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Baseball: North Penn stifles Pennridge
May 18, 2010
By Andrew Marcus
Sportswriter
LANSDALE – Making the scary transition into high school was nothing compared to what North Penn freshman Bryce Mengel dealt with on Monday. With the defending state champs’ playoffs and league title hopes on the line against the defending league champs in Pennridge, the young righty pitched like a senior leader and quieted the Rams.
Coach Bob McCreary and Kevin Manero have been impressed with what the freshman has added to the Knights this season, whose one glaring question entering the season was replacing the two starters that helped them win a state title.
Mengel has been everything they could have asked for and more and he scattered seven hits, allowing only one unearned run, in his complete game over the Rams to improve his record to 4-0 and drop his earned run average below one run.
“Bryce does the three things we look for in a pitcher,” McCreary said. “He works quick, throws strikes and changes speeds. Coach Manero talks about letting them put the ball in play and he pitches to contact. We are real lucky we did not give them extra at-bats.”
McCreary did not think twice about handing the ball to the freshman, but Mengel thought about it all day. He knew exactly what was on the line for the Knights. After being staked to a 3-0 lead from his offense in the first inning he let his defense do the rest.
“I was really nervous,” Mengel said. “The coaches did not say much to me, but the team kept telling me not to blow it. After I got the first batter everything went my way. This boosts my self-esteem.”
The Rams’ Jared Schaffer coughed up RBI knocks to Jim Smith and John Romano in the first inning, which was plenty of run support for the Knights. Romano went 3-for-3 and Smith scored two of the four runs.
“Jared was a little unlucky, but they got to him early,” Rams’ coach Tom Nuneviller said. “That is the name of the game and they are an aggressive team. “
The Rams have been in the mix to earn their second straight league title all year, but with the loss it remains to be seen if they will even make the playoffs. They need Central Bucks East or Hatboro-Horsham to beat Central Bucks South or Central Bucks West if the Rams want to grab one of the two automatic bids for districts.
“You play to win, not for second place,” Nuneviller said. “We had an opportunity and we let it slip away. It will make it a lot easier if East beats South or Hatboro beats West.”
The Rams’ best chance to break through came in the fourth inning, but the Knights’ defense was up to the challenge and bailed out its young ace. After three consecutive hits, leftfielder Ryan King came up throwing and nailed Tim Eversole at the plate and then doubled off Peter Leatherman taking third in two bang-bang plays that went in the favor of the Knights.
“We hit the ball right at them and they turned a few double plays,” Nuneviller said. “Tim came around with the kid lying on his belly. He went hard and thought he got his hand in there. We lost a little bit of momentum, but we took a gamble and it did not work out.”
Mengel wasn’t sure what to expect in his first year in high school and he definitely did not think he’d be a starter for the Knights. He credits his coaches, catcher and defense to his stellar season to this point.
“I expected maybe to go in there when pitchers get in trouble this year,” Mengel said. “I never thought I’d be a starter. This is the best defense I ever pitched with. My curveball was my out-pitch today and they hit it into the ground and the defense took over.”
The Knights were one loss away from missing the postseason, but Mengel’s masterpiece gives the Knights, who are starting to hit the ball, a new life. Both the Rams and Knights end the regular season with a 9-5 conference record and will now sit and wait to see if they will grace the district playoffs.
“We are playing the best baseball we have played all year right now,” McCreary said. “Our hitters are starting to swing it and Mengel, Mark Grassie, Austin Tarpey, and Dean Keniff are all doing well in the mound. Hopefully we an automatic bid. “
Pennridge ab r h bi N.Penn ab r h bi
Tice ss 4 0 0 0 King lf 3 1 1 0
Sheffer dh 3 0 1 0 Grassie 2b 3 0 0 0
Puskar 3b 2 0 0 0 Smith c 4 2 1 1
Wolfe c 3 0 0 0 Lepre dh 2 1 1 0
Eversole cf 3 0 1 0 Romano 1b 3 0 3 1
Leatherman rf 3 0 1 0 Edgar ss 3 0 0 1
Metzler lf 3 0 1 0 Fuse cf 3 0 0 0
Kessler 2b 3 1 1 0 Costa 3b 3 0 1 0
Peters 1b 3 0 2 0 Martinez rf 2 0 0 0
Totals 27 1 7 0 Totals 26 4 7 3
2B – Smith
Pennridge 000 000 1 – 1
North Penn 301 000 X – 4
Ip h r er bb so
Schaffer (L) 5 1/3 7 4 3 1 3
Trauger 2/3 0 0 0 0 0
Mengel (W) 7 7 1 0 2 2
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