Making a state-ment

Today, either Central or Frankford will be crowned Public League baseball champion.

That’s the title both Girard Academic Music Program and Edward Bok High were hoping to secure, but both squads were eliminated in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. In past seasons, that meant teammates would shake hands, turn in their uniforms and start planning their summer vacations.

But not this season. The Public League is now District XII of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, and that means new playoff life for the GAMP Pioneers and Bok Wildcats. Both will represent District XII in next week’s state tournament.

GAMP, the District XII AA winner, will travel to the suburbs (Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware or Chester county) Monday to face the District I winner. Bok, the District XII AAA winner, will play an away game against a District XI squad representing either Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Monroe or Schuylkill county.

"Now we are going to move on to states and see what kind of program we have," said GAMP coach Art Kratchman.

GAMP is hoping to avoid a repeat performance of last Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Northeast. Eight errors led to three unearned runs and a couple of base-running mistakes cost the South Philly squad a trip to the semifinals.

"We just gave them three unearned runs," Kratchman said. "I think this was about the toughest loss as I’ve ever had. I think we are a better team than that."

The fielding miscues wasted a two-hit, six-strikeout gem from senior Vinny Evangelista. Confidence wasn’t a problem, since GAMP defeated Northeast in both regular-season meetings with a starting lineup featuring four sophomores and a freshman. The Pioneers finished the regular season at 10-6, good enough for fourth place in Division A. Northeast finished at 9-7.

The Pioneers certainly had several chances to win. GAMP loaded the bases with one out in the second inning, but a double play ended that threat.

"We had our chances early, and when we didn’t score I think it took a little bit of starch out of us," Kratchman said.

Down by a run in the bottom of the seventh, GAMP still had a chance to win with runners at first and second with two outs, but junior leftfielder Ryan Challender lined out to left.

"The loss certainly wasn’t from a lack of effort," Kratchman said.

With GAMP’s prom Friday night, the coach gave his players the holiday weekend to recover from the tough loss. The Pioneers will make the final preparations for Monday’s game with practices tomorrow afternoon and Sunday night.

"Hopefully we all learned from the loss," Kratchman said. "When you have young guys, you are going to make some mistakes."

THE BOK WILDCATS had the toughest quarterfinal draw with defending champ Frankford. As the lone remaining team from the Public League’s B and C divisions, Bok got the tough matchup. Frankford, the Division A champ, rolled in with a perfect 15-0 mark.

Though it appeared to be a mismatch, Bok held its own in the 9-3 loss. The box score won’t show that the Wildcats loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning and loaded them again with no outs in the seventh.

"Once again, I am very proud of the way they played," Bok coach Tom DeFelice said.

Bok’s no-quit mentality helped them go from a middle-of-the-pack club to the Division B champs with an overall record of 17-2. The Wildcats often won in dramatic fashion – like the 7-6 triumph over Kensington on May 9 when Bok scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh.

"They are just relentless," DeFelice said of his players. "They never give up."

The Wildcats qualified for the state tourney by beating Franklin Towne Charter in last Wednesday’s PIAA District XII AAA championship game.

With Bok and GAMP idle all week, DeFelice and Kratchman scheduled a scrimmage between the squads yesterday afternoon to keep the players sharp for Monday’s opening round.

It turned out to be a busy afternoon for DeFelice, who was also keeping an eye on the school’s football team as it held its spring practice on a nearby field. In the fall, the coach guided Bok’s football squad to the PIAA state tournament. And with the boys’ basketball and baseball teams advancing the state tournament, it has turned out to be a very successful year at Eighth and Mifflin streets.

"I think that’s quite an achievement for our kids because a lot of our kids are dual athletes," DeFelice said.

The walls in the boys’ gymnasium got a little more crowded recently as the school added two new banners to commemorate the achievements of the football and basketball teams. DeFelice noted another one is in the works for the baseball team.

"It’s really impressive looking," he said.