On a night in which the Spring-Ford baseball community gathered at Rams Stadium to remember a fallen teammate, the Rams' bats remained silent long after the opening ceremony at which a banner was unfurled to commemorate the life of Conor McKenna, a Spring-Ford sophomore who lost his 19-month battle with cancer in March.
Hundreds of friends and fans in attendence wore black t-shirts emblazoned with Conor's jersey number and initial on the front and "Passion," "Courage," and "Perseverence" on the back. Fitting words, both for Conor and for the baseball program he loved.
“Conor had a passion for baseball,” said father Tim McKenna in an emotional address to the huge crowd as he stood next to Conor’s number 35 which had been painted on the field behind the batter's box.
Find out what's happening in Limerick-Royersford-Spring Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“He played it, read it, watched it, lived it and loved it. Baseball was what he did. He loved the game and his teammates,” McKenna said.
“He was a great kid,” said Rams starting pitcher Sean Larkin. “It was an honor to take the mound tonight. At Spring-Ford, we are more than just a baseball program. We are all like a family, since most of us have known each other since we were kids playing in Little League.”
Find out what's happening in Limerick-Royersford-Spring Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Larkin honored McKenna by throwing arguably his best game of the season. The lanky right-right hander complemented his fastball, which had extra zip, with an outstanding curveball that helped strike out eleven Owen J. Roberts batters.
Larkin's effort on the mound couldn't compensate for the Rams' quiescent offense, which only managed four hits in a 3-0 loss to the Wildcats.
“We aren’t going to win games with four hits,” added Larkin. “We need to score with the bases loaded. When we had chances, we just didn’t get that one hit we needed. We need to put it behind us at practice tomorrow and get ready for a tough week with Methacton and Boyertown coming up."
As expected when these two perennial Pioneer Athletic Conference powers meet, the first four innings featured great defense and not much in the way of scoring as Larkin retired nine of the first twelve men he faced. Spring-Ford, meanwhile, was handcuffed by Wildcats starter Zach Boehmer.
Spring-Ford had its best opportunity to get on the board as Tim Ponto entered the game in relief of Boehmer.
The Rams quickly loaded the bases against Ponto with singles by Tom Grablewski and James Hoff and a walk to Ricky Gorrell. Mike Oczypok came to bat with nobody out.
Oczypok drilled the ball, but right at third baseman Rob Petete who came home with the throw forcing Grablewski at the plate. Ponto was then able to snare a grounder back through the box off the bat of Cody Clarke, then rifle it home to catcher Dave Reifsnyder, who turned the double play by gunning the ball to first in time to beat Clarke, ending a golden opportunity for Spring-Ford.
“What a lousy way to wreck a Friday night,’ said a frustrated Gorrell. “We take a while to get going sometimes, and we didn’t get that second chance tonight on Boehmer. It is what it is. I hate losing to any team, but especially that team. We have to get our heads up and fight through it. We have no room for error now as we play Methacton and Boyertown. We have to play our game and hit the damn ball.”
Larkin only made about three mistakes all night. Unfortunately, each cost him on the scoreboard, most notably two fastballs to Wildcats right fielder Sam Funk.
Funk, who would crank a solo home run over the 365 ft sign in the sixth, led off the fifth by ripping a 2-1 fastball for a double past the out stretched glove of Clarke down the line. Funk scored the game’s first run when Jared Pinelli tapped a single back up the middle with one out.
Pinelli scurried home following a passed ball to post the visitors to a 2-0 lead, which is all Ponto would need. After escaping the bases loaded jam in the fourth, Ponto settled in, allowing just two base runners in the Rams final three at-bats. Ponto struck out the side in the seventh to claw the Wildcats to within one game of the league-leading Rams.
“Sean pitched his ass off and we wasted that,” said Gorrell, who went down swinging at a Ponto curve ball in the dirt in the seventh. “We know what we have to do, myself included. I know in that situation that he is going to throw me a curve, even at [a count of] 3-2. I even saw it coming out of his hand and I still half swung at it. That can’t happen. We will be fine. We will practice tomorrow and get ready for Methacton. It’s a loss but it’s only one loss.”
The Rams started the evening by remembering a friend who they will miss and as the lights turned off one by one at Rams Stadium following a disappointing loss, teammates were talking about how to help each other get ready for the challenges that lie ahead of them. That’s what families do .
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 TOTAL Owen J. Roberts 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 Spring-Ford 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Owen J. Roberts AB R H RBI
Pinelli ss 4 1 1 1
Brady 2b 4 0 1 0
Patete 3b 3 0 0 0
Reifsnyder c 3 0 1 0
Ponto dh p 2 0 0 0
Gillenwaler 1b 3 0 0 0
Muscovitch ph 0 0 0 0
Megay rf 4 0 0 0
Funk lf 3 2 2 1
Solomon cf 3 0 1 0
Totals 29 3 6 2
Spring-Ford AB R H RBI
Medley lf 3 0 0 0
Grablewski 2b 3 0 1 0
Gorrell ss 2 0 0 0
Hoff c 3 0 1 0
Oczypok 1b 3 0 1 0
Clarke 3b 3 0 0 0
Conway dh 2 0 1 0
Larkin p 2 0 0 0
Cratsenberg rf 2 0 0 0
Totals 23 0 4 0
Picthing IP R ER H SO BB
Ponto (W) 3 0 0 1 4 1
Boehmer 4 0 0 1 1 0
Larkin (L) 7 3 2 6 11 3
2B-Funk, Conway HR-Funk LOB-OJR-10, Spring-Ford-5
