(cover photo courtesy of Hunter Haas/hhh.creations)

WEST CHESTER, PA — Winning on the road against 6A seven seed, West Chester Henderson, was always going to be a tough task. Even tougher considering they had their ace ready to throw coming off a first round bye.

Garnet Valley almost pulled it off though. The Jaguars led for most of the game before Henderson tied it in the bottom of the sixth. Garnet had a few chances in extras but could not capitalize, eventually falling 2-1 on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth.

Joe Anzalone and Dylan Orr pitched great for Garnet Valley. Anzalone started and pitched six innings. He struck out six and gave up only four hits and one unearned run. Orr pitched 2.2 innings of high leverage baseball, doing well until some control problems got him in trouble.

The Jaguars got out to an early lead in the top of the second. Brady Thompson led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on an error. He came in to score the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Orr.

It stayed 1-0 for a while, with Anzalone largely keeping Henderson’s offense off balance. Two errors set the Warriors up with no outs in the sixth though. 

Gabe Reinheimer singled to load the bases and Ethan Franks scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat to tie it. Anzalone did manage to work out of the jam with a strikeout and a groundout.

Garnet Valley almost answered back in the seventh. Anzalone reached on an error and Cole Hoffacker singled with no outs. Henderson made two great defensive plays to get out of the inning with no runs scored though. 

The Warriors ran a bunt play to get the force at third on a sacrifice bunt for the first out and had a game-saving relay on a Cole Lombardo single to get Hoffacker at home.

There would not be much action until the bottom of the ninth, all three of Anthony Barthol, Michael Cugino, and Reinheimer threw very well for Henderson in this one. Back-to-back two out singles from Cole Ryan and Sam Prior set the stage. Prior advanced to second and Garnet elected to intentionally walk Liam Schwinn to load the bases.

Franks came to the plate with a chance to win the game. He worked the count full and Orr just missed with his 3-2 pitch off the outside corner. I thought it was a strike in real time but unfortunately I was not the umpire.

The walk brought in the winning run and sadly ended Garnet Valley’s season. It’s one they should be proud of, especially considering the injury issues the Jaguars dealt with. The future is bright for Garnet; they return most of their core offensive players and star pitcher Ryan McGhee.

As for Henderson, they will head to Methacton on Friday for the 6A quarterfinals. The winner of that game will earn a bid to the state tournament.