This was a game of the week that I had really been looking forward to for weeks.

Two very similar stories as both of these teams were near the bottom of the central league standings in 2025, and are both near the top in 2026.

I think there’s a very real chance these two teams could meet again in the PIAA District 1 5A bracket, but for now, the regular season series goes to Penncrest.

Penncrest 3, Springfield 1

(image of Liam Wray via Shelby Kauffman/DBN)

By: Ben Thorpe:

Our game of the week presented by Ballout Baseball featured a high stakes battle between Central League foes. Liam Wray was the star of the show as Penncrest got a huge win on the road against Springfield behind his complete game.

Backed by a stellar defense, Wray only allowed one run, scattering 4 hits and striking out 3 in the 3-1 victory.

Penncrest opened the scoring in the second. Braden Davis led off with a single, advanced to second after a walk, and came home following a two-out error by the Springfield defense.

Hunter Kass was the batter when the Lions scored their first run. Kass was also involved in the second. He was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth, took second on a wild pitch, and was driven home by a Lucas DiLenno.

Another error gave Penncrest their third run in the fifth. Springfield couldn’t handle a Henry Murphy ground ball and Dilenno was able to score.

The Penncrest defense was sharp all day, and that really was the difference in this one.

A solid six innings from Nolan Dulski kept Springfield in this one. The Cougars showed some life in their final at bat, with Sean O’Reilly driving in Nick Corse for a run. Wray was able to shut the rally down, getting a flyout and a lineout that secured the win.

Springfield falls to 8-5 in the Central League. They’re off until Monday, when they host a tough Strath Haven team fighting to make the postseason.

Penncrest is 9-4 in the league after taking both games against Springfield and right on the bubble of a first round bye in the district 1 playoffs. They’ll travel to Marple on Monday for their next game.

Haverford 6, Lower Merion 3

By: Ben Thorpe:

Shane Durkan entered Thursday’s matchup on milestone watch.

Durkan, a senior, was tied for the Haverford High career hits record going into their game against Lower Merion. He picked up the record breaking 73rd hit in style; blasting an opposite field home run that gave his Fords the lead in their final at-bat. 

Haverford went to bat in the top of the seventh trailing 2-1, a rare late deficit for a team that’s undefeated in league play.

Charlie Pusztay drew a walk to lead off the inning and Bobby Menear, who knocked in Haverford’s only run to that point, put him in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Gavin Andrewson made sure the opportunity wouldn’t go to waste, ripping a single to tie the game.

Jimmy Boyle walked to set the table for Durkan, whose record breaking bomb cleared the left field fence and put Haverford up 5-2. 

Owen Klick added another with an RBI triple. Four walks made it 6-3  got the winning run up to the plate for Lower Merion in the bottom of the seventh. Rocco Kelleher was able to close this one out with a groundout. 

Leo Ufberg got the Aces on the board in the second. Nick Dragut hit a home run of his own in the third for their second run. 

Boyle came through with another solid start for Haverford, striking out 10 in 4.2 innings before hitting the pitch count limit. Kelleher was stellar in relief and picked up the W.

Brian Heck was good for Lower Merion but just could not finish the job in the final inning. The Aces fall to 5-8 and sit right on the outside of the District 1 6A playoffs. They’ll play at Ridley on Monday.

Haverford moves to 13-0 in the Central League and clinches at least a share of the league title. A win Monday against Upper Darby would give the Fords the outright title.

Radnor 6, Marple Newtown 4

By: Bryson Ungar:

Radnor has pretty much solidified themselves as the number two team in the Central League.

Six wins in their last seven, and they’re playing like a team that’s nowhere near slowing down. 

Today? Total control from start to finish. They jumped out early and maintained a lead throughout the game, even up 6-0 at one point. And on the mound, Wake Forest commit Daniel Kellis was dealing in his second appearance of the year.

Coming into the season there was a lot of talk surrounding the Radnor group. Yes, they have the pitching, but the offense was definitely in question. They lost some key seniors that were huge contributors to last season’s success, but the new guys have certainly filled the roles. It’s hard to follow up the amazing year they had last spring, but this group looks promising heading into May.

The Raptors struck right away this afternoon thanks to a Matt Medina groundout, putting them on the board first.

Nobody else crossed the plate until the top of the sixth when Radnor put another three on the board. Andrew Quigley walked, and Hayden Goldenberg singled to put two runners on. Daniel Kellis then roped a triple to deep center field scoring two. Right after him, Austin Havertine singled to left scoring another. It’s safe to say they can hit and pitch. 

Radnor kept their feet on the gas in the top of seventh when Caden Szychulski singled, driving in two more. 

Marple didn’t go down easy though. In the bottom of the seventh, they made a real push with four runs. After a walk to start things off, John Matthews tripled to bring one in. Sean Pancoast followed with a single to score Matthews. Then Zach Marro and Jordan DiPinto drew walks to load the bases. Cole Buckley came through with a single, driving in two more and suddenly it was a two-run game.

Andrew Quigley then entered the game to pitch with two outs, and got Jackson Burger to line out, ultimately cutting their comeback short. 

Pitching was very dominant from both sides today. As talked about earlier, this was only the second time we saw Kellis pitch this year. He had been playing mostly outfield for the Raptors so far, and with the playoffs on the horizon I’m sure we can expect to see more from him on the mound. He was very sharp today going 4.0 IP and only allowing one hit, as well as striking out 6. 

For Marple, Chase Magee got the nod. He pitched well aside from the sixth inning outburst by the Raptors, only allowing one run. 

