Neshaminy earns first PIAA baseball 6A state championship
Neshaminy made its first trip to the PIAA state championship game count.
It defeated Butler 7-3 in the Class 6A title game Thursday night at Penn State that started nearly 2½ hours late due to the inclement weather.
“It feels great,” said Neshaminy senior center fielder Nick Sassano, who had a hit.
“It’s the best feeling,” echoed head coach Dan Toner.
The District One fourth-place finisher, Neshaminy rode a four-run fifth inning to a championship that ended with senior relief pitcher Matt Gryn striking out Blake Scott with a curveball.
In the fifth, senior pinch hitter Michael Welsh singled, went to second on a throwing error and third on senior second baseman Mike Sassano's flyout to right field. Junior right fielder Dan Marable (two hits, two RBIs) followed with a run-scoring single. One out later, senior third baseman Brandon Lall walked and senior first baseman Noah Wallace added an RBI single. Lall scored on a wild pitch and Gryn provided a run-scoring infield single.
Neshaminy made it 7-2 in the sixth when Mike Sassano reached on a fielder's choice, went to second on a throwing error and scored on a single to right field by Marable, who moved to third on senior Chase Bonner's single and scored on a rundown.
Butler committed five errors and had four hits.
“We put a ton of pressure on them with our speed,” Toner said.
Neshaminy put up its first run in the first inning without a hit as Mike Sassano walked, stole second and went to third on a throwing error, then scored one out later on a groundout by Bonner.
Bonner, the two-time Suburban One League Patriot Player of the Year for Neshaminy, retired the first five batters he faced, striking out four of them, before walking four in a row to force in a run. He had eight strikeouts, six walks and allowed no hits and one run in 4⅓ innings.
Gryn came on in relief with runners on first and second and picked up a strikeout and junior catcher Sam Hitchen's throw to first doubled off the baserunner on the way to giving up four hits, two runs, no walks and fanning three in 2⅔ innings.
Neshaminy had chances to score in the third and fourth.
In the third inning, senior center fielder Nick Sassano singled, got to second on a throwing error and moved to third on junior shortstop Dylan Cloud's grounder. But a strikeout and flyout ended the inning.
In the fourth, Neshaminy had runners on second and third with one out after Lall singled and went to third on Gryn's sacrifice bunt that was thrown away. But Butler recorded the second out at the plate on an infield grounder and the third out on another grounder.
Butler closed the gap to 5-2 when pitcher Nolan Stefaniak, a Penn State commit, doubled off the left-field fence and scored on Ryan Ratigan's single.
Neshaminy (21-7) defeated Pennsbury 2-1 with a pair of seventh-inning runs in a Monday state semifinal at Villanova Ballpark as Gryn went the distance on just 75 pitches. That marked the fifth matchup this season between the two Lower Bucks rivals, with the SOL Patriot champion Falcons winning three.
Neshaminy had reached the state semifinals twice before (2025 and '19) under Toner but lost both times. The same thing happened in 1991.
District 7 champ Butler (22-4) downed District One runner-up Owen J. Roberts 4-2 in its semifinal. Butler also was appearing in the school's first PIAA baseball final.
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes.com; @TomMoorePhilly is a sports columnist for PhillyBurbs.com. Support our journalism with a subscription.