(picture of Springfield’s Drew Kraus via Owen Dulski)

LIMEPORT, PA — Springfield made its first state tournament game since 2017 a memorable one.

Facing District 11 champion Southern Lehigh under the lights at historic Limeport Stadium, the Cougars won a 2-0 thriller.

In a hostile environment that would crush a lot of pitchers, Drew Kraus took his game to another level. The sophomore delivered a three-hit shutout against a strong Southern Lehigh offense and hundreds of opposing fans.

Springfield’s offense took a little while to get going against Kraus’ counterpart, Spartan starter Chase Woodring, but they came through in a big way. 

The Cougar bats made a lot of contact early but couldn’t seem to break through Southern Lehigh’s strong defense.

With Woodring’s pitch count just above 50 entering the seventh, it looked like he would be able to throw all night. Sometimes a little luck makes all the difference, and Danny Meakim seemed to have some leading off the inning.

Meakim popped an 0-1 pitch to centerfield. It’s hard to tell if the Spartan centerfielder misread it, lost the ball in/above the lights, struggled to get down the insane hill center at Limeport, or a combo of all three. Nevertheless, the ball dropped for a leadoff single.

I mean, look at this field. It’s certainlly a unique outfield to say the least.

Springfield played a little small ball after that, with Nick Corse dropping a sacrifice bunt to put Meakim in scoring position. TJ Valletti hit one hard, but right at the Southern Lehigh left fielder for the second out.

Johnny Hopkins took one off his hand for another Cougar baserunner. Sean O’Reilly had a couple great takes and loaded the bases with a walk to bring up Shane McCaffrey.

It’s probably safe to assume this was the biggest at bat of McCaffrey’s life. Bases loaded, two outs, in the seventh inning of the state tournament. McCaffrey is a senior and heading to UCLA as a student. There was a real chance this at-bat would be the last of his career. 

With all that pressure, and the hundreds of nervous eyes on him, McCaffrey ripped an 0-1 offering up the middle for a two-RBI single and a late lead.

One of the cool things about amateur sports is the different paths and futures of the people playing them. 

We spend a lot of time talking about big time college commits and rising stars yet today, the biggest hit in the biggest game of the last Delco team standing belonged to an 8 hitter who’s not pursuing the game past this. 

Now speaking of rising stars, Drew Kraus is one and showed why in this game. With a 2-0 lead and facing batters desperate to keep their season alive, Kraus barely broke a sweat while retiring the side in order to close out the win. He also closed out that WC East states game, so he’s certainly not afraid of the bright lights.

It’s the type of tough victory Springfield’s been able to get all season. The defense was rock solid as well behind Kraus, their highlight of the night came on a phenomenal throw from O’Reilly that cut down what would have been Southern Lehigh’s opening run in the fifth. 

The Cougars move on to the state quarterfinals on Thursday. Time and place is still TBD but they’ll face a very strong West Chester Rustin team. Both teams are familiar with each other as they scrimmaged early in the year, and went through the same district bracket.

Wherever it is, we’ll be out to stream this must-see matchup. We will update everyone on the time and location when we know more.