The No. 14 North Penn Knights struck first in a Tuesday night District One 6A playback game against the No. 1 Quakertown Panthers on a one-out triple from catcher Chase Jones to score leadoff batter AJ Briggs.
The Knights took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first as the next batter, first baseman Ben Farley, drove a 400-foot home run over the center field fence.
Scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth and another two in the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers rallied, but weren’t able to overcome the seven-run deficit.
With the final score 7-4, Trevor Lugara of the Knights threw 104 pitches in six innings allowing eight hits and four earned runs, while recording four strikeouts and one walk.
Heading into the “do or die” matchup the pregame message was “every time you play a Game 7, you only have one choice – to win,” said North Penn coach Kevin Manero, who compared this matchup to the final game of a World Series.
Knowing Quakertown is aggressive on the basepath, “it was mixing up timings and not letting them take bases for free,” said Legura.
The Knights did not allow a stolen base to the Panthers and caught shortstop Danny Qualteria stealing second for the first time all season.
Matt Marsten of the Panthers pitched just two innings allowing six hits and five earned runs, most notably the two-run home run by Farley.
The Knights added three runs in the second inning off a Jones triple that scored Ben Grattan and Jeremiah Criger.
Macen Probition came in relief and pitched four innings and gave up just five hits and two runs and struck out four and walked two.
The Panthers scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth off a Cole Reich two-run RBI triple, scoring Carver Perrone and Qualteria.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers had a two-run rally sparked by a Tanner Clancy single. Three singles followed this by Perrone, Brady Martin and Qualteria.
The game – and Quakertown’s season – ended with three straight strikeouts recorded by North Penn’s Nick Palovich, who came in to close in the seventh.
North Penn, which clinched a PIAA berth with the win, will battle host Neshaminy in the district tournament’s fifth-place game on May 30.
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