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Carl Houp's
Ches-Mont League baseball champion
Downingtown Whippets survived the first
round of the first-ever PIAA District I
playoffs yesterday afternoon, defeating
rugged Pennsbury 4-3 at Plymouth-Whitemarsh.
The victory
advances Downingtown to the district
semi-finals tomorrow afternoon at
Germantown Academy in Philadelphia. In
a 1 p.m. battle, Downingtown will clash with
Central Bucks East, a 3-1 winner over Upper
Moreland yesterday.
Downingtown
managed only four hits in posting the win,
but pieced them together with Timmy Hardy,
in a pinch-hitting role, coming up with the
decisive blow.
Chris Watts
fired four complete innings to gain the win,
tossing 62 pitches, allowing five hits and
fanning five. Hardy, in chucking the
final three frames, allowed one hit and set
down three on strikes.
Whippets
score three
Trailing 3-1 in the top of the fifth,
Downingtown scored its winning trio of
tallies. After Greg Runyen went out on
strikes to Pennsbury righthanded fireballer
Pat Reichard, Pat Dougherty started things
for Downingtown with a single. Scott
O'Neill walked and Joel Ashinhurst dropped
what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt.
Reichard,
however, elected to go to second and threw
the ball into center field, Doughtery
scoring with O'Neill moving to third and
Ashinhurst to second.
Jerry Klein
fanned to give Pennsbury life but the rugged
Hardy, pinch hitting for Phil Mackey, rifled
a two-run single to right to give the
Whippets their edge.
Downingtown
scored its initial run in the first inning.
Pennsbury scored a single tally in the third
and two in the fourth.
Ashinhurst
opened the game for Downingtown, drawing a
walk. He swiped second, but Klein
popped out and Mackey fanned. Cleanup
hitter Billy Dague, however, singled to
center to plate Ashinhurst.
Pennsbury
scored its one in the third on a Brad Gross
single, a sacrifice by catcher Joe Cantrell,
a Tim Hammond single and John Maurer's
suicide squeeze bunt.
In the
fourth, a walk to Bob Kepple and singles by
Phil Erny and Ken Brown chased on additional
Pennsbury run home. Designated hitter
Bob Bell walked and Gross stroked a
sacrifice fly to score another run.
"They out-hit us",
Houp said. 'But, the hits we did have came
in timely situations. Watts pitched
well. Off his performance yesterday, I
plan to start him again tomorrow with Hardy
in relief."
Reichard went
the route for the losers, fanning 11.
Speedballer Dave June, who had fashioned two
no-hitters during the regular season, did
not play.
Hardy, Watts,
Dougherty and Dague each had hits for the
winners. Six different players had
hits for Pennsbury. |
