I’m not sure that anyone, except for Radnor Head Coach Mark Jordan, saw this year coming out of Springfield.

On our preseason podcast preview, Jordan told us that Springfield was going to be very good this year. For a team that was 3-13 last year and 6-10 the year before, I was not so optimistic, but he was clearly right.

The Cougars are heading to the postseason for the first time since 2022, when they were in the 6A bracket and lost to Council Rock North 4-1.

Their last season winning a playoff game was 2017, and I would know, because my Strath Haven team was a victim of theirs that year. I still have nightmares of what my now MSBL teammate Mike Smith did to us that day.

Anyway, I’ll save the rest of my trauma for the podcast, but for now, let’s dive into the five games that were able to played today with the weather.

(Brendan Ricciardi)

Springfield 7, Radnor 1

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

After losing their last two games to Penncrest and Strath Haven, many were wondering how the Cougars would respond.

Beating the reigning DBN player of the year Austin Havertine on the road at Radnor is certainly a good response.

Sophomore lefty Nolan Dulski was brilliant in this game, allowing just five hits and one earned run over seven innings with four strikeouts. The game was scoreless through two innings until Danny Meakim singled in Nick Russo to put Springfield up 1-0, but the inning was just getting started.

Nick Corse drove in Jake Lennon on a sac fly, and Johnny Hopkins came up clutch with a two-out single to score both Meakim and Owen Keough.

In the bottom of the fourth, Austin Havertine led off the inning with a triple, and his brother Blake knocked him in with a sac fly, but that was the only scoring for Radnor on the day.

With a 4-1 lead in the seventh, Springfield got some breathing room with a three-run triple off the bat of TJ Valletti to ice it.

Austin Havertine allowed eight hits, which is uncharacteristically high for his standards, but he still battled with just one earned run (three unearned) and seven strikeouts.

Danny Meakim, Johnny Hopkins and Kai Scheetz all had two hits. Both of these teams are heading to the playoffs, and while Springfield won both matchups this year, a third matchup would be a lot of fun.

Springfield improves to 9-6 in the Central League. They probably won’t earn a first round bye, but they can definitely secure the first playoff game ever at Halderman Field. They wrap up the conference season on Monday at home vs Harriton.

As for Radnor, their six-game winning streak comes to an end. They are still in second place at 11-4 in the Central League and as of right now are still in line for a first round bye, but with the loss, that is a little less certain than it was before today.

They will travel to Penncrest on Monday for their last conference game. There’s a very real chance the winner of that game gets a bye and the loser does not, so it has high stakes.

Devon Prep 8, Roman 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Devon Prep has now won four in a row and six of their last seven, and with this win, they will avoid the wild card round of the PCL Tournament.

Liam Jung was outstanding on the mound for the Tide, throwing six shutout innings with just three hits allowed and ten strikeouts. He did not walk a single hitter, either.

Devon scored their first two runs in the top of the second inning and according to GameChanger, Caleb Tesfaye and Austin Conaty both scored on the same wild pitch. I don’t know how accurate that is or if it was just the same at bat. If it was the same pitch, that’s pretty sick.

This was a tight 2-0 game for a while until Devon used four runs in the top of the fifth to pull away. That included back-to-back run scoring errors to make it 4-0 followed by a two-run single from Caleb Tesfaye.

A Nate Ficoturo RBI single in the sixth and another RBI on a groundout from Tesfaye capped off the scoring for the day, and Colin Carey retired the side in order in the seventh to close it out.

Devon Prep ends the PCL season at 6-6 and will be the #6 seed in the PCL Tournament where they will take on #3 Archbishop Wood on the road. Based on the PCL website, that game would be on Wednesday, May 13th. Assuming probably a 4:00 start like usual.

Lower Merion 8, Upper Darby 4

By: Bryson Ungar:

Lower Merion keeps finding ways to win with their season on the line. Brian Heck and the Aces took advantage of a struggling Upper Darby team this afternoon. After today’s win, the Aces are currently in prime position to clinch a 6A district bid. With a win on Monday, that would be pretty much locked up.

A large chunk of games in the area got rained out, but thanks to the Royals’ relatively new turf infield, we got some great action in this one. 

Lower Merion wasted no time getting on the board. Two-hole hitter Nick Dragut opened the scoring with a solo home run, his second of the week, to right field. The Aces added two more runs in the top of the second inning when Aiden O’Quinn launched a two-run homer on a full-count pitch, extending the early lead.

Lower Merion kept on adding runs, but Upper Darby actually catalyzed a few strong offensive innings. Austin Campbell walked, and Yerlin Feliz singled to put multiple runners on base. Jayvohn Tran then also singled to load the bases. Now it was a big opportunity for the Royals and with Thomas Chung up, he knew he had to deliver. On the first pitch he saw, he cranked a single past the shortstop scoring two. 

