West Chester Henderson falls to North Penn in PIAA District 1 6A baseball final

By Peter DiGiovanni

pdgiovanni07@gmail.com

PLYMOUTH MEETING – West Chester Henderson’s dream of winning a District 1 6A baseball championship fell short Thursday afternoon at Villanova Ballpark. North Penn took home the coveted title with a 7-1 win, scoring six runs in the seventh inning.

It was the first District 1 6A title for the eighth seeded Knights (20-5) since 2008.

Chase Jones got the big hit for the Knights, who were leading 2-1 in the top of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two out. Jones took a first pitch fastball from Gabe Reinheimer and drove it far over the left field fence.

“I hit a fastball that was up and got a good piece of it,” Jones said. “This championship was a long time coming and it feels awesome. We wanted to do it for Coach Manero (Kevin). He has waited 17 years for this and we all love playing for him because he is a great guy.”

The Warriors (16-8) will open PIAA 6A play Monday against the second seed from District 11 at West Chester Henderson’s Owens Field at 4 p.m.

The Warriors and Knights were locked in a tight battle for most of the game. Henderson took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Ethan Franks tripled and came home on a slow roller from Zack Ward.

North Penn tied it 1-1 in the top of the third inning when Jones ripped an RBI single off Warriors starter Jackson Ciarmello to plate Christian Barnes, who tripled earlier in the inning. Both Ciarmello and Knights starter Jake Nunn were effective, as neither offense did much in the early innings.

Ciarmello left the game in the top of the fifth inning and the Warriors went to Mike Cugino. Cugino threw one pitch to get out of the fifth inning, a double play ball, and pitched a scoreless sixth inning and it was a 1-1 game after six innings.

“I settled down after the first inning,” Nunn said. “My fastball and curve were pretty good today and after the first inning I started to go to the curve even more.”This is just an awesome feeling and we wanted it for Coach Manero really bad. He has been waiting a long time for a district title.”

Ben Grattan led off the top of the seventh with a clean single to center field. Luke Chartrans then bunted a Cugino pitch, and Cugino fielded the ball but bobbled it and Chartrand was safe at first.

Jeremiah Criger laid down a perfect bunt and the Knights had bases loaded with no one out. Cugino then struck out Logan Waynick for the first out of the inning.

But, Kevin Brace lofted a sacrifice fly to right field to score the second Knights run for a 2-1 lead. After a walk to Josh Martinell, Henderson coach Luke McNichol brought in Reinheimer to pitch. Jones greeted Reinheimer with a long grand slam blast to left field to make it a 6-1 game.

Nunn, who allowed the Warriors just five hits while striking out five batters, threw only four pitches in the bottom of the seventh inning, retiring the Warriors 1-2-3. The North Penn dugout exploded with joy and the Warriors were left to look ahead to PIAA 6A state tournament play.

“We really battled today and all season,” Henderson head coach Luke McNichol said. “It was a 1-1 game in the seventh inning and they broke it open. If you told us at the start of the season you would be 1-1 in the seventh inning of the district championship game, you would sign up for it.

“Our kids have worked their tails off every day in practice and they battled all season. This was a game between two great teams and it was a heck of a baseball game.”

North Penn 7, WC Henderson 1

North Penn         001 000 6 – 7

WC Henderson  100 000 0 – 1

WP-Nunn. LP-Cugino

3B-Franks, Barnes. HR-Jones.