Stepping up

Wissahickon handles William Tennent despite missing eight key players

LOWER GWYNEDD » Freshman Jarrett Federer and other underclassmen earned starts for Wissahickon Tuesday afternoon when eight regulars were unable to play due to COVID-19 concerns. The first baseman made the most of his opportunity, knocking in the Trojans first two runs against William Tennent.

Those two runs were all the offense needed behind a dominant effort from pitcher Nate DeVincent, who went six innings in a 7-1 Suburban One League crossover win over the Panthers at Wissahickon High School.

“We had a lot of our main varsity guys out so our younger guys stepped it up a lot today,” DeVincent said. “Guys came in with some clutch hits. The top of the order – we just got around the bases, ran the bases well, some timely hits. We all just chipped in at the end.”

“We knew our younger guys weren’t going to be phased,” Wiss coach Andy Noga said. “They’re ready for this moment. It was good to see that. They played with confidence and had a lot of fun out there. It was nice.”

Federer’s first RBI came in the bottom of the first inning. Aidan DeFeo led off with a single and advanced to second on a Ben Junker sacrifice bunt. After an out, Federer stepped to the plate and hit a grounder deep into the hole at shortstop. Federer hustled down the line, beat the throw and collided with Tennent’s first baseman at the bag. DeFeo scored from second to make it 1-0 Trojans.

DeFeo led off the bottom of the third with a triple before Junker and Kasey Weiss worked walks to load the bases with no outs. Federer made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to deep left field.

“We’re very excited about Jarrett,” Noga said. “We like Jarrett a lot. His at-bats really showed out today. He had a plan when he went up there. He was right on their pitcher right away. I know he’s a big dude but he can get down the line pretty quick. Him giving us a hard 90 in the first inning to beat out that throw and give us an early lead and then get the ball to the outfield. Their left fielder made a nice catch on that ball. Very impressed by Jarrett.”

Weiss scored on an error to extend the lead to 3-0 after three innings.

The Panthers cut into their deficit in the fifth inning when Josh Nydick reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a DJ Dick