Lower Merion then bought back some runs in what was now a 4-2 ballgame. Aiden O’Quinn brought in a runner off a sac fly. Then Nick Dragut doubled to right scoring one, and an error responsible for one more. 

Darby kept trying to give answers to the Aces offensive surge. Brandon Kramer cut the lead back down to a 7-3 ballgame after a single. 

By this point it was just back and forth. One team would score, and another would then find a response. Lower Merion scored their final run in an unusual way after Parker Gregg popped out to third in foul territory. Trevor Roman then scored after an error by the catcher. That rarely happens. 

The last run of the game came from Jack Tran on an RBI double. Props to Upper Darby for finding ways to get runners across the plate. Brendan O’Gara led the way for the Aces at the plate with a three-hit day. LM with nine as a team. For Upper Darby, Yerlin Feliz and Tran both recorded multi-hit games. 

Pitching was competitive on both sides. Brian Heck, the newly crowned all-time strikeout leader for Lower Merion, got the start and only gave up one hit across 2.0 IP and fanned three. Will Cohen, Charlie Lovett, Ethan Hoffman, and Nic Dragut all came in out of the bullpen as well. Lovett and Hoffman threw scoreless innings. 

Tommy Chung started for the Royals, allowing five hits on two earned runs while also sitting down four. Feliz and Trask both had solid relief outings. 

Lower Merion (7-8 CL) will look to solidify their district spot on Monday against Garnet Valley (10-5). Upper Darby (0-15) will try to go out with a win in their final game on Monday against Conestoga (5-9). 

Garnet Valley 10, Ridley 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

Garnet Valley had a playoff spot already locked up before today, but with this win, they are in a very good position to host a first round playoff game as well.

It is still possible for them to get a first round bye if they beat Lower Merion on Monday, but still probably unlikely with the logjam of teams ahead of them. The formula is super complicated.

The Jags scored one in the bottom of the first when Kyle Klein’s sac fly scored Cole Lombardo, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.

Garnet Valley took advantage of Ridley’s defensive miscues in the third when they scored three runs on back-to-back errors to open up a 4-0 lead.

The game was put fully out of reach in the bottom of the fifth when Garnet Valley scored six more runs to hit the mercy rule.

Cole Hoffacker had an RBI single, Ashton Yau had a two-run double, Cole Lombardo had an RBI single, Ryan McGhee had an RBI single, and Harrison Maull ended it with an RBI single.

This is a very dangerous Garnet Valley team heading into the playoffs. They obviously have a great offense, but their pitching has been excellent of late, throwing back-to-back shutouts this week led by ace Ryan McGhee.

This one was all Colton Turner, who allowed just three hits over five scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

On the Ridley side of things, Jared Pugh turned in a quality start with one earned run over four innings, but Garnet Valley really got after their bullpen.

Tim Calamita, Aidan Wong and Jake Mansfield had hits in the loss for the Raiders.

Garnet Valley is now tied for third place in the Central League at 10-5 with this win, and will look to lock up a home playoff game and potentially even a first round bye when they host Lower Merion on Monday.

As for Ridley, their hot streak has come to an end, but they are still battling for a playoff spot. They fall to 7-8 on the year and will have to travel to undefeated Haverford on Monday for their next game.

It is still too early to tell, but they could get in the playoffs at 7-9. I wouldn’t necessarily bet on that with the teams around them, but it is definitely possible.

Conwell-Egan 1, Bonner 0

By: Brendan Ricciardi:

There’s a reason why Conwell-Egan Junior LHP Brady Guzzie is considered one of the top pitchers in the state of Pennsylvania, and Bonner found out why today.

The University of Virginia recruit struck out 13 over seven shutout innings with just four hits allowed and one walk.

Egan scored their lone run in the first inning, and that was all that they needed.

Jack Coleman had two of the four hits on the day for the Friars. Cole Romano and Sean Dugan also had hits, while Gavin DiRita walked. Danny Buckton threw a great game and unfortunately suffered the loss. He allowed five hits and one earned run over six innings with seven strikeouts.

This loss stings for Bonner, because they are now forced to play in the wild card round as they lose the tiebreaker to Devon Prep. Both teams finished the PCL season at 6-6 but Devon beat Bonner 3-1 earlier in the season.

They will first host Chichester for a non-conference game on Thursday.

It sure looks like we are getting a highly anticipated Bonner/O’Hara rematch in the first round. Bonner will be the #7 seed, that is already decided. O’Hara is currently the #10 seed, but could move up with a win over 10-1 La Salle depending on what the tiebreakers are.

That seems fairly unlikely with how good La Salle has been, but still possible. Should O’Hara lose to La Salle on Thursday, we’ll get Bonner/O’Hara in the first round on Monday at Bonner.

Bonner beat O’Hara 1-0 back on April 15th behind a Luke Albarano walk-off single, so hopefully we can get another great game like that.