Even in defeat, Radnor able to appreciate special season

SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP. >> As Connor Wilson and Andrew Austen trotted to the outfield for what was likely to be the final time in their high school careers, the conversation as they tossed the ball back and forth remained focused on baseball.

It was an idyllic scene — two close friends in Parkland High School’s sea of grass, far enough from the scoreboard that the five-run edge it showed for North Pocono didn’t spoil the vista. But even that result couldn’t dampen too harshly what the Radnor teammates had accomplished in their final season.

The ride came to an end Thursday, the District One champion Raiders (14-11) knocked off by the District 2-winning Trojans, 5-0, in the PIAA Class AAA quarters. For a program that blazed new postseason trails, the capper was just a day of baseball where the breaks didn’t go their way.

“We were talking about how it wasn’t so much that we played horribly but they just did pretty much everything they needed to do,” said Wilson, who’ll continue his career at the University of Dayton. “They got the hits when they needed them. That one first-and-third play, they got us on that. We were talking about how we didn’t really give the game away, they just outplayed us.”

Nearly three months into a baseball season that began with five consecutive losses and remote odds for Radnor’s campaign to accumulate a fraction of the accolades that they did, Thursday was just a day of baseball that didn’t go its way.

They were outhit, in quantity and quality. They made four costly errors and surrendered four unearned runs while North Pocono’s defense produced a flawless outing behind starting pitcher Charlie Lampeter.

In the second inning, for instance, North Pocono center fielder Pat Noon made a sensational diving catch on a sinking Martin Connor liner that could’ve sparked trouble. In the bottom half of the frame, Radnor shortstop Sean Mullarkey moved his glove at the last second on a liner off the bat of Pat Kravitz, the ball glancing off his mitt and allowing two runs to score. JP Walsh followed with an RBI double, making the mistake really hurt.

“That’s baseball,” Radnor starter Will Hoysgaard said. “We just didn’t have the bats today. It was an offensive game for their team, but we just didn’t bring it today, and we have every other game.”

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Radnor’s Andrew Austen, right, and Sean Mullarkey had much more to celebrate last week in the District One Class AAA final. But even in a season-ending loss to North Pocono, 5-0 in the PIAA quarterfinals Thursday, the Raiders found positives in the season they had. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)