by Jonathan Vander Lugt

For each of the team’s area baseball squads, the regular season and conference playoffs ended last week.

La Salle, after a fourth-place, 8-4 finish in the Philadelphia Catholic League, bowed out of the PCL playoffs with a 2-1 loss to Archbishop Wood.

Springside Chestnut Hill struggled, dropping each of its last three games in the Inter-Ac. Tight losses to Germantown Academy, the Haverford School, and Malvern Prep (a combined five-run deficit between the losses) led to a 4-6 Inter-Ac record for the Blue Devils. Next, SCH takes on Westtown in the first round of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) playoffs on a date to be determined this week.

Germantown Academy got its first (and only) league win over Springside Chestnut Hill, a 1-0 win on Tuesday, May 16. The Patriots finished 1-9 in the league and will play against Mercersburg in the first round of the PAISAA tournament for the chance to duel with Penn Charter (which received a bye) in the next round.

Germantown Friends put an unfortunate cap on what had otherwise been a successful season, with a 9-1 loss to Shipley (which went on to win the league title) in the Friends League quarterfinal. As of late in the regular season (according to the Friends League newsletter) the Tigers had a pair of .400 hitters in Thomas Primosch and Garrett Melby, while Mike Buckmire and Dylan Yachyshen were among the league leaders in earned run average. GFS plays the Episcopal Academy in the first round of the PAISAA playoffs.

Penn Charter put a cap on what was certainly the most impressive season in the area. The Quakers routinely dominated their foes, leading to a 9-1 record and a place as the sole leader atop of the Inter-Ac—finally fulfilling the high level of promise that their talent belied. Joey Lancellotti, the team’s senior transfer from Archbishop Wood, finished his monster season with a .493 batting average and nine home runs. Off the mound, he led the Quakers in innings pitched (45.2), strikeouts (85), and posted a 6-1 record with a .61 ERA. Elsewhere, Adam Holland finished the season with a .407 batting average, and Mike Siani finished hot to cap the year hitting .387.

Following the PAISAA playoffs, area teams will send players to its conference’s representative in the area’s Carpenter Cup, a tournament in mid-to-late June featuring what amounts to all-star teams from conferences in the Philadelphia area.