It is indeed a busy time for spring student-athletes, as many of them are preparing for graduation and attempting to win a championship at the same time. With so much happening all at once, here’s an update on where some area high school baseball, softball and lacrosse teams stand with the seasons reaching their endpoints:
Catholic League Softball
Wednesday’s championship game (4 p.m., Arcadia University) will pit two rivals against one another in the form of St. Hubert and Archbishop Ryan. Ryan is the defending league champion and had won 29 consecutive league games heading into the title round, the most recent of which was a 7–6 squeaker over O’Hara in Monday’s semifinals. Meanwhile, the Bambies finished 11–1 in the league, one game behind Ryan, and will be making their eighth trip to the championship contest in the last nine years, with four titles to show for it. Ryan defeated St. Hubert 8–0 on April 28. The Ryan-Hubert’s tilt will be played after the Times has gone to press; check @SpecialEd335 on Twitter for score updates and a full story on the game on Thursday at northeasttimes.com/sports.
Public League Softball
It will be a pair of area charter schools battling in Thursday’s Public League championship game (3 p.m., La Salle University) as Philadelphia Academy will battle Franklin Towne. Towne appeared in last year’s title game, falling to Central on a walkoff single in the bottom of the seventh, and defeated Girls High in 2013 to win the program’s first ever championship. The Coyotes won a thriller to get there, this time on their own walkoff single in Monday’s 14–13 semifinal victory over Prep Charter. Towne will be meeting PACS, arguably the league’s best team in 2015. The Lady Chargers score in bunches and sophomore star hurler Riley Walker limits the opposition’s bats; in its semifinal on Monday, PACS dispatched Girls High, 12–2, to advance to the school’s first-ever softball championship game. Check @SpecialEd335 on Twitter for live updates, and northeasttimes.com/sports the following day for a full report.
Public League Baseball
Of the eight teams left in the Public League baseball playoffs, half of them hail from the area. In the quarterfinals on Wednesday (3:15 p.m. starts), Lincoln will host Science Leadership Academy of Division C, which stunned everyone across the league by knocking off top-seeded Frankford from Division A in last Friday’s Round of 16, while Lincoln survived a 10–9, eight-inning thriller over rival Northeast; in the second quarterfinal, Franklin Towne, championship runners-up each of the last two seasons, will host GAMP — GAMP beat PACS, 7–5, while Towne knocked off Division B champion Swenson, 6–1; defending champion Washington, which squeaked by Masterman in a 2–0 shutdown game from ace Eddie Tingle, travels to Olney, 7–1 victors over Boys’ Latin; and finally, Central will host MaST Charter, which throttled Prep Charter, 18–6, to advance, while Central was a 5–3 winner over Edison. Note: MaST cannot be crowned league champions since it is not an official member of the league; if MaST wins the tournament, the runner-up will be named the victor. Check @SpecialEd335 for score updates on Wednesday, and the Times will be covering Friday afternoon’s semifinals at FDR Park in South Philly should any area teams advance.
Public League Lacrosse
On Wednesday night (6 p.m., Northeast High School), two ancient rivals will square off for the Public League lacrosse crown when №2 Frankford and top-seeded Washington meet up for the ultimate prize. It should be a titanic match, with Frankford knocking off the Eagles in the regular season for the first time in program history. Not only that, but current Washington assistant Jack Creighton (father of GW head coach John Creighton) recently retired from Frankford, where he had been a coach, teacher and athletic director from 1998–2014. ••
