It won’t take the sting away from losing to them in the first round of the PIAA District 1 6A Tournament last May, but it helps.

Conestoga had a resurgent 2025 season under first year Head Coach Anthony Greco, turning an 0-5 start to a playoff berth. This team has clearly bought in, and if today is any indication, they can be a real threat.

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Conestoga 8, Lower Merion 5

*note: this game may have also been 8-6. Both GameChangers had different scores. Please send help.

By: Nick Mazzarella:

The spirit of Rickey Henderson blessed the Pioneers today, as they swiped 13 bags en route to the win in their Central League opener. 

Lower Merion scored first in the third inning thanks to a base hit from James Given, putting the Aces up 1-0.

Stoga struck back an inning later, when Owen Wisler had a two-run single putting them on top. Shawn Soura then drove in Wisler to pad the lead.

Nick Dragut came home on a wild pitch the following inning to make it a one run game after the top of the fifth.

Landon Jones and the Pioneers answered right back, as he came home on a passed ball to make it a 4-2 game after a full five.

One inning later, Conestoga swiped six bags in one inning to help pad their lead to a strong 8-2, also thanks to a two-run triple from Chase Cherny. 

Brendan Soura and Luke Hunter threw a solid four innings, allowing two runs and striking out 6, before Shawn Soura came in for the fifth. Soura had a solid fifth and sixth, but came apart a bit in the seventh, allowing three runs before Finn Nieberle came in to finish off the game.

Brian Heck threw three shutout innings to start the game for Lower Merion.

Lower Merion falls to 1-1 in the early season, and 0-1 in the Central League, and will go on to face Haverford (1-0, 0-0 CL) on the road on Monday 3/23.

Conestoga moves to 1-1 and 1-0 in the Central League and will play at Ridley (1-1, 1-0 CL) on Monday 3/23.

Marple Newtown 7, Springfield 2

By Ben Thorpe:

Marple Newtown and Springfield found themselves locked in a tight game late in their Central League opener. 

Both starting pitchers, Kevin Wigo for MN and Drew Kraus for Springfield, turned in strong performances. Kraus’ only blemish in his four innings of work came on a Jordan DiPinto home run in the top of the second. That scored the game’s opening run.

Springfield’s offense put together its first real threat in the bottom of the fourth.

Nick Corse led off with a double, stole third, and came home to tie the game on a throwing error on a pickoff play. Later in the inning, Kai Scheetz gave the Cougars the lead with an RBI single.

The lead would not hold. Aiden Liberty’s one-out double in the sixth tied the game and sparked the Tiger offense. RBI hits from Kevin Agger and Sean Grogan, along with a couple errors from the Springfield defense, gave Marple a 7-2 lead just like that.

That was more than enough for Wigo, who kept Springfield off the board in final two at-bats to close out the win. His final line; CG, 3 hits, 1 ER, 6 K’s.

Both teams have big games against fellow 5A opponents next week. Marple starts off with a good test against Radnor on Monday. Springfield starts the week with a Penncrest team that will also be looking for their first league win.

Chichester 15, Chester 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Chichester has not lost a conference game since before the world knew what covid was.

2019 was the last conference loss for the Eagles, who start off their 2026 conference season in the win column. They score six in the first inning, seven in the second inning, and two in the third inning to trigger the mercy rule.

The top of the order for Chichester was on fire, going 10/12 with 9 RBI. This Chichester team returned nearly their entire starting lineup from the team that beat Strath Haven in the playoffs last year.

Evan Valentine had three hits and drove in four runs, Zach Murray also had three hits, while Cole Sanford and Logan Werley had two. Chase Wanner threw two scoreless innings with six strikeouts while Luke Werley threw a scoreless third.

Jacoby Roman had the lone hit on the day for Chester.

Chichester improves to 1-2 on the season and 1-0 in the Del Val. They will host Penn Wood on Tuesday for their next game.

Chester falls to 0-1 and will take on Interboro on Tuesday.

Academy Park 14, Penn Wood 2

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Tristan Tomp and Sean Murphy put on a SHOW.

