(cover photo of Christian Barnes, who went 3/4 for North Penn)
HAVERTOWN, PA — Most teams are not equipped to withstand their ace having to miss a postseason start with an injury, and the North Penn offense was just relentless.
The #8 seed Knights ran away late as they took down #1 Haverford by an 8-1 final. They will take on #4 Coatesville while Haverford will return Tuesday to take on Vanderbilt recruit Keller Bradley and #5 Pennsbury with a trip to the state tournament on the line. Bradley shutout Lower Merion earlier this week.
For the first four innings, this was an absolute pitcher’s duel between North Penn’s Jake Nunn and Haverford’s Rocco Kelleher, who stepped up in a big way with Jimmy Boyle being unavailable today.
No team ever had a legitimate true sustained threat until the top of the fourth when North Penn loaded the bases up with one out. Rocco Kelleher did not let that faze him, as he picked up two massive strikeouts to strand the bases loaded.
Cam McCormack singled in the fourth, but Haverford was not able to capitalize on the momentum and North Penn took it right back in the top of the fifth.
With one out, Josh Martinelli was hit by a pitch and Chase Jones walked, which ended Kelleher’s day and brought in Lucas Rothstein. Kelleher ended the day with 4.1 innings pitched, four hits, two earned runs and eight strikeouts.
Rothstein picked up a strikeout, but with two outs, Christian Barnes (3/4) came up clutch with an RBI single to make it 1-0 North Penn.
After Barnes and Tyler Agriss advanced to second and third respectively on a passed ball, Ben Grattan did the rest as he knocked them both in with another two-out hit to put North Penn up 3-0.
Haverford would get one back on an error on Owen Klick’s grounder in the sixth to cut the lead to 3-1 and make things interesting when Caleb Price took over on the mound for Nunn, who allowed one unearned run with seven hits and eight strikeouts over 5.2.
Price deflated the Haverford bench when he got Owen Fleischauer to strike out to end the inning.
Cam McCormack came in to pitch the top of the seventh and recorded and out and got a strikeout, but the ball got away and gave North Penn a runner. After a walk, an error allowed a North Penn run to score and the Knights would continue to make Haverford pay, adding four more in the inning. Ben Grattan added another RBI single and three straight walks brought in three more runs.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ryan Cassidy singled, but Price retired the last two hitters to send North Penn to the District 1 6A semifinals.
Haverford’s season is not over yet, but they will need to win on Tuesday when they host Pennsbury to advance to the state tournament. North Penn has clinched their spot in states and will take on Coatesville Tuesday.
On the other side of the bracket, West Chester Henderson and Neshaminy will square off for the right to face the winner of Coatesville/North Penn.