Pope John Paul II falls to Upper Moreland in title game

Pope John Paul II High School started Wednesday just one game away from celebrating its first year of existence with a PIAA District One baseball championship.

On the opposite bench, though, was a squad a school that had been waiting much longer to win the district title: the Golden Bears of Upper Moreland High School. Perhaps motivated by awareness of the championship drought, the older school prevailed over the upstart Golden Panthers in a 9-2 victory.

The afternoon began promisingly for Pope John Paul II.

Getting the call for the Golden Panthers was senior Jeff Evans, who displayed a calming confidence with him as he took the hill in the biggest game of PJP2’s brief history.

“I am relaxed and ready to go,” said Evans before the game. “We have played to get here all year and it’s time to get it done.”

Evans got it done early as he mowed through the Golden Bears lineup the first time through the order, allowing just one Upper Moreland base runner in the first three innings, a leadoff double off the bat of Robert Knox.

PJP2 (13-8 overall) drew first blood as Tyler Mikell, who led off the third inning by crushing a triple to deepest part of the park, raced home with the first run on a fielder's choice when Bob Barth grounded the ball to the left side of the infield.

The Golden Panthers tacked on another run when Paul Mills drilled a ball to the fence in dead center field, scoring AJ Koscelansky, who had singled.

In the previous at bat, Evans (2-for-3) tried to help his own cause, blasting a single in the gap, but pinch runner Alex Romberger was tagged out at the plate by Upper Moreland catcher Dave McInerney.

“Today wasn’t our day,” said Evans. “I guess in a week or so I will look back and think about what a great year we had, but right now it sucks. We had one of those days where we hit the ball hard, just right at people and they were getting balls to drop in everywhere. It was a little frustrating.”

The Golden Bears (16-3) evened the score in the top of fourth, taking advantage of two bloop base hits off the bats of Sean Valenza and Ryan Snyder before designated hitter Charlie Hooker ripped a two-out hit back through the middle to score both. Hooker was gunned down trying to stretch the hit into a double when Carr took the throw home and threw a strike to Koscelansky covering the bag.

Upper Moreland added a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Knox, which scored Mike Janas (3-for-4, 2 runs, 2RBI) to give starter Kyle Walder a one run cushion as he settled in on the mound.

“They were really aggressive early,” said UM junior Walder. “They were really making good contact on anything close to the middle, so I started trying to hit the corners. I was getting the calls and they didn’t seem to be able to have as good of swings, so I kept it there.”

The Golden Panthers sent six men to the plate in the fifth, but failed to score as Walder was able to get Sal DiPrinzio to foul out just inside the fence with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The turning point for PJP2 and Evans was the top of the sixth, when the Golden Bears started the inning with seeing-eye singles, before Mike Janas delivered the biggest blow of the game with a two-out, 2 RBI single to give UM a 5-2 lead and essentially end the Golden Panthers bid for a district title as Walder had settled in to a rhythm.

“We were out in front early in the game,” said Janas. “He (Evans) had great control and was getting us out on pitches that weren’t even strikes. We talked about staying back on the ball and then we started getting some ball to fall in as well.”

In a microcosm of the entire game, the Golden Panthers final rally was quashed before it got started as A.J. Koscelansky, who led off the fifth with a single, was doubled off first base when Paul Mills crushed a 3-2 fastball directly into the glove of leftfielder Knox, who threw a strike to first basemen Janas to complete the double play.

“That was a perfect example of how our day went,” said PJP2 manager Tom Sergio. “Paul doesn’t strike out very often, so we were sending A.J. on 3-2, and it was an easy double play even though Paul killed the ball. It's just how it went. It’s frustrating to see our guys hit the ball well right at people and watch them score on balls that drop in behind us.”

Upper Moreland posted two more runs in their final at bat on a one-out, two run single by Matt Kohn to close out the scoring and clinch the first district baseball title in school history.

“This is unbelievable,” said UM manager Ernie Rehr, in his fourth year. “We have a lot of district trophies in our case at school, but no baseball hardware, even though they had a state championship in the seventies. These kids have not quit all year and this was a goal we set in the beginning of the year. Hey, now we have to get ready for states. Wow.”   

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

R

H

E

Upper Moreland (16-3

0

0

0

2

1

4

2

9

13

1

Pope John Paul II  (13-7)

0

0

2

0

0

0

0

2

8

1

Upper Moreland

AB

R

H

RBI

Pope John Paul II

AB

R

H

RBI

Knox lf

2

0

1

2

DiPrinzio cf

4

0

0

0

Valenza ss

3

1

1

1

Koscelanky ss/2b

4

1

1

0

McInerney c

4

1

1

0

Mills 3b

3

0

1

1

Snyder 2b

3

3

2

0

Zbyszinski dh

2

0

1

0

Cripps 3b

3

1

1

0

Carr c

3

0

1

0

Hooker dh

3

0

1

2

DiGenova 1b

3

0

1

0

Kohn cf

3

1

1

2

Evans  p  ss

3

0

2

0

Janas 1b

4

2

3

2

Mikell  lf

2

1

1

0

Lockard rf

4

0

2

0

Barth 2b  p

2

0

0

1

Totals

29

9

13

9

Totals

26

2

8

2

IP

R

ER

H

SO

BB

Walder  (W)

7

2

2

8

2

2

Evans  (L)

5.6

7

5

8

1

1

Fazzini

0

0

0

1

0

2

Barth

1.3

2

2

3

0

1