Roslyn heating up; HV waiting for reinforcements

LOWER MORELAND » Hitting season seems to have arrived for Roslyn.

The Blue Hawks’ bats have sprung to life over the past two weeks after a slow start to the Lower Montco Legion season and it’s shown in the team’s play of late. With an experienced group that’s determined to return to regionals, Roslyn came out swinging Wednesday night at Huntingdon Valley.

Thanks to an eight-spot in the first inning, Roslyn won its fourth straight game, 13-4 in four innings before darkness brought it to an early end.

“We’ve been hitting the ball well and everything’s just falling into place for us,” Roslyn right fielder Jake Ward said after smacking two hits on Wednesday.

Where the Blue Hawks are finding their stride at the moment, HV is trying to endure a rough start to the season. The squad, which is composed mainly of Lower Moreland players, is shorthanded this week with most of the recently graduated LM seniors away for Senior Week.

Down six starters, Huntingdon Valley didn’t just fold up shop after Roslyn sent 13 batters to the dish and plated eight runs in the top of the first inning. Despite dropping to 2-6 with the loss Wednesday, the fact that the core of a high school team that won a District 1 title and made states is on the way back is reason for optimism. “We just have to find a way back to what worked during the high school season,” HV second baseman Jordan Leiber said. “A lot of these guys played on that team and we just have to revert to basics of making plays, getting hits and moving guys over.”

Roslyn, which made the Region 3 tournament in 2015 and 2016, fell short of that goal last year. With a good number of veteran players, including a large crop of justgraduated Abington seniors, getting back is their primary objective.

First baseman/pitcher JP Nolan, one of those recent Abington grads, noted Roslyn has gotten solid pitching all year but couldn’t back it up early with the bats. After dropping to 1-3 to begin the season, Roslyn finally got hot.

Nolan provided plenty of offense in Roslyn’s eight-run first inning. The East Stroudsburg recruit belted a two-run double in his first at-bat of the inning, scoring Nick McClay and Colin Kelly, then singled home Mike Yoast his second time up. In between, he scored himself on Joe Rossi’s infield hit.

“We started hitting against Horsham a couple games ago and it’s just continued going,” Nolan said. “It’s been awhile since we hit wood bats after playing all fall and spring with metal. I think we’re fine now and used to hitting wood again.”

Ward, who was hit by a pitch in the first inning, doubled in the second and singled in the third and scored all three times he reached, agreed the switch in bats may have led into the slow start.

“The ball just doesn’t carry as much,” Ward said.

In just four innings of work on Wednesday, Roslyn mashed 11 hits off Huntingdon Valley and used almost every part of the field to do so. Third baseman Cam Marrow had two RBI hits and scored a pair of runs for Roslyn while right fielder Jordan Grimaldi had two singles and two RBIs including a sac fly.

“We’ve been getting nine runs, 10, 11, just hitting the ball really well,” Nolan said.

While Huntingdon Valley has been dealing with roster absences, Roslyn is about to deal with its own starting this weekend. Abington’s graduates are leaving for their Senior Week on Saturday but both Nolan and Ward said they, along with most of their teammates, are planning to come back for games next week.

Leiber had a solid game, hitting a leadoff single in the first and walking in his other two plate appearances while scoring two of the team’s four runs. The second baseman is still plenty confident in his team’s ability and said the spark is always there, “it’s just a matter of lighting the flame.”

“I think, especially with missing the guys, a lot of that energy is just not there like it was in the high school season,” Leiber said. “I think once we get that back, we’ll get rolling again. Once we get that energy, we can get there.”

ROSLYN 13, HUNTINGDON VALLEY 4

Roslyn 8203—13111 Huntingdon Valley 2002—423 2B: R – JP Nolan, Jake Ward