Manager: Tom Carey (second season)

2024 Record: 8-11-1

Central League Record: 8-8

Playoff Results:

• Lost to North Penn 3-2 in PIAA 6A First Round
• Extended playoff streak to six years

Key Departures: Chris Kimmel, Danny Stickney, Bryant Cauthorn

Key Returners: John Teehan, Bobby Doherty, Jake Mansfield

The Tribe had a strong 2024 campaign, behind the likes of senior leaders Danny Stickney, Chris Kimmel, and Bryant Cauthorn.

They kept their playoff streak alive extending it to a sixth year, as well as making some noise late in the Central League last season with a victory over Garnet Valley, stripping them of a chance at two-way tie in the Central League title race alongside Strath Haven.

Ridley hasn’t always had the best luck of the draw with talent. A lot of great players end up transferring into private programs like Bonner and The Haverford School among others. With a large graduating senior class, The Tribe had a lot of holes to fill moving forward into 2025.

Many think to let the Tribe go under the radar. They’re not ready to be counted out just yet.

Looking forward the 2025 season, there were some foundational changes within the program that took place behind the new leadership of captains John Teehan and Bobby Doherty. Developing young talent, creating a foundation for success, as well as mixing in toughness, grit, and a will to win is what drives this new look Green Raiders team in 2025.

So, what’s on the menu in 2025 for this Raiders squad?

For starters, this team has two players who were both on our All-Delco Honorable Mention list last year to lead the way after very strong convincing 2024 campaigns.

John Teehan, a senior captain and RHP/SS who recently committed to Lebanon Valley College is ready to lead this team both offensively and defensively.

Teehan hit .283 with 15 hits, 10 RBI and stole 10 bases, moving around all spots in the order. He also recorded a 3.15 ERA with nearly double the number of strikeouts to walks. Teehan is a consistent proven arm, who knows what it takes to get the job done on the mound.

Playing Shortstop and pitching is no easy task though.

“Last year as a junior it was a little tough to two-way while being a midweek reliever and starting every couple of games,” said Teehan. “I’ve prepared my body well this offseason to take on a shortstop and #2 arm spot and I’m embracing the workload.”

When talking bout what it’s going to take to be successful this year, Teehan mentioned the will to win, and the understanding that the team must be fundamentally sound to give them a chance to win.

“I trust my defense and pitching staff to throw strikes, it’s just going to rely on all of our hitters to step up and make things happen,” said Teehan.

One of those driving forces who will need to step up, another senior captain, is Bobby Doherty.

Doherty had a strong campaign in 2024, batting a sound .361 in conference play, leading his team overall. Doherty’s performance went under the radar many games last year, but he is ready to impact this team with a bigger role than just his on-field improvements.

“I want to make a bigger impact this year than I had last year and get off to a hot start to help put the Tribe on the radar,” said Doherty. ““John and I know that we need to keep the team up and alive at all times and keep the foot on the gas throughout the season.”

With two strong leaders and their understanding of what it takes to win, we turn to the young up and comers to fill in the roles of those who graduated.

The biggest hole to be seen is the starting pitching of the Raiders. Leading the way for the Tribe in 2025 will be junior Jake Mansfield, who is spoken very highly of by Head Coach Tom Carey.

“We are are really looking forward to seeing the continued development of Jake Mansfield, he stepped up in several big spots on the mound last year,” said Carey. “He has put in a lot of work this offseason in the weight room and on the mound to put himself in a position to be successful this year.”

Mansfield had a 2.52 ERA with a save in a big time spot. After Mansfield is Teehan, and after that, the future is still uncertain.

There are still a lot of new faces for this squad, and there’s been a strong knack for competition between his players leading into the season.

“We expect there to be contributions from both younger and older players in this program,” said Carey.

Last year’s team had a similar situation with certain underclassmen stepping up in huge spots, as well as older guys filling in maturely where they needed to. Those older guys have now molded into leaders of this young team, earning full trust from Coach Carey.

“We have two really solid leaders in John and Bobby, and the entire senior class has stepped up with leadership and maturity as well”, said Carey, who named both Doherty and Teehan captains. “They both work extremely hard, and they played a huge part in developing a culture that is centered around hard work and supporting each other.”

Moving forward into 2025, Coach Carey has full trust in his squad to find a way to win. The Raiders will take things one day at a time, focusing on embracing their gritty, never give up play style.

But does this year’s team have enough talent to continue the playoff appearance streak?

“Our goal is to go 1-0 every day, taking things game to game,” said Teehan. “We are hungry to keep the playoff streak alive, and it has been running through our minds”.

Teehan also had to throw the hammer down, by clearly embracing the one day at a time mentality to his whole team. A huge attitude change took place once his teammates took on this mentality alongside John and Bobby.  The young members of the team helped establish this attitude shift, realizing the team will have to be grittier and more scrappy than last year.

The closing statement? Look out for the Raiders. They’re coming.

“The young guys are prepared, and they understand how serious Ridley Baseball has been over the years, it’s only a matter of time before they turn into legit threats on the varsity field,” said Teehan.

The team looks toward Tim Calamita, Luke Ladislaw, and Brendan Soper to step up. A determined young core, and a strong senior batch is ready to take on the challenge, and show off their hard work put in during the offseason.

Look out for this to be a classic Raiders team, looking to take the Central League by storm leaving the league in shock.