Peichel not ‘super efficient,’ but Strath Haven rolls anyway

NETHER PROVIDENCE — Koll Peichel said he didn’t have his best stuff Wednesday, but the Strath Haven ace was being a little too harsh on himself.

The senior righthander was effective in the Panthers’ 7-2 victory over Radnor in a District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal. He struck out eight and allowed two runs on six hits with three walks. Unfortunately, he was one out shy of a complete game after he reached his limit of 105 pitches.

“I didn’t pitch super well, I wasn’t super efficient,” Peichel said. “The ump was squeezing me a little bit, but I was hitting inner white, which is usually a strike with most umpires. But it’s … whatever. No excuses or anything. We stuck with it and, like I said, I didn’t have my best. But we kept at it and were able to come out with the win.”

Strath Haven will host another Central League rival in fifth-seeded Marple Newtown in the semifinal round Friday. The Tigers defeated No. 4 Phoenixville, 3-2, in a rain-shortened game Wednesday.

Peichel also delivered at the plate, hammering a two-run homer in the first inning off Radnor hurler Jimmy Sweet. The bomb to right gave the top-seeded Panthers a boost offensively. It was the first time in Peichel’s high school career he hit an over-the-fence home run.

“I didn’t expect it to be a fastball, but I saw it was going to be a strike, so I thought I might as well swing,” he said. “I hit it good. I don’t want to say I was lucky or anything. I mean, I’ve never hit one out that far, not even in BP. I started walking down to first and thought there was no way it had that much tail (to go foul).”

On the mound, Peichel overcame a brief scare in the top of the first inning. Radnor leadoff hit Austin Marx jumped on the first pitch of the game, a hard-hit single to left field. The ball got away from Alex Hemingway in left, enabling Marx to scoot up to second base. Peichel settled in and got out of the inning unscored upon.

“He battled. I thought the strike zone was pretty tight, but he battled out there,” Haven coach Brian Fili said. “I thought he was putting a lot of pitches on the outside corner, but they weren’t giving them to him. It frustrated him a little but, but he’s got good enough stuff to get through.”

Peichel retired the side in order only once, but received plenty of help from his friends in the field.

In the fourth inning, Radnor’s Danny Rosenblum ripped an opposite field hit to right field, driving home the team’s first run. Rosenblum stepped on second base and kept running, but an excellent relay nabbed him at third. Sam Milligan fired from right field to second baseman Simon Bolinger, who threw a strike to third baseman Mike Valente.

“That felt good. It was a huge play,” Bolinger said. “I looked back a little bit right before I got the ball and I noticed that he was kind of lagging behind there, the runner was just passing second, so yeah … I just took the ball out of my glove and I threw it. I was watching the ball and it went in Mikey’s glove. It definitely felt really nice.”

Following a one-out walk in the sixth, Haven turned a 6-4-3 double play. Shortstop Christian Thack dove to his left to knock the ball down, then flipped the ball to Bolinger, who fired to first baseman Luke Jacobson.

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