Rams Report: Coaches Time Out

May is approaching, which means one thing: graduation is around the corner, as well as the end of the spring sports seasons.

Since last week, we've seen softball and boys lacrosse lose two crucial games to snap individual streaks, but we've also seen baseball pick up a key victory. A track star broke a school record recently and was named the runner up in this year's PAC-10 Championship. Girls lacrosse continues to improve and strive toward PAC-10 glory, despite a tough loss to Boyertown last night.

The coaches took a midweek break to chat with Patch about recent action (Q&A form this week).

Baseball Tops Phoenixville in Rematch

LRSC Patch: Since the last time we talked, you got that big win over Phoenixville on Friday. What was the trigger there to capitalize and win on that come-from-behind victory?

Bruce Brobst: Well, we got off to a bad start and gave away runs. We put ourselves in a hole and we just fought back. It was very good to see the players not get down on themselves. They've been in this hole before. We created it. We just fought back and showed a lot of hard. They played hard.

Patch: Over the past few games, specifically, it's been a kind of come-from-behind theme for you guys. You've always complimented the fact that the guys are coming back and have the drive to do that, but does that worry you a little bit as we approach the postseason?

Brobst: Playing from behind is hard. We talked about it and we can't put ourselves in a hole. That was the emphasis on Friday night and we went right out and put ourselves in a hole. As we've done in every other game, we've fought back. That's encouraging to see and I think that will pay big dividends later on down the road when we hopefully make the Final Four and District Tournament. It gives you a lot of experience, playing in those situations. I think it will help us along then, but we've got to stop playing like that.

Patch: Monday got postponed to Thursday. That's Pottsgrove. What's your outlook on that one?

Brobst: Not really looking at the other team as much as at us. We're looking at playing better baseball. Stop making errors and allowing the other teams to score runs. Helping them along. That's the emphasis for every game, whether it's Thursday or Friday.

Patch: Is there any guy this week that you're pointing at as an outstanding performer?

Brobst: I have to give Richie a lot of credit on Friday night, because it would have been very easy for him to get down because plays weren't being made behind him. He just kept battling so I give him a lot of credit. We were without on Friday night, so Tom Grablewski stepped into the four-hole and we were down two runs late in the game. They walked to get to Tom and Tom got a big base hit to score two runs.

Patch: Anything else you'd like to add?

Brobst: I'm encouraged by the way we're playing. We haven't played our best baseball yet, but hopefully that's coming.

[Spring-Ford defeated Pottstown on Wednesday, 2-1]

Softball Suffers First Loss of the Season

[Head Coach Tim Hughes and Patch could not connect via phone this week]

Softball was defeated for the first time last week by Methacton. Up 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the girls gave up the lead when Methacton scored its final two runs to win the game.

They came back on Friday and played a tight one against Boyertown, defeating the Bears 2-1. Pitcher Haleigh Williams had eight strikeouts in seven innings pitched. Senior (Temple) had three hits in the contest, driving in one run.

The girls defeated Phoenixville on Tuesday, 3-1. They led the entire game, only giving up one in the seventh. They also defeated Pottsgrove on Wednesday, 3-0. Williams had six strikeouts in seven innings pitched. They go up against Pottstown on Friday.

Triolo Drops Title Match to Small

LRSC Patch: PAC-10 Singles Tournament on Friday. Tyler lost to a familiar opponent, right?

John Brennan: Yeah, he lost to Karlyn [Small] in the final, 6-7, 6-7.

Patch: Right. So, tell me about that one. What you though. I know Joey and Ryan competed too.

Brennan: First off, Friday was an outstanding day for us. Ryan [Schweiter], our third singles, beat number one kid, 6-0, 6-1. Then he played the sixth seed, Brett Levengood from Owen J. Roberts in the second round, 6-4, 6-2 in a really good match for Ryan. Probably the best tennis match he played all year. That got him in the quarterfinals.

Joey [Graziadei] played two really solid matches to start the day. So, all three of them made the quarterfinals. Three out of the eight in the quarterfinals were from Spring-Ford, and three out of the eight in the quarterfinals were from Phoenixville. So, I'm really proud of the guys on Friday for doing that.

Tyler obviously won the quarters. Ryan lost to [Chris] Chung [from Boyertown], and Joey lost to Karlyn. Friday was an outstanding day for the Spring-Ford singles boys.

Patch: Friday and Saturday of this week are the district singles, right?

