brought in the home side’s first run with an RBI single through the right side of the middle. Two batters later, Kacergis hit a two-out, two-RBI single up the middle.