At the plate, Szychulski, Kellis and Havertine all managed two hits on the day and led a great offensive showing. For Marple, Buckley, Matthews, Pancoast, Marro, and DiPinto all contributed base knocks. 

Randor (10-3 in CL) will welcome Harriton (3-10) for their second showing of the season on Monday. Marple Newtown (4-9) will take on Penncrest (9-4) also on Monday. 

Ridley 7, Conestoga 2

By: Bryson Ungar:

Ridley keeps on winning. The Raiders have now won five in a row and are winners of their last 7 out of 8. They are not slowing down one bit. This is the best time of the year when you see teams really start to establish themselves as contenders. And it’s looking like Ridley is one of those teams.

They stayed hot today with a composed team win, knocking off Conestoga. Thanks to an explosive third inning and prominent pitching they were able to get the job done easily. 

Ridley opened the scoring in the top of the first after a wild pitch scored a run. Landon Jones grounded out which drove in a run for Conestoga to even the game after one inning. 

The Raiders then made the score 5-1 in the top of the third after the freshman Evan Nangle delivered a two-run RBI single. Jared Pugh then doubled, scoring one run, and an error got another one in. 

Landon Jones drove in another run on a single to get the game back within three, but Ridley never looked back. 

It was a team win indeed, with six players all contributing hits, with three of them having two. Jayden Davis, Pugh, and Jake Mansfield being those guys. Evan Nangle led Ridley with two RBI’s. Davis and Logan Bubb also both stole multiple bases. As a team they stole eight. 

I’m not sure the hitting was even the best part. The Ridley pitching today was absolutely lights out, especially Jake Mansfield. Jared Pugh got the start and went 2.2 IP allowing 2 hits and 2 ER. Mansfield went 4.1 IP and didn’t allow a single hit. Props to him for excellent relief work. 

Nolan Campbell took the loss for Stoga. Liam Scheffler and Shawn Soura came out of the pen as they tried to minimize Ridley’s lead. Chase Cherny led the way offensively with two hits.

The Pioneers (5-8 in CL) will look to get back on track as they will travel to Cardinal O’Hara (6-10) for a non-conference matchup on Saturday. For the Raiders (7-6), they will host Lower Merion (5-8), who they notably beat last year after an unreal come back with 11 runs in the seventh.

Strath Haven 3, Harriton 0

By: Blake Karabin:

Today, Strath Haven played host to Harriton as they celebrated seniors for the annual senior night game. Great pitching from both sides was the big headline in this one.

For Haven, Travis McDonough got the nod in this game and hurled a great five innings and earned the win. McDonough held Harriton scoreless while only allowing two hits and a walk and struck out four. Jasper Hals then followed behind him for the two inning save. Hals also allowed no runs. He allowed one hit and struck out one. Neither McDonough nor Hals allowed a Harriton player past second base.

Offensively for the Panthers it was Will Taylor, Connor Musumeci, and Patrick O’Connor. Taylor went 2-4 with two RBI’s and a run scored. Musumeci went 3-3 with three singles. O’Connor produced the other run scored today for Haven. He went 1-1 with an RBI single and two walks.

For the Rams on the mound, Myles Freed and Nate Swalley both pitched three innings each. Freed was handed the loss as he allowed three runs on six hits and two walks. He also struck out four Panthers in this contest. Swalley then came in for another three innings of work. He had a good outing allowing no runs on three hits and two walks, while also striking out four.

Harriton’s bats were quieted by Haven today. Calvin Costello, Gaven Bowman, and Sam Bohenkamp were the only offense and each went 1-3 with a single.

With three games left to play in the season, the 7-10 (6-7 in the Central League) Strath Haven Panthers will head to Springfield on Monday for what should be another great battle between the two teams. Harriton (3-10) will travel to Radnor on Monday and will look to improve to 6-10 overall and 4-10 in the Central League.

Garnet Valley 16, Upper Darby 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Garnet Valley led a consistent offensive attack in this one, scoring in each of their four plate appearances.

They scored two in the first, three in the seventh, seven in the third and four in the fourth to hit the mercy rule in this one. Cole Lombardo led the offense for the Jaguars as he went 3/3 with 4 RBI while scoring three runs. Harrison Maull had two hits and drove in two runs.

Travis Griffith and Garret Hosterman had two hits while driving in a run while Ashton Yau and Thomas Acosta drove in two runs.

On the mound, Connor Criswell handled this one himself as he went all five innings with five hits allowed and two strikeouts.

With the win, Garnet Valley improves to 8-5 in the Central League. If they win one more game they are a virtual lock to make the playoffs. They could make it at 8-8 but it’s a toss up. Next up for them is a home game Monday with Conestoga.

As for Upper Darby, they fall to 0-13 in the Central League and will head to 13-0 Haverford on Monday for their next game.

Chichester 18, Penn Wood 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Chichester only needed two innings of offense in this one to win in mercy rule fashion.

The Eagles scored eight in the first and ten in the second to take down Penn Wood. Five players had multiple hits and five players drove in multiple runs Zach Murray, Damian Diaz-Badillo, Cole Sanford, Luke Werley and John Clausen all had at least two hits, with Werley having three.

Murray, Sanford, Werley, Clausen and Tyler Helton all drove in multiple runs, with Sanford and Helton driving in three and Clausen driving in four.

On the mound, Diaz-Badillo threw two scoreless innings and Logan Werley threw a clean third inning to win this one.

Chichester remains undefeated in the Del Val at 10-0 and will look to sweep the season series with Interboro on Tuesday at Interboro.

As for Penn Wood, they fall to 1-8 in the Del Val and will host Boys Latin on Tuesday for their next game.