Brennan: Yup. Tyler will be going to the district singles tournament. Tyler got the fifth seed, he plays Mike Stanley from Council Rock North in the first round - a really tough matchup. He actually played him during the year and beat him in three sets. It should be a good one.

I was doing his records and including the PAC-10 Singles Tournament, he is 19-2 this year. His only two losses are to Karlyn in the regular season and Karlyn in the final.

[Boyertown defeated tennis to place third in the PAC-10 on Wednesday, 4-3. The boys placed fourth in the PAC-10 this year after placing second last year].

Boys Lacrosse Loses First Game in PAC-10

LRSC Patch: Since the last time we spoke, you guys had Phoenixville last Wednesday. As anticipated, you beat them pretty good, 13-2. Zach Monzo and Stephen Bock both had three goals and you used a plethora of goalies in that one. Can you quickly go through that one?

Kevin Donnelly: Phoenixville came out and played real hard. They've been doing a nice job over there. It took us a while to get going. I think it was 0-0 after the first quarter and 10-1 at the half. We kind of came alive in the second quarter, which is good. We had some positives, some negatives in that game and came out with a win.

Patch: Again, as anticipated, you had said Hatboro-Horsham would be an uphill battle for you guys. They're a really good team and out of the league. They beat you 10-5. Can you talk about that one and how it matched up to your expectations?

Donnelly: We came out very slow. We were down 4-0 at one point. We brought it into a 4-4 game. It was that way going into the late third-early fourth and just fell asleep again. We had a nice middle of the game and struggled getting back to that 4-4. We didn't play our best - kind of played in panic mode for a bit of it. We just need to get better.

Patch: On Saturday, you went up against Pope John Paul II, a relatively new program, and you beat them pretty good, 16-7. Got an early lead and held onto it. Can you briefly talk about that one, as well?

Donnelly: That one we came out relatively strong. It was a good game for us. We went up four in the first and five in the second. We were able to get a lot of guys through. We got a ton of guys in the scoring column and a lot of guys that have been seeing no to limited playing were able to get into the scoring column which is nice to see. Conversely, [PJP] put in almost all of their goals in the fourth quarter. They had four in the fourth, which is just because we're not as strong when we get that deep into our bench defensively.

Patch: On Monday, you were the only team at Spring-Ford to play in the rain. But, unfortunately you lost to Owen J. Roberts. It looks like they got out to an early lead and held onto it through the first half. Were you guys expecting them to come out that hard?

Donnelly: Sure. That's our biggest rival. We've beaten them four in a row before that game. It was a tricky spot for us. I didn't expect it to be that lopsided. I wish we would have been able to play better, but it just didn't happen for us. That turf is slick to begin with and when you put some rain on it, too, you have some issues.

Patch: I don't know if it looks like this on paper or if it's true, but your shots on goal were close. You had 35 and they had 41.

Donnelly: Boyer played out of his mind. He was excellent and excellent late, as well. When we started getting some opportunities, he was very good. [Matt] Messerle did not have his strongest game, either.

[Spring-Ford defeated Pottsgrove, 18-4 on its senior night on Wednesday night.]

Patch: Friday you have Perkiomen Valley. That was another one you guys won earlier in the season, so that's a rematch for them on their home field. What are your thoughts there?

Donnelly: Our whole league has been all over the place. They've had some really good showings and some not as good. They play hard. They've got a good goalie and they're a solid team. They're 8-4, so they're not a team we can take lightly, certainly.

Patch: Any guys you want to identify as outstanding players?

Donnelly: Justin Kelly had a nice game in our loss. It'd be nice to see him pick up some traction in the tail end of the season and beyond.

Girls Lacrosse Getting Through Tough Week

LRSC Patch: Since the last time we spoke, you guys hadn't had anything, because your Thursday game got postponed to May 1. You were supposed to play Monday and that got postponed as well. So, the game you played was yesterday against Pottstown, which was a 14-9 win for you guys.

I know you said Pottstown was going to be a tough game, so can you take me through that one and your thoughts on the performance by your girls?

Amy Short: Pottstown always is fast, always aggressive. They put a lot of pressure. They were tight man-to-man on us. We saw a lot of that coming out in the first 20 minutes. We had the day off from school that day, and you never know what the girls are doing. Sleeping in, laying around... We were definitely slow coming off. Then, after about 20 minutes into the game, we started to come alive and used our passing a lot more to try to run the ball down through double and triple teams.

