West Chester stars lead Chester County to Carpenter Cup win

Philadelphia- It’s the dream of any kid that has ever tossed a ball around in the back yard, to one day run onto the field of a major league ball park and play a game in front of screaming fans.

Thanks to a come from behind 9-7 win on Ashburn Field in the first round of the Carpenter Cup, the select group of all stars from Chester County will get do exactly that, as they will run out of the tunnel at Coca Cola Park (Home of the Phillies AAA affiliate the Lehigh valley Iron Pigs) on Saturday, with the winner punching a ticket the semi finals to be held Monday at Citizen’s Bank Park.

In the fall of 1985, a committee of high school baseball coaches from the tri-state area met with representatives from the Philadelphia Phillies to discuss and organize the prospects of starting a tournament that featured the most outstanding players in the region.

The Carpenter Cup, the result of those meetings, was named in honor of Robert and Ruly Carpenter, former owners of the Phillies and was held for the first time in 1986 at Veterans Stadium. The single elimination format high school show case tourney has seen the likes of major leaguers Ben Davis, Bobby Higginson, Mike Piazza, Dave Williams and many more over the years.

The Carpenter Cup brings together the very best players in a unique environment that players are teamed woth other players that are dreaded rivals during the regular season, providing friends, families and fans an interesting dynamics as they cheer for their squads.

In what has become the single largest showcase of area talent, each year dozens of college coaches and several professional scouts from the Mets, Phillies, Orioles, Nationals and Pirates to name a few, pack up their clip boards, stop watches and radar guns to head for Philadelphia to try to find a diamond in the rough or next phenom that may someday come to us on ESPN.

“We tried to let these guys know that they will never have a better opportunity to be noticed than here,” said Henderson High manager Luke McNichol. “The scouts and coaches that are hear know what they are looking for. We have emphasized how important it is to go all out on every play. If you fly out, don’t stress, they will see bat speed, if you ground out, but it to first and let them get a time on you. Things like that will make an impact.”

After being shut out in the first two at bats versus Mercer County starter Jose Lopez (2IP, 0ER, K, BB), the Chester County squad got on the board as Perkiomen Valley junior first baseman Nate Struss crushed a double into the gap, scoring Great Valley junior Nick Evangelista, who had reached on a fielder’s choice and Phoenixville junior Shane Allen who had also doubled to knot the game at two.

“I was going to jump on the first fast ball I saw,” said Struss. “You know any body that is here is going to be tough if they get ahead in the count. This is just awesome to play here and Saturday will be unbelievable.”

“Playing in the Pac10 we sees guys like this all the time,” added Struss. “I’ve got be honest I was nervous when took the filed but after we got going and got into the game, you just focus on doing the best you can and hope some one notices what skills you have.”

“This is just such a great honor to be here,” said Patriots right fielder. “There were goose bumps as we were announced, it’s weird playing with guys that you’re used to trying to get out but I think we all came together very well and am so glad we came back to win, I can’t wait for Saturday.”

Trailing 5-2 after six full innings, the second line up had been put in place by Chester County manager John Rozich, and as in many all start games, the game can changed in a blink of an eye as Chester County mounted a comeback.

West Chester Henderson junior Cooper Redding drove in one run as he drilled a ball into the hole at shortstop with the base loaded, scoring Dominic Ficca from Bishop Shanahan. With two outs Phoenixville junior Colin Ammon ripped a triple almost to the wall in the air to drive Ficca home cutting the lead to 5-4.

“I got a decent pitch and just put a good swing on it,” said Ammon. “This is un real. My first at bat I just wanted to make contact and got a fastball and was able to get a good piece of it. It would be a dream come true to play in Citizens Bank, Saturday will be awesome but we have to focus on winning the games one at a time.”

“Cooper did a nice job in the game,” said McNichol. “Putting the ball in play is huge in that situation (bases loaded) then to get a big double like that, I could not be prouder of him. It great being back at this tournament, although I am getting gray hairs from watching all of the Rustin kids take the hill, they are all juniors. We have to go up against them next season. I think it says a lot about baseball in our area and how strong District One has gotten.”  

The eighth inning will be one that Mercer County hurler Mar Maksimow will want to forget as Chester County pounced on the Notre Dame junior right hander to the tune of four runs, two earned in two thirds of an inning of work to take the lead for the first time in the contest.

West Chester Rustin junior Sam Palladino made the most of his opportunity, as he was added to the squad due to Spring-Ford High School’s trio not attending as they are playing for the state title Friday, busting it down the line of a chopper to third scoring a base hit to lead off.

Drew Taylor of Downingtown East, another late addition, pounded a ball the fence, driving in Palladino and Kennet’s Steve Valentine, who has also singled.

The big inning continued as Rustin’s Matt Gosik reached on an error then scored along with Taylor on a two-out double by Redding, to snare an 8-5 lead heading into the home stretch.

After watching Mercer County get two runs back in the bottom half of the inning and have a runner at second which represented the tying run, Rozich had seen enough and brought in Perkiomen Valley junior Kenny Wolfe, who has been ripping the cover off the baseball all season at the plate, to shot down the rally.

 “I am just looking to do what ever I can to help our team,” said Kenny Wolf. “I am ready to go, I hope to get an at bat or two, but I will be ready to pitch again if needed. I never thought I would be put in the game in that situation, I thought I might just get to through a couple of innings some where along the line, but this was more than I could hope for.”

Wolf quashed the uprising by fanning designated hitter Brock Podruski on four pitches then coaxing a week grounder to short from three-hole hitter Corey Karagiozi to end the inning with no further damage.

Chester County tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Palladino roped a double then scored on an RBI single by Taylor to give the boys in burgundy a two run edge, just three outs away for a date in Allentown.

  Wolf struck out clean up hitter Matt Cenerino and got catcher Mike Ras to fly out harmlessly to center to put down the first two Mercer county threat in order, but following a single by Blaise Leszyinki there were some tense moments as short stop Kevin Bradley tried to keep the game alive for Mercer.

After going ahead in the count 1-2 on a 380 foot strike that tailed just wide of the foul pole in right, taking away momentarily the collective breath of the Chester County fans, Wolf got Bradley to chase a fat abll down and away to notch his first save of the tournament and set up a quarter final match up with the Philadelphia catholic league squad that defeated Delaware County 5-4.

“That was a little nerve racking,” said Wolf. “I just wanted to get it closed out right there, I just went all out on very pitch, this is a great opportunity to get seen by coaches that other wise might not see us, so you have to give 110 percent on every play.

“This is awesome,” said Great Valley designated hitter. “You want to do the best you can every time you play but here it’s nerve racking when you see all of the clipboards and radar guns, this is something special. I am looking forward to play again on Saturday and don’t even have words to describe how big it woul be to play in Citizen’s Bank Park.”

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The West Chester Impact

West Chester East-    Luke Lawrence - 0-for-2, LOB, 2 put outs

                                    Bille Krebs- 2 IP, 2ER, BB, 2K, 2H

West Chester Henderson-    Zack Jones – 0-for-2, assist

                                                Cooper Redding- 2-for-2, 3RBI, 3 put outs, assist

West Chester Rustin-             Kevin Jewitt- 0-for-2, BB, assist

                                                Matt Gosik- 1-for-3, run scored, assist

Jack Fritz- 2IP, 3R, ER, 4H, 2K, BB                                                                                                                                    Chris Catenacci- Win (1-0), 1.3 IP, 2R, 2ER, 3H, K