6 RBI for Tomp while Sean Murphy struck out nine in five innings and also drove in two runs. Talk about a two-man wrecking crew.

The Knights scored in all four innings, scoring one in the first, four in the second, five in the third and four in the fourth. The top four hitters in the order for the Knights drove in a combined 12 runs. 6 from Tomp, and two each from Chase Clark, Sean Murphy and Zahmir Latimore.

Tyler Smith had a hit and drove in two runs for Penn Wood.

Academy Park improves to 1-0 on the year and will head to Upper Darby for a non-conference game on Friday. Penn Wood falls to 0-1 and will head to Chichester on Tuesday for their next game.

Haverford School 6, Strath Haven 4

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

These early season Haverford School/Strath Haven games are always super tight. Even back to 2017 when we beat them 8-7 on Opening Day. People still talk about my pinch-hit single (they don’t) off the bench in the fifth.

This was a game of punch and counterpunch for seven innings. The teams were scoreless through two before scoring in each of the next six half-innings. Zach Milligan homered twice in that stretch for Strath Haven.

Both starters threw pretty well. Sophomore Asa D’Ancona threw three innings with one unearned run and struck out six for Strath Haven. Jacob Horwitz struck out four over three innings with one earned run.

The game was 4-4 going into the bottom of the sixth until the Fords finally took their first lead of the game with a two-run homer off the bat of shortstop Nicky Vanni. That homer scored Zack Lawler as well, who had a hit and two walks with an RBI.

Typically a starter, Gabe Danisi came in the seventh to close out the game and retired all three hitters he faced with a strikeout to end it and give the Fords a 6-4 win.

The Haverford School is now 3-1 and will head to Devon Prep Friday afternoon to take on former pitching coach Mike Palumbo, now Devon’s Head Coach, in a non-conference game for the Tide’s season opener.

Strath Haven falls to 0-1 and will technically have their Central League opener on Monday at Harriton because their first game with Radnor was suspended and will be finished later. So technically this is now their Central League opener. I think?

Episcopal 15, Penncrest 3

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

It appears that Episcopal did not forget about Penncrest beating them on their own field last year,

The Churchmen put on an offensive clinic in this one, scoring multiple runs in each of the first five innings including six in the third.

Michael Schaffer, who played for the varsity team as an eighth grader in 2024 before missing the entire season with an injury in 2025, ripped three hits and drove four runs in. Reggie King and Dillon Walls both drove in three while Owen Peiffer had three hits.

Baxter Schuh started the game for EA and threw three shutout innings with three hits allowed and two strikeouts while Matt Roberts closed it out with a scoreless fifth.

Landon Graham had two hits for Penncrest in the loss.

Episcopal improves to 2-1 and will be playing in a tournament in Phoenixville throughout this weekend. No clue if those games actually count or not for their record but we’ll find out. Inter-Ac play for EA starts April 7th.

Penncrest falls to 0-2 and will host Great Valley for a Saturday non-conference game at noon.

Malvern Prep 10, Council Rock South 8

By: Nick Mazzarella:

One of the top teams in PA last year picked up a close win in their opening day game, thanks to a late three-run double from Bryan Cogliano to put the Friars on top.

Brady Abate drove in the first run of the game on a single after a leadoff walk from Jackson Melconian to make the game 1-0 early on.

After a few innings of no scoring, CR South tied the game on a base hit to make it 1-1.

Northwestern recruit Collin Romanczuk got the nod for the Friars first game of the season and did not disappoint, as he went four no-hit innings, allowing only two walks, and punching out four.

In the bottom of the fifth, Melconian drove in Tyler Ryan on a sac fly, putting the Friars back out in front. This lead did not last long as Council Rock hung four on the board putting them up 5-2.

But all it took was an inning for Malvern Prep to take the lead and then some. Gabe Naylor walked to drive in a run and keep the bases loaded, setting up Cogliano to smash a bases-clearing double and put the Friars on top 6-5. But they weren’t done there, they scored another four, including another three-run double, this time from Cole Scarbinsky to make it a 10-5 lead.

