It was revenge and not a repeat as the SCH Blue Devils beat the Penn Charter (PC) Quakers 2-0 on Tuesday, May 11 at Ralph F. Palaia Field. When these two teams last faced each other, it was Penn Charter earning the 5-0 victory.

John Bautista got the start for SCH and Andrew Healy was the starter for Penn Charter.

Both sides were defensively locked in to start the game. SCH retired the first three PC batters and Penn Charter returned the favor by retiring the first three SCH batters.

In the second, Penn Charter started to pick up momentum. Throughout the entire first couple of innings, the PC dugout was bringing maximum intensity as after every pitch there was a reaction coming from their dugout.

SCH seemed to lack the same intensity as PC early on, and it showed in the bottom of the second. First baseman, Danny Will of PC, singled for the Quakers’ first hit of the game. After a walk, PC had runners on first and second. Will made it interesting by stealing third base. Bautista was able to get out of pressure by striking out the next batter to get SCH out of the inning unscathed.

Heading back to the dugout, third baseman Brian Finn was trying to fire up the SCH side. The motivation seemed to work when in the top of the third inning Bautista got a leadoff single. Center fielder Nick Weston then laid down a great bunt to give the Devils runners at first and second base. Finn broke the stalemate by hitting a 2-run RBI double. It was a score that would hold for the rest of the game.

After the third inning, no one was able to bring home a run. Both pitchers threw excellent games. SCH was just in sync all day on the defensive end and didn’t suffer any mental lapses. With the win against PC, SCH joins Malvern as the only other team to hold PC scoreless throughout a game.

“It felt pretty good,” Bautista said after the game. “[Penn Charter] came in here with the plan that I was just going to throw fastballs. But you know, like Mike Tyson said, ‘everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’ I came and mixed up my speed, mixed up my pitches and I threw for strikes.”

SCH defense was close to flawless on the day, and SCH Head Coach Joe Ishikawa attributed that to the team feeding off the confidence of their pitcher.

“That comes from wanting to perform for your pitcher,” he said. “When your pitcher is dealing like that, as a defender behind him you want to make every play. You're energized to make plays for him [the pitcher]. That’s the key. It’s contagious. The pitcher makes plays, all of a sudden everyone starts making plays.”

SCH later lost 15 -3 to Malvern on May 14 and is set to compete in an Inter-AC playoff series that begins this week. Look for coverage in the Local next week.