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St. Pius X
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 My Site News: Top-seeded St. Pius holds off Springfield to move into title game |
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Wednesday, May 31
Top-seeded St. Pius holds off Springfield to move into title game
Jeff Stover, jstover@pottsmerc.com
HORSHAM TWP. - The first step on its latest march through the District 1 playoffs got off at a fast clip Tuesday.
But the St. Pius X baseball team soon found itself scrambling to keep Springfield-Montco from pulling off a major upset in their Class AA opener at Hatboro-Horsham High School. With some late-inning offense and timely relief pitching, the Winged Lions moved on courtesy of a 7-4 victory over the Spartans.
Kenny Brock’s RBI single keyed a two-run fifth - a lead that proved to be the last Pius would need en route to the win at Hendrickson Memorial Field. That was bolstered by Jason Blain, who hurled two shutout frames in relief of starter Joe Kieba, getting the save after weathering a seventh inning that saw Springfield get the tying run to the plate with two outs.
"I can’t say I wasn’t a little concerned," Pius manager Jeff Pinder said after seeing his top-seeded club (12-8 overall) qualify for Thursday’s championship game against New Hope/Solebury, at a site and time to be announced. "But we’ve played well all year. The kids have battled, and they have a lot of confidence."
The Lions had the upper hand through the first 2½ innings, scratching for runs in each of their first two at-bats before parlaying a pair of Spartan errors into a four-run lead. They also snuffed potential Springfield scoring attempts by turning double plays in each of the Lions’ first two at-bats.
But the district’s fourth seed got a charge of its own going, getting on the board in the third and pulling even in a three-run fourth that featured a double-error on Alex Giordano’s leadoff hit to shortstop and successive RBI doubles from starting pitcher Brandon Morrison and Len Cohen.
"We made some errors, and mistakes that we’ll clear up for Thursday," Pinder said. "But overall, we played good defense. The double plays got us out of a lot of jams."
Brock re-energized the enthusiasm of the Pius players and their fans with his hit to left, bringing home Steve Cimino (single) after he moved into position on a walk to Kieffer (3-for-3, double) and a wild pitch. Two batters later, John Vaughn plated Kieffer’s courtesy runner, Matt Eliff, with a long fly ball to center.
"We realized they weren’t going to roll over and die," Brock recalled. "We came out and started ripping the ball."
The Lions added insurance in the seventh, Eliff -- running for Kieffer (single) -- going to third on a two-base Springfield error and coming home on Tom DeAngelis’ sacrifice fly to center.
Blain, in the meantime, did his part to make the lead hold up. He got Pius out of a tight spot in the bottom of the fifth, after Chris Dowling (hit by pitch) and Sean DeFillipo (single) got on base to end Kieba’s day.
"I can tell when he’s tired," Pinder said of Kieba. "It was hot out there, and he hasn’t thrown like that through our long layoff. I knew it was time."
DeFillipo (3-for-4) headed Springfield’s 11-hit offense, ahead of the matching 2-for-4s of Morrison and Cohen. Kevin Leis came on to pitch in relief of Morrison in the sixth, tagged for Pius’ last three hits and unearned run in the seventh.
"We had a bunch of seniors who didn’t play much before this, but I knew they had heart," Spartan manager Chris Shelly said of his 5-16 ballclub. "We have a ton of respect for Pius ..they’re a nice team that’s well-coached. We were hoping to hang in there with them."
NOTES
Josh Martin initiated two of Pius’ double plays in the first and fifth innings from his shortstop spot, with Cimino kicking off a 5-4-3 twin-kill in the second ..Morrison had the defensive gem for Springfield after shifting to left field in the sixth. He ended Pius’ sixth by snaring Cimino’s long fly ball against the outfield fence.
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