Council Rock threatened and scored a few to make it 10-8, but ultimately fell short, and the Friars picked up a thrilling opening day W.

Malvern Prep starts the year 1-0, and will go face Cardinal O’Hara (1-1) Friday at home.

Sun Valley 15, Delco Christian 5

By: Nick Mazzarella:

The Vanguards already have the same amount of wins through one game as they did through 11 games last season.

Sun Valley kicked off their season after yesterday’s game at Rustin was postponed, and did so in a big way against Delco Christian.

Logan Howe came in to score on a passed ball in the bottom of the first to put the Vanguards on top early on, but the Knights struck back a few innings later.

In the top of the third, Justin Ma took one for the team with the bases loaded, as he got plunked to bring in the tying run. This was followed by back to back two-run singles from Josey Lyren and Gabe DiGregorio to put the Knights out front 5-1 after falling behind early.

But, Sun Valley answered right back in a big way.

And sometimes it just starts with putting the ball in play, as with two runners on, Jaden Comisiak put it in play which resulted in an error, allowing a run to score. Riley Comisiak then did the exact same thing with two outs for the exact same result to make it a two-run game, and set up one of the best two-out rallies you’ll ever see.

Three walks, a single, and another error later and the Vanguards were up 10-5, hanging a nine spot on the box score to answer right back.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sun Valley scored another five, led by Jaden Comisiak’s two-run double, bringing his RBI total to three on the day, and securing a mercy-rule victory for the Vanguards.

Delco Christian falls to 1-1 on the young season, and will face off against Faith Christian, who they’ve lost to in the 2A playoffs the last two seasons, on March 24th.

The Vanguards get off to a better start than last year, moving to 1-0, and will play Unionville tomorrow at 4pm for Sun Valley’s home opener.

Friends Central 15, Barrack 2

By: Jonah Casel:

Friends’ Central took care of business at home against Barrack in their first Friends School League game of 2026.

Even while riddled by injuries, the Phoenix were not afraid to empty the bench. They used five pitchers in five innings and had fourteen different batters step up to the plate.

The game was out of hand early as Friends’ Central tallied six in the bottom of the first. The Phoenix took control of the basepaths with eleven stolen bases, including three by Vaughn Jones and two by Zac Canterino.

Friends’ Central only tallied four hits but reached base plenty of times due to Barrack’s seven fielding errors. On the other side, Barrack’s only hit came from their starting pitcher, Jonah Pappas, and the Cougars were able to profit off of six Friends’ Central fielding errors. The game was a messy one defensively.

Freshman Holden McGarry stood out for the Phoenix today. He knocked in two on a single in his only plate appearance and he struck out three in his inning on the mound with no earned runs.

Friends’ Central’s mini-homestand comes to an end tonight. They leave for Myrtle Beach bright and early tomorrow morning, and they will play four games in thirty-six hours against teams from across the east coast. 

The Phoenix have a three-game winstreak, but the real test will come in South Carolina when they play tougher competition in very quick succession, all with their limited pitching staff.

Barrack will head to Mesivta this Sunday, 3/22, for a 1:30 PM game. The Cougars are looking to get in the win column against an out-of-league opponent.

Upper Dublin 9, Ridley 3

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Despite losing to Radnor in the District 1 5A title last year, Upper Dublin went on to win the State Championship over Shaler, the same team that beat Strath Haven back in 2023.

Ridley got to see first hand how good this Cardinals team is.

Upper Dublin scored three right off the bat in the top of the first, bit Ridley cut that lead to 3-2 with an RBI triple from Jayden Davis and he also came into score on a wild pitch.

The game was 3-2 all the way up until the top of the fifth, when Upper Dublin exploded for six runs to pull away.

Tim Calamita had two hits and a walk in the loss for Ridley. Jared Pugh allowed three runs (only one earned) across four innings with three strikeouts. The bullpen and the defense combined led to that rough sixth inning.

Ridley falls to 1-1 and will host Conestoga on Monday for their next game.