PCL comes up one game short of Carpenter Cup title.
Lineup switch in fifth inning ignites SOL to Carpenter Cup crown
PHILADELPHIA >> Suburban One League American/Continental coach Ed Wall made the switch to his second lineup in the bottom of the fifth inning, trailing the Philadelphia Catholic League by one, Friday morning in the Carpenter Cup championship game.
The first four batters reached base — highlighted by a pair of RBI doubles — to turn the onerun deficit into a 3-2 lead, which held to be the final score at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
North Penn’s Nate O’Donnell was hit by a pitch to get the bottom of the fifth inning started and Cole Swiger ripped a double down the left field line to tie the game, 2-2.
CB East’s Cameron Komonchak followed with a single to put runners on the corners and CB West’s Thomas Philipps smash a double to score Swiger and knock Roman Catholic pitcher Aidan Welch out of the game.
“They’re fantastic baseball players and great kids,” Wall said of the second team. “They’re so calm in the moment. They were just out there, having fun, playing baseball. We’re very confident in their ability to get the job done. That’s one of the many reasons why they’re in that second lineup.”
“The second team has been in here and they just hit,” CB South’s Eric Gross, who went 2-for-2 with a pair of singles for the second team, said. “It was great to be a
part of it and just an honor to be here.”
Bonner-Prendie’s Matt Scanlon came on to pitch and got three straight outs to strand Philipps and Komonchak on second and third, but the damage was done.
The Catholic League had chances in the final innings to tie the game, but were never able to get a runner past second base.
In the seventh, Archbishop Ryan’s Matt Romano led off with a walk. The promising inning quickly faded when Pennridge’s Andrew Mayhew forced Father Judge’s Tim Ulrich to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
The following inning, Archbishop Wood’s Bobby Heck dropped down a beautiful one-out bunt single with the 3- 4-5 hitters due up. He tried to steal on the next pitch, but a la-