Pennridge Bats Come Alive Late in Thrilling Section 6 Title Victory

	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Pennridge	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	9	2
Council Rock Newtown	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	6	1

WP: Ritter LP: Kneisel

Broadcast: LISTEN

Entering Tuesday night’s Section 6 title game, Pennridge had outscored opponents 58-12 and had never trailed in their seven victories. Council Rock Newtown flipped that script for most of the evening in Tamaqua, but a sixth inning that included two home runs provided what Pennridge needed to break through and advance to states.

Council Rock manager Todd Dreby put his son Kyle on the mound to start the championship game. He worked around a leadoff single from Gavin De Milt that landed him on second base due to an error. The final out was recorded on a defensive gem, as Luke Fillmore tracked down a groundball and fired back in to Dreby who threw to Vilca at third. Vilca threw home to Chase Roberts who tagged out De Milt trying to score. That 7-1-5-2 putout fired up the Newtown dugout and the energy was palpable from the third base dugout.

Newtown carried the excitement to their half of the first. Kyle Dreby took the second pitch he saw back up the middle for a leadoff single and was quickly followed by Owen Casicano’s drive into right. With two in scoring position, Mateo Vilca, just days removed from taking a groundball to the mouth, doubled to the wall in center field to drive in two runs. With that, starting pitcher Jackson Funk came out of the game, giving way to Jordan Ritter, making the pitching game a battle of managers’ sons. Ritter got two strikeouts to end any further Newtown threat.

“We have some really nice depth. We had a plan and they made some adjustments on Jackson. They were choked up on all of their at bats today and kind of slapped it in play. When we saw that, we made a quick adjustment,” said manager Nate Ritter of the early pitching change.

Pennridge found themselves trailing for the first time in the All-Star season, very unfamiliar territory. The game then zipped along, as the next four innings were completed in under an hour. In the second inning, Jack Walters singled up the middle and Landon Ambruch worked the first walk allowed by Dreby in postseason play. Rocky Alba flow out to center to end the inning.

Jordan Ritter took control in relief, striking out two more in the third and getting Newtown in order. Newtown would only get two more hits until the sixth inning, both of which came in the third. Greg Kneisel and Casey Sanpietro hit back to back singles, but were stranded as Ritter fanned Dreby and got Luke Fillmore to ground out to second.

Meanwhile, the most significant threat for Pennridge was also in their half of the third when Gavin De Milt got his second of three hits on the evening, a triple that rolled to the wall in right. Ritter then flew out to left to leave him 60 feet from home plate.

Over the fourth and fifth innings, Ritter fanned four in a row, part of his stellar 12-strikeout performance. Dreby cruised right into the sixth as well, striking out four and spreading out six hits against a lineup that had not been held in check at any point during the postseason.

“I knew I had to pick it up since we were down by two. I felt comfortable,” Ritter remarked on coming into the game in relief and his performance on the mound.

And Pennridge would finally break out in the sixth. Hannah Wheeler, the lone girl in the tournament, came through in another clutch spot, leading off the inning with a single through the hole at short and out into left field. Jackson Funk then struck out, but the lineup was turned over. Gavin De Milt then banged one to the wall in center field to score Wheeler and put Pennridge on the board. It was then that Dreby was pulled for Kniesel. Kniesel had his work cut out for him, with the heart of the order due up.

Wheeler talked about her inning opening hit and the eventual comeback, “”We just waited for our pitches and we connected.” She was confident that her squad would come back in the final inning: “It was really exciting and I kind of knew we were going to win the second I got on base.”

Manager Nate Ritter knew it was a huge table-setting hit for the comeback inning, “It’s huge. She’s on this team for her grit and her character. It’s got to be very difficult to be the only girl on the team. She chose to stick with us and stick with the team. She’s a fantastic athlete and fantastic person. She’s played in the Girls Got Game event in Williamsport. She grinds. All of her at bats are what you saw there. She’s going to grind and find that mistake and drive it somewhere.”

The heart of the order finally broke through in a huge way. Jordan Ritter hit a ball deep to right that just barely cleared the fence for a 2RBI home run. He was followed shortly by Martin Wiren who banged one just over the wall in left, providing what would be a cruical insurance run. Just like that, momentum had shifted and Newtown fans were stunned. Pennridge led 4-2 heading to the bottom of the inning.

“I barreled it, but I got under it a little bit. I didn’t know it was out until I saw the right fielder go back and look up. My second ever oppo-home run ever. It felt amazing knowing my team was going to be there and then we strung together another home run with Marty,” Ritter offered his thoughts on the comeback, “It was a pretty good team victory. We strung it together in the sixth.”

Gavin De Milt saw it a little differently, “That was a monster shot. Right off the bat I knew it was gone. We had good attitudes going into it after that home run, so we just went in the field and did what we had to do.” He also talked about his three-hit performance after entering the contest 0/7 in the section tournament, “It feels really good to win and with that double, it felt good to contribute to the team’s win and everyone here has at least one thing to contribute. Those attributes go together to make a crazy good team.”

Wiren spoke on his insurance run and eventual game winning hit, “”That was a really fun trot around those bases, man. I hit that ball better than I have been hitting the balls. I really didn’t think it was going to get out, but it did. I really thought that we were going to come back, but I was just really shocked that we actually did come back, to be honest.”

Ritter came back to the mound to try and finish off Council Rock. Santino Longo worked a full count walk, which ensured Newtown would get some chances with the tying run at the plate. Ritter struck out Mike Antolonio and Max Martin quickly, getting Pennridge within one out of advancing to states. Having hit the 85-pitch limit, he gave way to Jonah Los for the save. Kniesel singled up the middle to keep Newtown alive and move the winning run to the plate. Casey Sanpietro increased the drama with an RBI infield hit, legging out a play at first by a whisker. Kyle Dreby stepped into the box with the winning run on base, but Los struck him out swinging and ended the wild final inning.

Nate Ritter talked about the dramatic victory, “They make your heart beat a little faster than you want it to tonight, but we got it done. Shoutout to their pitcher–Kyle was pitching great. We were catching barrels, but they happened to make the plays. If we keep catching enough, eventually we’re going to find a hole out there and it came to fruition in dramatic fashion.” He continued on the team victory and advancing to states, “”It’s what we practice, honestly. We believe in each other. Our warmup shirts have Pennridge on the front and all of the kids’ names on the back–the MO of this team is to play for each other. As long as we have an out left, we have enough kids that can fly it over the fence and fortunately we didn’t have to come back for another game and good things happened.”

Pennridge now advances to states in Fairchance, in the southwestern part of the state. They will open play against DuBois or Butler Township Monday at 1:00. A full state preview will be availble on LSVSports.com later this week along with Section 6 All-Star selections.