(photo of Springfield’s Drew Kraus via Christy_Pictures64 on IG)
SPRINGFIELD, PA — Springfield enjoyed winning their first playoff game since 2017 so much on Monday that they decided they’d like to add another.
The Cougars went on the road and dominated the #2 seed Upper Moreland Bears in every facet of the game. Drew Kraus was cruising through three innings when the weather delay hit on Wednesday, but that was no problem as Jack Rae came in relief and threw four shutout innings himself on Thursday to send Springfield to the district semifinals on Friday at Upper Perk.
The last time Springfield won a game to advance to the district semifinals, I was in the other dugout playing against them with Strath Haven. I will be 27 in two weeks, so to say the Cougar fanbase deserves this win would be an understatement.
While the Springfield pitching recorded the shutout, the offense made life a hell of a lot easier for them right out of the gate.
Danny Meakim’s RBI double in the first scored Jake Lennon to get an early run, and then Meakim scored on a throwing error on a dropped third strike to make it 2-0.
Springfield really took control of this game by putting four more on the board in the second.
Jake Lehman walked and Shane McCaffrey singled to lead off the inning, and after a balk, Jake Lennon drove them both in to double that lead to 4-0. Following an Owen Keough double, Danny Meakim picked up his second RBI on a sac fly to score Lennon, and TJ Valletti stayed hot with an RBI single, and it was 6-0 just like that.
Springfield didn’t even allow Upper Moreland ace Nick Simons to get out of the second inning.
The scoring on the day wrapped up when Jake Lennon singled in Tamiem Mosely in the top of the third, and that is about when the weather started to take a turn for the worse.
The game was called in the top of the fourth inning on Wednesday, and the game was resumed on Thursday at Wissahickon High School’s turf field.
There really isn’t much to write about from the second half of this game thanks to Jack Rae. The Springfield reliever allowed just three hits with three strikeouts in his four innings.
Both Kraus and Rae put on a clinic of throwing strikes, as neither of them walked a single hitter and their defense committed zero errors as well.
With the win, Springfield will head to #3 Upper Perk on Friday, who had a first round bye then eliminated Strath Haven with a 4-0 win on Wednesday.
As far as we know, that game will be played at Upper Perk at 4, but I would not be surprised if it had to be moved to a turf field somewhere.
Winning this game was massive for Springfield, because they are not eliminated even if they lose to Upper Perk on Friday. The PIAA sends three teams from this bracket to states, so should Springfield lose to Upper Perk, they would play one of WC East, WC Rustin, or Radnor on Tuesday to try and make it to states as the third team in.
If Springfield beats Upper Perk, Tuesday’s game would give the Cougars the chance to win the first baseball district title in school history at Villanova Ballpark in Plymouth Metting.