Ephrata sophomore stings Wilson, ends championship hopes
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Ephrata right-hander Camryn Simes said he didn’t have much of a scouting report on Wilson’s lineup.
Didn’t need one, either.
“I try not to get away from my own thing,” he said after shutting down the Bulldogs in a 2-1 victory Thursday in a District 3 Class 6A semifinal at Wilson West. “I always try to pitch off my strength, not the other team’s weaknesses.”
Simes’ strengths were enough to keep the Bulldogs at bay. He limited them to four singles and a fifth-inning run to send the ninth-seeded Mounts (18-7) into the championship game Tuesday against third-seeded Hempfield.
Simes’ dominance pushes the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (18-7) into an elimination game Tuesday against seventh-seeded Waynesboro, a 12-5 loser to Hempfield. The winner qualifies for the PIAA Tournament; the loser sees its season end.
“It’s gonna hurt,” Wilson senior captain Nick Fiorini said of not returning to the championship game for the second year in a row, “but hey, we still get to play another one. We have one more chance to continue our journey.”
Simes, a sophomore who earned all-section honors as a freshman, derailed Wilson’s journey with a hard-sinking slider and a rising fastball he used to strike out seven. Wilson’s only run came in the fifth when Simes walked Jack Gabel with the bases loaded.
The Bulldogs couldn’t create much else. Of their four singles, two didn’t leave the infield. They have a deep lineup that usually wears pitchers down, but not this time.
“Their pitcher did a nice job of throwing some offspeed pitches,” said Wilson coach Bill Underwood. “That slider he has is nice. We swung over it a lot. High fastballs, we popped up. So, tip your cap to him, he did a good job.”
Wilson was held to one run or less for just the third time this season. It lost 2-0 to O.J. Roberts early in the season. It got just four hits off Fleetwood’s Wylie Loy in a 1-0 league win.
“He’s probably one of the better guys we’ve faced,” said Fiorini, the Bulldogs’ top hitter and run-producer, of Simes.
Fiorini was left on deck in the fifth when the Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs. After Alex Ernesto singled and Ryan Marmolejos walked, C.J. Fernandez advanced both runners with a grounder back to Simes.
Once Simes fell behind Tommy Hunsicker 2-0 the Mounts waved Wilson’s leadoff hitter on to first base, which was open. Simes escaped the jam by getting Christo Hunsicker on a comebacker.
“It’s tough to just score one with the bases loaded,” Fiorini said. “We try not to roll over, try not to shut down, but just couldn’t get the job done.”
The Mounts scratched single runs across in the first and third off Wilson starter Ben Kulp. The sophomore avoided more damage by picking a runner off first base after Ephrata put runners on the corners with one out.
The Mounts got just four singles off Kulp over four innings but they took advantage of two hit batters, three stolen bases and a wild pitch.
“We knew coming in they had their No. 1 guy on the mound,” Underwood said. “But we had two quality pitchers up there, so we knew we were going to be in this game.
“We’ve talked all year about playoff baseball, (like) those (one-run) games we (lost) against Muhlenberg, that’s what it’s going to be like when you get to districts, get to states. The team that executes a little better is going to come out on top and they did a little better job than us today.”
Simes, who was removed after reaching the PIAA pitch limit one out into the seventh, improved to 8-2 and lowered his ERA to 1.53. He has struck out 75 batters over 64 innings. Good as he was, Ephrata coach Adrian Shelley said this wasn’t his best game.
“He pitched better in the first round (of district) when he went into the 11th (in a 2-0 win over Central Dauphin),” Shelley said. “He was pretty sharp today; he was good enough.”
Ephrata reaches the championship after winning games by two, one and one run, respectively.
“At this point we’re living on the razor’s edge,” Shelley said.
The Bulldogs felt the sharp edge of that razor.
“It stings a little bit,” Underwood said, “(being) two runs away from being back in the championship game.”
| Ephrata | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Wilson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Mounts | AB | R | H | RBI | Bulldogs | AB | R | H | RBI | |
| Hunt, 2b/ss | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | T. Hunsicker, 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Prange, rf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Gabel, ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Wolf, 1b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | C. Hunsicker, 1b/p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Weidner, 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Fiorini, cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gola, c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kennedy, rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Shortuse, cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Kulp, p/1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Grant, dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Ernesto, dh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Simes, p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kostelac, cr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Muhr, 2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Herbein, c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Savage, ss/p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Marmolejos, lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Nixon, lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ulrich, cr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Fernandez, 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 25 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
2B: Wolf. SB: Hunt 2, Shortuse, Savage. CS: T. Hunsicker. PO: Savage. LOB: Ephrata 9, Wilson 5.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |||
| Simes, W (8-2) | 6 1/3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | Kulp, L (5-2) | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Savage, S | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | C. Hunsicker | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
WP: Kulp; Simes. HBP: Savage (by Kulp), Prange (by Kulp), Gola (by C. Hunsicker); Ernesto (by Simes).
