SPRINGFIELD, PA — While Cardinal O’Hara may be the surprise team of the PCL in 2025, this rivalry still belongs to Bonner.

That’s now six straight wins for the Friars dating back to 2019, this time by a score of 6-1 thanks to a 78 pitch complete game effort out of Johnny Ortegae.

Both Ortegae and O’Hara starter Adam Schreiber were rolling through two innings, and it looked like Schreiber was going to keep that going through the third inning as well, but that didn’t quite go as planned.

With two outs and Michael Coleman on third, Owen Lockhart hit a hard ground ball that was misplayed, allowing Coleman to score and make it 1-0. In the next at bat, Cole Romano struck out, but the ball got away and he was able to reach first.

Courtesy runner Josh Collado and Romano advanced to second and third respectively on a wild pitch, and Gavin DiRita made them pay, lacing a two-run single to bust the game open at 3-0.

After DiRita advanced to second on a passed ball, Jack Redding came through with another base hit, and just like that, it was 4-0. Great teams make you pay for your mistakes, and that’s what Bonner did today.

O’Hara got on the board for their first and only run of the game when Brendan Till led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple, and subsequently came around to score on the throw to third to give him a “little league home run”.

Johnny Ortegae was able to limit the damage in the inning after that, getting one of three double plays on the day for the Friars to keep the score at 4-1.

The Bonner offense wanted no part in letting O’Hara back in this game.

In the first at-bat in the top of the fifth, Michael Coleman continued a sensational senior season with an opposite field home run, his second home run of the year to make it a 5-1 Bonner lead. Later in the inning, Gavin DiRita drove in his third run of the game with a base hit to right field to put Bonner ahead 6-1, which would ultimately be the final in this game.

The key difference in this game really was defense. Johnny Ortegae went all seven innings but he only had one strikeout, really relying on his defense and that paid off. Bonner had struggled defensively earlier in the season, but they just made the one error on the Till little league homer today.

Jake Steigerwalt led off the bottom of the seventh for O’Hara trailing 6-1 with a single, but like he did all day, Ortegae got a ground ball and this time it was to Jack Redding who fielded it cleanly, fired to Joey Graziani at second, and then over to Gavin DiRita at first to basically ice this game. A grounder back to Ortegae put the finishing touches for Ortegae, who now has a 1.60 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched this season.

For any college coaches out there, Ortegae is back on the market after D2 Limestone made the unfortunate decision to close its doors. Get in before it’s too late.

Bonner improves to 5-4 in the PCL after their third straight conference win and look like they are back on track after a bit of a slow start in the conference. They will host Holy Ghost for a non-conference matchup this Saturday at noon for their next game.

As for O’Hara, this one definitely stings, but they are still in a great spot. They sit at 5-2 in the PCL and will play a rare Sunday afternoon game as a makeup game against Lansdale Catholic at 2:00.