Unfazed by threatening skies, a half-hour interruption because of lightning and just about everything else, Nate Lapp pitched and hit Pennridge to a 7-3 win over Quakertown Monday night in the championship game of the Bux-Mont American Legion baseball tournament.
In the contest at Ben Hostelley Field in North Wales that was postponed from Sunday, Lapp – Pennridge’s leadoff hitter – staked his team to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a solo homer to left and went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI for the game. On the mound, the right-hander went the first six innings, striking out 10 and surrendering only one earned run before giving way to Kyle Watson, who closed out the last inning for the victory despite giving up a solo homer to Quakertown’s Ethan Beil.
Both teams advance to the Pennsylvania Region Two tournament at Bear Stadium in Boyerstown that starts Saturday. Pennridge (16-1) will face Northampton County’s No. 2 team at 11 a.m. while Quakertown (15-4) squares off against host Boyertown at 7 p.m. Pennridge went undefeated in the Bux-Mont tournament while Quakertown emerged from the loser’s bracket to make the championship game.
While certainly appreciative of the league title, Lapp made it clear after Monday night’s game that Pennridge has its eye on bigger things.
“We added another trophy, which is awesome, so we’re just going to take this and keep the momentum going and move forward,” he said. “We have a great team, I love this team, and we have a great bond with each other. We can all hit and our pitching and defense are solid. I can’t wait to see where this team goes.”
Pennridge head coach Bob Benamati lifted Lapp when his number of pitches reached 98, very close to the league-mandated game maximum of 105.
“I was getting fatigued,” Lapp said. “I hadn’t pitched in about a week and a half or two weeks. I knew I could go four or five innings and was hesitant about going out there for the sixth but I made it through.”
After Lapp’s solo homer in the first, Pennridge upped its advantage to 3-0 in the bottom of the second on an RBI triple by Joe Santora and RBI groundout by Garrett Navitsky. Quakertown came back with one run in the top of the third.
Before the bottom of the third started, the umpires saw lightning and halted the game. After no more flashes for 30 minutes, it resumed. Quakertown closed to within 4-2 in the top of the fourth, but Pennridge answered back in a big way with three runs in its half of the fourth, the highlight an RBI triple from Alex Fantaskey, who had two RBIs on the night.
A solid win, but now onward and upward, said Pennridge’s Benamati.
“It’s good but only the midpoint of our destination,” the head coach noted. “We have our eyes focused on getting to states and getting to Mid-Atlantic Regionals. We have some bigger goals. This is one step.”
Benamati believes his squad is well equipped to extend its season a lot longer.
“When one guy isn’t hitting well, the other seven or eight guys have been picking it up behind him,” he said. “Nate has been a key part, but it’s been a nice team effort.”
Lapp, Santora and Robbie Pliszka all had two hits in the win for Pennridge. In addition to Beil’s homer, Caleb Everitt went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Brandon Pierce had the other RBI for Quakertown, which used four pitchers. Pierce started and then gave way to Preston Welsch, Carter Kochel and Everitt.
“Lapp threw well,” Quakertown head coach Bob Helm said. “I thought we squared a lot of balls up but also had too many strikeouts (12). Lapp was hitting the outside corner with curveballs and sliders and our guys weren’t picking it up too well.”
Beil said his towering solo homer over the left-field fence to close the scoring took a little of the sting out of the loss.
“The homer felt really good. It was a hanging curveball,” he said. “They were throwing me curves all night but Lapp works quick so It’s hard to get set against him. The new pitcher had a long leg kick, so it was easier to stay back, keep my hands in and hit it.
“Pennridge is a really good team this year, only one loss all season. We were expecting a dogfight and they just did more than us to win tonight.”
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