PENNSBURG, PA — A year after falling 2-1 to the Perkiomen School in the state semifinals on a walk-off, history repeated itself again for The Haverford School.
The Fords season comes to a close in the PAISAA Quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon at the hands of the Perkiomen School once again as Penn State recruit Avery Smith hit a walk-off single to center field off Jacob Horwitz to send the Panthers to the semifinals where they will meet #3 Episcopal, who beat SCHA 5-3 earlier today.
Haverford struck first for their only run in the top of the second off of starter Ryan Sink (Mansfield commit) when Zack Lawler doubled and then came around two score on a two-out single from Caleb Siever.
For a pitching staff that has struggled a bit at times this year, Haverford got some great performances today.
Freshman Owen Murphy started the game and went 3.1 scoreless innings with one hit and no runs allowed while striking out two. When his day was done, Mike Noone came in relief and threw the next three.
The score remained 1-0 Haverford all the way until the bottom of the seventh. Mike Noone got a strike out to start the inning but then allowed a single to Gavin Fuelner, and head coach Jack McCann went to Jacob Horwitz, who is typically a starter.
Horwitz walked Zach Mayza on a 3-2 count, then walked Sink on four pitches to load up the bases with still one out.
Next up was Ian Perez, who was plunked by a 1-2 pitch to tie the game up as Feulner scored the equalizer. That set the stage for Alex Smith, who worked the count to 2-2 before he delivered the dagger, a base hit up the middle to send Perkiomen back to the semifinals.
This is as heartbreaking as it gets for Haverford, there’s no sugarcoating that. This was a young team that experienced some growing pains this year and ended up 9-17.
They have a ton of returning talent next season including the Lawler brothers, who had four of the five hits today as Thomas, a sophomore, and Zack, a freshman, each had two.
Perkiomen will welcome in Episcopal Thursday afternoon if the weather allows.