Whippets cool off Bishop Shanahan

DOWNINGTOWN >> The two hottest teams in the Ches-Mont League did battle Monday afternoon at Downingtown West High School as the National Division-leading Whippets, on an eight-game winning streak, took on Bishop Shanahan, which came in on a sixgame streak of its own, so something had to give.

Well, the Downingtown West winning streak is now at nine as the hosts took advantage of four errors, some good timely hitting and a complete-game performance from Joey Zettlemoyer, to take home an 8-3 triumph, and go 1 1/2 games up on idle Coatesville.

“We did not kill the ball, but we got good timely hitting, worked some walks and ran the bases well,” Downingtown West

coach Dave Oleszek said. “We came back early from being down and played some sloppy defense early, so I would have like to see us play a cleaner game, but we got better as the game went on, and that is how you win in this league, with pitching and defense. Joey did a great job for us today.”

Shanahan (7-6, ChesMont, 7-6 overall) got to the Whippets (12-2, 12-2) for two runs in the first inning. Nick O’Day got on base to lead things off via an error. After a sacrifice bunt by Dan DiBenedetto, Riley O’Day smacked an RBI-double and that was followed by a single by Drew Dolan to score O’Day.

Downingtown West scored two of its own off O’Day in the bottom of the second inning. Hits by Eric Grintz and Drew Britt started the inning. After O’Day struck out Reyce Curnane, J.J. Freeman singled in a run. Then the second run scored on a fielders choice by Robbie Note. Freeman had two hits and played his usual flawless defense at second base, something the junior says the team take a lot of pride in.

“We practice our four corners a lot in practice,” Freeman said. “And we take a lot of pride in our defense. To come back at them right away was a big part of the game because we got some hits, and then it becomes contagious and gets everybody going.”

Zetttlemoyer settled down and set the Eagles down without scoring in the second, third and fourth innings by spotting his fastball and getting ahead of the hitters. He walked just one and struck out three.

The Whippets took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning when a big error in the outfield led to the tie-breaking run on a sacrifice fly by Note. West took control as O’Day came unglued in the bottom of the fourth, losing his control and walking the first three batters of the inning. Then a two-run error on Note, followed by a booming tworun double by J.P. Bell made it 7-3.

Bell would score the eighth run from second base when he hustled in to score after an O’Day pitch got by catcher P.J. Hentz.

“You cannot give a good team like that second and third chances,” Bishop Shanahan coach Brian Boyko said. “I did not like our body language in those two innings at all. If someone makes an error, we have to fight through things together. But, they were better than us today. They played well.”

Zettlemoyer was scattered nine hits and was helped by some real good defense from his reliable infield. Ryan Giordoni, Grintz, Freeman and Curnane all made nice plays behind their pitcher.

“I was effective today because I got ahead of their hitters,” Zettlemoyer said. “And (catcher) Nick Campana had a great game behind the plate, and my defense was great. It is easy to pitch with those guys behind you. We got behind early, and I think we got caught up in the hype for this game with some of their players, but we knew our bats would come around.”

Downingtown West will host West Chester East on Wednesday, while secondplace Coatesville travels to play Bishop Shanahan today and Unionville on Wednesday.