Phantoms' Yenchick Hits Second Round Tripper in Two Days

It wasn’t surprising that the Golden Panthers took the field with a bit of a chip on their collective shoulders.

After all, despite winning five of their last six games, including a last at bat comeback win at AAAA Perkiomen Valley Wednesday night, the Pope John Paul II squad was informed shortly before it boarded the buses to Phoenixville that due to a “less than special” tie breaking system, they had been left out of the mix for the PAC-10 final four, regardless of the outcome of Thursday’s tilt with the Phantoms.

With the vengeance of a gun slinger left standing in the street, as high noon had come and gone and his opponent was a no show, the Golden Panthers unleashed a 17-hit ambush on the home team, emerging with a 17-4 victory as the dust cleared on Kennedy Field.

”They came in here with a burr under their saddle since they heard they weren’t in the final four and they took it out on us,” said Phantoms manager Jack Sturgeon. “That was a good old fashioned butt whooping. They beat us in ever aspect of the game: hitting, pitching and fielding. I can’t say it simpler than that.”

 The Phantoms  have lived up to, at least on occasion, the preseason prediction of senior Mike Jones and lead off man Andy Kaye, who predicted they would make some noise in the PAC-10, which they have.

Phoenixville is the only team in the Pioneer Athletic Conference to beat Methacton, Spring-Ford and Owen J. Roberts, and had it not been for a 14-strike out performance by Boyertown's A.J. Bogucki, the Phantoms would own a victory against all final four teams.

After allowing the Golden Panthers to grab an early 7-1 lead, Phoenixville, who is now 8-10 and will be awaiting the district seeding to see if they can continue to “make some noise," battled back to get to within five at the end of five innings.

In a season which has seen highs and lows, a glimpse of good things to come in the future for Phoenixville again shined through in the person of sophomore Ryan Yenchick.

Yenchick, who made his first varsity start on Wednesday, is a combined 5-for-7 with two homeruns, two doubles, a triple, 4 runs scored and 7 RBI in his two starts.

“I was so excited yesterday to be called up,” said Yenchick. “I have worked hard all year on my hitting mechanics and try to get to the tee every day. I am glad Coach Sturgeon had confidence in me to give me an opportunity to play.”

Yenchick was solid in the field, making three put outs and more importantly, no defensive faux pas that have plagued the Phantoms as a team all season.

“I love playing the outfield,” added Yenchick. “The outfield is huge here. Tommy [Romano] and Andy [Kaye] have helped me so much, talking to me about the crow hops and little intricacies of our Kennedy Field. I am loving it so far and can’t wait to keep it going if we make districts.”   

Despite Yenchick's performance, the score turned out to be decidedly lopsided.

“The really outplayed us,” added Sturgeon. “As weird as it sounds at this point in the season, we are still looking at which direction we are heading in. We need to play better defensively against a team like them. Even plays that weren’t really errors, we needed to make the plays to prevent extra runners. I have to give them [PJP2] credit. That is about the most complete team game I have seen anybody have all year. They really kicked it up.

“We will have to wait and see if we make districts," added Sturgeon. “We are going to practice like we are in until they tell us otherwise. We have some good wins against good teams with great records, which will help, but we are still looking for that consistency.”

Pope John Paul II                      5  1  1  3  0  7 –17

Phoenixville                              1  0  1  0  2  0 -  4

Pope John Paul II               AB            R            H            RBI

DiPrinzio  cf                              3            2            2            1

Evans  ss                                  3            2            0            0

Mills  3b                                   5            2            3            4

Carr  c                                      5            1            0            0

Zbryszinski  2b                    5            2            2            2         

Koscelansky  p                      5            1            2            3

Weiss   cr                                 0            1            0            0

DiGenova  1b                           4            3            2            1

Mikell  rf                                  4            2            3            4

Cotellese  rf                              4            1            2            2

                        Totals               38            17            17            17

Phoenixville                         AB            R            H            RBI

Kaye  rf                                    3            0            0            0

Arney  ph                                 1            0            0            0

Yenchick  rf                              3            2            2            1

Hershey  ph                              1            0            0            0

Romano  cf                               2            1            1            0

Wheel  3b                                3            1            2            1

Allen  p  ss                               3            0            2            2

Ammon  1b                              3            0            1            0

Naile ss  2b                              3            0            1            0

Ashburn  c                                3            0            0            0

Kawchak dh                             3            0            1            0

                        Totals               29            4            10            4

Pitching                        IP          R          ER            H            K            BB

Koscelansky (W)        6            4            3            10            7            0

Allen  (L)                      3            7            6            6            0            3

Fina                              2.3            10            8            10            3            0

Ferguson                      .6            0            0            1            1            0