BY JEREMY GOODE

Bryn Mawr, PA-- It has been five years since the last time Shipley won the Friends School League in baseball.

That very well could change later this month.

For the last four years, Friends' Central baseball has hoisted the FSL trophy, winning the championship in four consecutive years. Before that, from 2015-2019, Shipley won five consecutive league titles.

For the last decade, the title has come and gone in waves, with Shipley and Friends' Central fighting for the top spot. Friends' Central is over 80 percent of the way in matching Shipley’s mid to late 2010s run. And they have certainly been the model of success over the most recent years.

Year in and year out, players have moved on to play at the next level in college, only for Friends' Central to fill their openings with the next batch of ball players. It is not an accident Jon Rubin’s Friends' Central teams have raised the FSL trophy for four years in a row. They have taken care of business in the Friends League, always coming out in front against Shipley and Westtown.

Even though Friends' Central has been the face of the league for baseball for several years, things could be shifting, at least for this season. Friends' Central still is one of the best teams in the league, but an 8-2 loss at Shipley on Thur., May 2 makes things interesting as the Friends League is wrapping up their regular schedule.
 

“It feels great right now, we have not gotten a win against Friends' Central in a long time” Shipley’s Jimmy Amplo said. “But we are still looking forward to the postseason and still need to win to get to that.”

The ball is now in Shipley’s court. If Shipley were to win the rest of its Friends League games, it would control home field advantage come the playoffs. It would go through Shipley, literally.

See, Friends' Central is used to hosting playoff and championship games. But with their recent loss to Shipley, they do not currently hold control of home field advantage for the postseason.

With Shipley’s cruise control of a win at home against Friends' Central, it is clear they can beat the four-time defending league champs at their own park. Of course, it is hard to beat good teams more than once, and Shipley still has to take care of the rest of their schedule in-league.

There are no mulligans.

The games do not necessarily need to be pretty. They just have to end in the same result as the other games… with a win.  Shipley’s game against Friends' Central is a strong continuation of its season so far and its desire to ultimately be the best.

After giving up a run in the bottom half of the first, Friends' Central buckled down and reclaimed the lead in the second, 2-1. Oliver Lederman knocked in a sac fly and Luke Makuen stole home to reclaim the lead.

That was all the scoring Friends' Central could manage. The bats eventually became alive for Shipley, while for the most part going quiet for Friends Central.

In the bottom of the third and fourth, Shipley squeezed through three runs in each inning, giving starting pitcher Hudson Novodor plenty of room to operate on the bump.

And he took advantage. Novodor threw a great game, going six innings and giving up three hits and one earned run, while striking out six and earning the win.

When asked what was working best, Novodor responded:

“My fastball; hitting inside on them. It was hard for them to get their hands in and pull it. My curveball and changeup also helped a lot to keep them off-balance.”

RJ Harvey started off Shipley’s offense with a leadoff triple in the bottom of the third and scored seconds later on a wild throw over to third base to tie the game at two. They finished the bottom half of the inning with two more runs thanks to a two-run home run by Amplo. 

Amplo had a strong game at the plate, recording three hits, three RBIs, and the two-run home run to really separate themselves from Friends' Central on the scoreboard.

In the following inning, Shipley scored another three runs to give themselves a commanding 7-2 advantage.                               

“We just came in here with a chip on our shoulder ready to hit,” Amplo said. “On my second at bat. They gave me first pitch slider that hung a bit,” Amplo said. “And I just got excited for it.”

Along with his strong outing on the mound, Novodor helped himself at the plate, recording three hits, two doubles and two RBIs.

“It was great to contribute on both sides,” Novodor said. “It’s great that I am seeing the ball well right now, so, happy about the production.”

It is a big step for Shipley baseball, even though they have more work ahead to ultimately finish the job. But this win certainly points them in the right direction, something they have not had over the last four years.

And while it is a massive win for Shipley, it puts pressure on them to go out and keep winning, since they have the valuable advantage being the only team in the Friends League without a loss in league play.

So, they are going to celebrate this win, but only briefly. Novodor highlighter the significance and difference of this win, because “they’ve been beating us for four years straight.”

And the league has changed this year… for the moment.

“We have homefield advantage for the playoffs,” Novodor said. “We have the number one-seed, so we have to use that advantage and take home the ‘ship.”