SABATH, PENNRIDGE SHUT OUT DOYLESTOWN
Post 255 scores lone run on Schnable’s RBI single in 4th
When Dan Sabath got in a jam in the top of the sixth inning, the right-hander knew what pitch was going to get him out of it.
“I knew I had to throw a strike, I wasn’t concerned with walking him, because I had an open base or whatever,” Sabath said. “He (Pennridge catcher Jack Goddess) called fastball again and I was right down there but I thought he was going to know it was coming, so I was like slider, so I threw him a slider down the middle that broke in on his hands, swung over it.”
With two outs and a runner on third base, Sabath preserved Pennridge’s one-run advantage Monday afternoon by getting Doylestown’s Colin Sheehan to chase on his full-count offering. Sabath went on to complete his four-hit, complete-game shut-
out, giving Post 255 a boost in its bid to earning a spot Bux-Mont American Legion playoffs with a 1-0 victory at Kulp Playground.
“Last couple games we (have been a) little shaky on hitting so when we got the one as was happy with that,” Sabath said. “Going zeroes (is) what I think every time I go out to pitch. Who doesn’t want to put up a zero? I wasn’t really thinking about it, just the same mentality.”
Luke Nuneviller went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple and scored the contest’s lone run in the bottom of the fourth on Connor Schnable’s one-out RBI single.
“I think that might get us in (the playoffs), but I don’t know. I really just got to win my next game and not worry about anything like that,” Pennridge coach Rocky Wright said. “So we got to wake up our bats, too. We left guys on base, we struck out, we didn’t look good at the plate at all. Couple guys — Nuneviller did, Schnable he adjusted nicely got a first-pitch fastball and
hit it.”
The game was the first of two on the day for both sides — Doylestown hosting Hatfield-Towamencin at 6 p.m. while Pennridge headed to Hostelley Field for a 7 p.m. matchup with Nor-Gwyn.
The sides also play Tuesday, Doylestown home against Lansdale at 10 a.m., Pennridge visiting Quakertown at 1 p.m.
Post 255 and the Tigers came into Monday among the teams battling for the final seeds in the league eight-team tournament, which is slated to start Thursday. Pennridge came in sixth with 16 points while Doylestown was apart of a four-way tie for seventh at 14 points.
“We just couldn’t get one over the hump here but we couldn’t get that one hit that we needed,” Doylestown coach Steve Ruane said. “Both pitchers were really dealing out there today, they really had it going. They both had the inside and outside corners measured. So they had a couple guys get the ball the other way on us and get out there and get a run and that was the difference, that was the difference today.”
Sabath, a Dock Mennonite
grad committed to Philadelphia (now Thomas Jefferson) University — stuck out eight and walked just one in claiming the shutout victory.
“My slider was really nice, especially on one of those 3-2 pitches, that big kid, the lefty (Sheehan),” he said. “I was able to throw it whenever I wanted to and sometimes it got away but most of the time it was pretty on point. And then working the fastball in with that.”
Doylestown starting pitcher Matt Varallo took the loss despite a solid complete-game effort. The righthander gave up one earned run on six hits, walked one and struck out five.
“Mostly I was just trying to pound the outside cause that usually works,” Varallo said. “My changeup wasn’t really working at the end so I went to the curveball. They started hitting that, so then I just relied on my fastball on the outside corner, was kind of my savior.”
In the bottom of the fourth, which began with Nuneviller hitting a double into left field. After a Goddess sacrifice bunt, Schnable lined a single into shallow left to bring home Nuneviller for Monday’s only run.
Doylestown had a chance to pull even in the sixth when Jimmie Wiegers doubled with one out then went to third on a Steven Gebre fly out. But Sabath struck out Sheehan to strand Wiegers at third.
Thomas Spratt led off the top of the seventh with a single up the middle. Sabath, however, retired the next three batters.
The Tigers first scoring chance came in the second. Sheehan started the frame with a single, went to second on a passed ball then was held at third on CJ Gillmer’s base hit. The next two batters, however, hit fly balls to second base.
Pennridge loaded the bases in the bottom of the second after Tyler Wright’s two-out walk but Varallo ended the threat with a force out at third on a Kolby Rush fielder’s choice.
Nuneviller gave Post 255 a chance for an insurance run in the sixth with his two-out triple to right center yet Varallo kept Pennridge’s lead at 1-0 with a fly out to the shortstop.