WARMINSTER, PA – In an aggressive victory on the road, Father Judge beat Archbishop Wood 7-1 to clinch the No.1 seed in the upcoming PCL playoffs.
Game Recap:
^1: Wood's Sean Hughes strikes out 2 for a 1,2,3 inning.
v1: Wood's Ryan Logan leads off inning with two pitch single, but Judge turns the double play.
^2: Judge's Christian Lutz hits a leadoff double and is sacrificed over to third. Hughes gets a strikeout, then gives up three consecutive singles for two runs, 2-0 Judge.
v2: Judge's Dan Hammer gives up no hits.
^3: Hughes strikes out leadoff man, walks opposing pitcher Hammer, gives up back to back hits, picks up an out, and allows another RBI single, 3-0 Judge. A strikeout retires the side.
v3: Hammer sets them down in order, strikes out one
^4: 1,2,3 for Hughes
v4: With a base hit from Joey Lancellotti followed by a double from Sean Kelly, Wood has two men in scoring position, no outs. Hammer gets ground balls to hold runner at third, works out of the inning unscathed.
^5: Hughes strikes out 3, walks 1
v5: Leadoff man walks for Wood, Hammer gets two outs with one off of a strikeout and throws pick-off to first, tags runner.
^6: Hughes plunks leadoff man, a wild pitch moves runner to 2nd, then runner steals third as the next batter walks, men on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Wood's Kody Cracknell comes on in relief. A sac-fly scores a runner, 4-0 Judge. After a single from Judge's Connor Vogt, a ball was hit on the ground and Wood's defense recovered it and threw out the runner at the plate, 2 outs. Cracknell gives up back to back RBI singles, 6-0. A ground out finally ends the marathon inning.
v6: Hammer sets them down in order.
^7: Cracknell picks up back to back strikeouts, walks a batter, gives up a double allowing a run in, then gets a punch out for out number 3.
v7: Sean Kelly leads off the home 9's last chance with a triple. A fly ball is hit, but too shallow to risk a tag. A ground ball from the next batter does the trick as Wood gets on the board with one out remaining. Hammer gets a ground ball to pick up the 7-1 win.
Judge's Dan Hammer gives props to his defense
Wood vs. Judge Highlight Video
It was a Judge dominated game, with Wood unable to get anything going. Judge got on the board in the second inning, while it took Wood seven tries to even scratch at their initial deficit.
However, due to Roman's 2-1 loss, Wood will go on to be the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
"I just think we really need to keep our focus, continue to have quality at-bats, you know, put pressure on the defense," said Wood coach Jim DiGuiseppe. "They're things that we always try to do from an offensive standpoint. Each game, you have to obviously play sound defense and your pitcher has to throw strikes and locate well, and there's always room for growth in whatever you're doing. I thought our guys went out and battled today, we played seven full innings, we kept playing ball, but sometimes you have to credit the other team."
Coach DiGuiseppe went on to talk about just how much credit and respect he gives towards the Judge victors.
"Father Judge was the better team today. The win went to them today, and you have to credit them, because they played a good game. I thought we had good approaches against [Dan Hammer], we went out and put into play what we wanted to, but [Father Judge's Defense] made the plays behind him,” said DiGuiseppe. “You've got to credit the Judge defense today, they made all the plays. We hit the ball, and we hit the ball hard in some situations, and they made the plays. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other team."
Meanwhile, Father Judge looks ahead to an out of league game before shifting focus to the playoffs.
"I want to see how our guys do against a team that we've already faced," said Father Judge head coach Ken Devenney in regards to upcoming Saturday's contest against Penn Charter.
"With all of our wins in the Catholic League it doesn't matter what you do in the regular season, it's how you finish up in the post season. So we're going to be seeing teams a second time around, and we want to make sure that we can take care of business like we did in the regular season in the playoffs."