I give Pottstown a lot of credit. They have a couple of really strong players. We struggled in the beginning and were finally able to open it up toward the end of the first half and beginning of the second half. They played well. Once they started making their passes, they kind of came alive and played their game.

Patch: Boyertown. Obviously they're a powerhouse. Last time around you guys played them hard, but they're really tough to beat.

Short: I think last time we played them in the beginning of the season, we were still trying to work things out. It was a home game and was on our turf, to our advantage, but it was cold. We like warm weather. We've been practicing on grass. I [was] just hoping the girls could build up the confidence over these last couple of games to keep up with Boyertown and end up on the winning side. I kind of feel like this game is the telling part of our season.

[Boyertown defeated Spring-Ford 17-9 in the contest].

Patch: Give me your thoughts on Methacton on Thursday.

Short: Methacton, I'm sure, has improved since the last time we've seen them. You never know. Any team can win any game. We're going to take them as serious as we [took] Boyertown. Hopefully, we won't give them any room.

Patch: Then North Penn on Saturday. They're out of conference. Do you think the girls have a good shot at that too?

Short: It is a non-league game, but it's a good way to improve our strength of schedule. North Penn is very good. They're up there in the top 12-14. They beat Boyertown. Again, they're going to have to come out and play our A-game and compete and try to pull that one out. I give our girls the full benefit of the doubt that they can win if they play together and have the right mindset.

Patch: Any players you want to point out as outstanding players at this time?

Short: I would say . She's finally come alive and is proving herself as a senior captain and Division I athlete. She's really been pivotal in the last couple of games. I've been moving her around. She's ready and willing to do whatever and play wherever. She's definitely proven her leadership.

Track & Field's Nikki Lynch Breaks School Record

LRSC Patch: So you had a broken record on Tuesday, I understand.

Ken DeAngelo: threw the javelin 112-feet-5. I don't really recall who had the school record. We had a twilight meet for Phoenixville's senior recognition night.

Patch: How did that meet go overall?

DeAngelo: The meet went well. The kids worked hard. I like getting compliments from other teams' coaches the way the kids conduct themselves. We got the compliment that the kids were very friendly to the other team, even though on the track it was all business. Off the track, we find the teams very friendly with each other. We try to encourage that.

Patch: Anyone else aside for Nikki that were outstanding performers or surprises?

DeAngelo: Nikki did really well in all four events. had nice times in her 100, 200 and hurdles. We had a whole bunch of half-milers go under 2:40 for the girls. We have a whole slew of boys that are doing really well running the half. So, that, to me was the highlight of the meet - the kids doing well in distance.

Patch: I'm going to go back to last week here. You came out on top against Owen J. Roberts and Pottsgrove last Wednesday.

DeAngelo: We were really concerned. We know Owen J. has a really strong program. We knew the girls would be a close meet. They have some very good, outstanding kids that are going to be tough to beat, even in the championship season. It was closer than the score called.

Patch: Great Valley, you said you'd run it hard despite prom. How did you guys end up doing?

DeAngelo: The Great Valley meet is a 40-plus team meet. They don't keep team scores. We only won one event - the boys distance medley. The girls high jump team did fairly well. That's a meet you go to drop team individual times, beef up a couple of relays if you have to. I was glad to get the prom out of the way during that meet. Typically it falls on our championship meet for the PAC-10.

Patch: This week is a busy week for you guys with Penn Relays.

DeAngelo: Yeah, we have the Penn Relays Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the Pottsgrove Freshman-Sophomore Invitational on Saturday. We have a lot of things going on at the Penn Relays, too. We've got a 4x800 meter that could qualify if they run well, and we have throwing the javelin. The guys in the 4x800 are Xavier Ingram, , David O'Such and Jesse Magalon.

Patch: Any other competitions there?

DeAngelo: They boys will be competing in the 4x100, a 4x400 and the 4x800. Almost every team that applies to the Penn Relays get in the 4x1 and 4x4. The other ones are hard to get into. The girls will compete in the 4x100.

Patch: And what about the Pottsgrove meet?

DeAngelo: It's always a good meet to go to to see how well you're going to do in the future - what your team looks like. All these kids who are really excelling now as seniors were all at that meet. It's a good way to see what you can do against kids your own age. There's a big difference in running a freshman/sophomore boy against a senior boy.

Patch: Any other kids you want to recognize before we wrap it up?

DeAngelo: Andrew threw a 184-feet in the javelin the other day. That's really exceptional. is running really well - showing a lot of senior leadership. I'm really pleased with the whole team.