It’s finally that time of year, playoff baseball. Teams all around Delco and surrounding areas fought every game just for a chance to make the tournament. On Monday, round one of the PIAA D1 6A tournament will begin, and we’re kicking it off with #23 Spring-Ford playing at #10 Garnet Valley.

This is Garnet Valley’s fifth tournament appearance since 2021, all consecutive, and second straight year entering as the #10 seed.

The Jaguars had a top offense in the Central League, helping them secure third place in the Central League, scoring 119 runs in 21 games, good for 5.6 runs per game which was led by junior Cole Lombardo, senior Brady Thompson (Washington College commit), junior Ryan McGhee, and senior Nolan Carroll (Ursinus College commit).

These four combined for a cumulative batting average of .348 (75-215), with Lombardo leading the way with a .435 batting average. This production comes without senior Chris Schaller (University of Richmond commit) as he played 13 games before coming down with a partially torn ACL, and will miss the playoffs. But look for Garnet Valley’s offense to be a key part of a successful playoff run.

But, the hitting can’t carry it all, as Garnet Valley boasted some good pitching. The Jaguars had a good top three of junior Ryan McGhee, senior Joe Anzalone (West Chester commit for football), and sophomore Dylan Orr. McGhee served as the team’s ace, throwing 55 innings and posting a 1.65 ERA. Orr posted a Central League best 0.85 ERA in 24.2 innings. Anzalone served as the teams three, putting up a 4.60 ERA, but managed to get a good amount of innings under his belt with 24.1. They also had some good arms come out in relief, with Cody Weist and Connor Criswell posting a 2.10 ERA and 0.70 ERA.

Garnet Valley’s offense and pitching will be a lethal 1-2 punch for anyone thinking they have a chance on either side of the ball.

Spring-Ford has made the PIAA D1 6A playoffs five seasons in a row, including a #1 seed in 2023. Now, while this season wasn’t a typical season for them, finishing 8-10 overall and 8-8 in the Pioneer Conference (Montgomery County), they still managed to sneak in as the #23 seed.

While the offense hasn’t been as good as years past, it was still enough to get the job done and make the playoffs. They had good pieces with junior Aidan Dunleavy (led team in HR, .920 OPS), senior Jake Witmer (.807 OPS), sophomore Liam Quinn (.995 OPS led team), and junior Logan Babore (second on team in RBI, 7). As a team they scored 67 runs in 18 games, 3.7 runs per game. While the offense wasn’t their main strength, it can still be a key piece to a playoff run.

Though, the pitching is where they excelled, having four guys post a sub 3.50 ERA, with seniors Ethan Freed (Quinnipiac University commit) and Dominic Ruggeiro (University of Richmond commit) leading the way with 30.2 and 33.2 inning pitched. Freed punched out 60 guys in the 33.2 innings he pitched, as he was eighth in PIAA D1 in strikeouts. Ruggeiro was tied for eighteenth with 49 strikeouts. Freed led the team with a 1.46 ERA, and Ruggeiro was third with a 2.97. These two are a very good 1-2 atop the rotation, and will be a challenge for anyone who plays them. The other two guys to post a sub 3.50 ERA, seniors Andrew Wibble (2.33 ERA) and Jake Hommer (3.44 ERA). The pitchers can easily pick up where the hitting lacks, give them decent run support, and they’ll take care of it from there.

So with that, this is rounding up to be a very interesting game. An explosive offense in Garnet Valley going up against Spring-Ford’s shutdown pitching. As the 6A bracket kick offs tomorrow, I will be at Garnet Valley live-tweeting the game (X: @nickmazzwrites) at 4:00 for game time. The winner of SF/GV will move on to face off against #7 West Chester Henderson