(photo of Michael Mamaluy pitching courtesy of Friends Central IG)

HAVERFORD, PA — It was a back and forth game on Opening Day between Friends Central and The Haverford School. Until it wasn’t.

The teams traded blows through the first three innings leaving the game at 5-5 before Friends Central pulled away for 11 unanswered runs, scoring four in the top of the fifth and seven in the top of the sixth.

Jacob Horwitz started the game on the mound for Haverford, with Michael Mamaluy (pictured) getting the ball for Friends Central.

The Phoenix are one of the teams we would like to cover more this year now that we have some more hands on deck. They are in a similar boat to schools like Malvern Prep and Devon Prep where they are a non-Delco school in a non-Delco conference, but they still have a good chunk of Delco guys that deserve to be covered. We just didn’t have the bandwidth to do so last year, so we’ll do our best this year.

It was Haverford who struck first in the bottom of the first when 2024 First Team All-Delco outfielder Jaidyn Rivera led off the inning with a solo homer to center field.

The Phoenix responded with three in the top of the second after an error extended the inning to make it 1-1, and Caleb Bachman made the Fords pay with a two-run double to give Friends Central the lead at 3-1.

Haverford fired right back with four of their own, started off by an Ethan Farrington two-run single to knock in John Buscaglia (walk) and Nicky Vanni (single). Now at 3-3, the Fords would later score on the ever-so-popular first and third rundown play where both runners were safe, Farrington being the runner that scored.

Brayden Scanlan would single and then Thomas Lawler extended the Fords’ lead to 5-3, but a promising offensive start would not go any further as the Fords were shutout the rest of the afternoon.

Fresh off of Tommy John surgery, Horwitz came out of the game after two innings where he allowed one hit, three unearned runs, four walks, and had five strikeouts.

Friends Central would again fight back, with Oliver Lederman stroking a two-run single to center field to tie the game up in the top of the third.

After a scoreless third and final inning from Michael Mamaluy, Friends Central would keep the bats hot off of new Haverford reliever Connor Haney.

Mamaluy hit a sac fly, Gavin Yeager had an RBI groundout, and Friends Central scored on one of their own first to third rundowns. Oliver Lederman’s RBI double capped off the scoring and made it 9-5.

Lucas Abreu came in relief for Friends Central and was stellar, tossing three shutout innings to lock up the win. The Friends Central bats gave him some more cushion when they homered twice in the top of the sixth, one by Michael Mamaluy and one by Shane McGarry to give them a mercy rule 16-5 win.

Both Delco guys, so that’s a win.

These two teams could potentially meet again in the PAISAA State Playoffs should they both make it, but for now, it’s Friends Central who starts their season 1-0.

A bit confusing here but The Haverford School will take on Penncrest on Wednesday for a game that they consider a game, but Penncrest considers a scrimmage due to PIAA rules. Their next real game will be Friday as they host Garnet Valley.

As for Friends Central, they host Portage for their home opener on Friday.