Reed Steps Up and Shuts Down Bonner

For the 3rd game (in two days) the Falcons played on finely groomed fields and came away the victor in each one. On Monday afternoon, with rain threatening, but never coming, the Falcons traveled to Monsignor Bonner to play on their beautiful, if backward, field. Backward because instead of placing the field close to the school and having the outfield fence along the edge of their campus, home plate is place in the corner, with dead center field next to the school. This only gives spectators a viewing perspective from beyond the outfield fence, about 300 feet away. Rumor has it that the field is backwards because of drainage issues. But, I’m sure the coaches love it, as they don’t have parents and other spectators breathing down their necks.

But, enough about the field, as the real story was on the mound for the Falcons. Matt Reed, who we’re told was making his first ever varsity start, pitched like a seasoned veteran, only giving up 1 run on 4 hits, while going the distance. It was hard to tell from the “Uecker seats” we had in deep center field, but it looked like Matt mixed in fastballs, a few curve balls and what looked like a decent change up, as he pitched his way to his second win of the season. His first win was in relief earlier in the season in the come from behind, 9 inning game against Prep. From what I saw today, it was an outstanding effort by a young man who doesn’t often have an opportunity to pitch. Congratulations to Matt, as well as the Falcon’s pitching coach (don’t know his name) who seems to get all of the potential pitchers prepared.

There were a couple of hairy moments in this game. In about the 3rd or 4th inning, with no outs and Bonner with a runner at first, a beautiful bunt was dropped down. By time the ball was fielded and thrown to first, the runner at first was already rounding second and on his way to third. He made it easily. But, the next batter attempted to bunt him in and North was on to the play and caught him in a rundown, where he was tagged out by the catcher, Jim Ditro. I’m not a baseball guy, but I was confused as to why that bunt was attempted.

In the 7th inning, the Falcons only needed 3 outs to get away with a 3-0 shutout. But, the first batter hit what should have been a routine grounder to short. The ball was fielded cleanly and tossed to first, and promptly dropped by the first baseman. It was a little low, but definitely should have been caught. And, before you could blink, the bases were loaded, one run in and still with no outs. The next batter hit a bouncer to third, giving the Falcon third baseman plenty of time to get the runner on a force at the plate. The tension was high and the momentum was definitely on the side of the Friars. With the middle infielders playing at double play depth, the next Friar hitter hit a ball right to the short stop, who flipped it to second for one and then to first for a game ending double play. The Bonner parents next to me weren’t all that happy, and I will admit that from 400 ft away, it looked like it could have gone either way. But, we’ll take the play and the win.

With this win, the Falcons secured at least 4th place, with a record of 8-4. Currently, the team is tied for second, a half game out of first place.

This game was definitely worth the drive to Drexel Hill from the home office, in Chester, PA. Tuesday, the Falcons will do it once again. Let’s hope we have another pitcher step up and perform like Matt Reed did today. With the pitching ranks getting thinner due to all of the make up games and the PIAA pitching rules, who knows who the pitcher will be on Tuesday.

There were no faces in the crowd that I noticed during this game. Heck, I may have been the only non-parent in attendance for the Falcons. Count on a decent crowd on Tuesday as the season winds down.

Did you notice that the Little Flower softball team was playing Prendie on the very next field. They had an identical score, but unfortunately, the Sentinels came out on the losing end of their game.

Blog Disclaimer: No Ritchies were injured in the writing of this blog.