The Phoenixville Athletics Senior American Legion baseball team has a mixture of young, inexperienced high school players and several who are returning from college.
The A’s opened the season with Chester County League victories over Oxford and Pottsgrove on the road. Last weekend Phoenixville suffered a pair of losses. One was a 7-6 nail-biter loss to Spring City at Spring-Ford High School’s Ram Stadium Saturday evening. On Sunday, the A’s fell to Caln, 13-2, in a five-inning game ended by the 10-run rule at “Doc” Kennedy Field.
Phoenixville’s roster includes third baseman Jesse Daywalt, who started at second base for Chestnut Hill College as a freshman; as well as other players who are in college in Allan Moreland and Ryan Rogala. Daywalt batted second against the Caln Seabees while Moreland was the designated hitter and batted seventh. Rogala started in right field and batted fifth.
The rest of the starting lineup had Anthony Nattle in center field, Thomas Romano at shortstop, Cal Milano at second base, Derek Ryan catching, Mike Jones pitching, Gary Moses at first base and Matt Cohen in left field.
The remainder of the roster includes Dillon Fina, Will Daggett, John Wieland, Matt Pilewski, Tony Sierzega, Jon Wheel, Robby Werner and Corey Smith.
The manager is Jack Sturgeon and his assistant coaches are Craig Jeffers and Geoff Thomas.
The A’s have a capable offense and play suitable defense. However, they are limited in the most important category, pitching. Moses pitched some strong games at the end of the senior high school season and has looked sharp to start the Legion season too, The right-hander pitched well against Spring City in a 5 1/3-inning starting stint.
The rest of the pitchers are youngsters with limited varsity and Legion experience who are going through a baptism under fire. Sturgeon and his staff hope the pitchers improve as the summer season progresses with hopes of qualifying for the loop playoffs.
Ryan, Milano and Romano have also been selected to participate in the annual Carpenter Cup Tournament for senior high school players. The three players will be members of the Chester County ballclub for the Philadelphia tournament, targeted mostly for underclassmen, that is witnessed by numerous scouts and college coaches. Sturgeon will also serve as an assistant coach for head coach Bob Gottschall.
The first two rounds of the tourney will be played at the University of Pennsylvania and the last two rounds will be played at Citizens Bank Park.

The 2008-09 school year is drawing to a close. The spring sports teams are in the final stages of state playoffs in baseball and softball. That is all that is remaining from another long season of sports activities.
The Spring-Ford and Owen J. Roberts softball teams in Class AAAA and St. Pius X in Class AA softball were the last teams still competing in the state playoffs before the school year ends with graduation.
St. Pius X saw its season end with an 8-0 loss to Brandywine Heights, the District 3 champion, Thursday afternoon in drizzling rain at Spring-Ford Area High School’s field in Royersford. Owen J. Roberts was ousted in the first round of states.
It is also that time of year when schools schedule end-of-the-year senior banquets to honor the student-athletes and coaches. I attended Phoenixville’s Tuesday night and Spring-Ford’s Wednesday evening. Both dinners were held at the Radisson Hotel in Valley Forge.
They were nice affairs. It is nice to see the players honored for all of their hard work and success throughout the year. Most of the students are also successful in the classroom and will be furthering their education in college. Some of them will continue to play sports. Others will not, but they have used sports as a tool to be accepted at the college of their choice.
Yusuf Brown and Miranda Peto were honored as Phoenixville’s outstanding senior boy and girl athlete. Andrew Cooper and Ashley Wood were honored as Spring-Ford’s top athletes.
The top athletes are voted upon by the head coaches at the respective schools. The selections are difficult because there are so many deserving candidates. Most often, the recipients are ahletes who have played more than one sport and been successful at all their undertakings.

Seventeen area senior football players, representing four area schools, will be playing in the annual Valor Bowl football game to benefit Special Olympics Thursday night, May 28, at Coatesville Area High School’s Memorial Stadium at 7:15 p.m.
The local players will be lining up for the North against the South with the winner taking home the Ben Crisi Trophy. The trophy is named in memory of the former longtime Great Valley football coach who was also a Phoenixville resident for some time.
Running back/defensive back Anthony Nattle, fullback/defensive lineman Abdul Kelly, two-way lineman Mike Cress and wide reciver/defensive back Khalil Ervin were picked to represent Phoenixville.
Spring-Ford players are quarterback Trevor Sasek and fullback/linebacker Rich Iannelli.
Great Valley choices were quarterback/defensive back Seth Houston, fullback/linebacker John Nurthen, linebacker Justin Schellenger, defensive lineman Myles Tornetta, offensive/defensive lineman Cody Dougherty, offensive/defensive lineman Jeremy Mateyk and offensive/defensive lineman Miles Lang.
Owen J. Robers will be represented by quarterback/defensive back Dan Miller, fullback/defensive end Cory Bissland, offensive/defensive lineman Nelson Munoz, offensive/defensive lineman Sam Morgan and offensive/defensive lineman Sam Odle.
The North’s head coach is Paul Meyers from Bishop Shanahan High School.
These all-star games give players a chance to be with their teammates and friends one final time before graduating from high school. They also get the chance to play on the same team against other players and friends who were members of opposing schools during the fall.

The Owen J. Roberts High School sports teams have enjoyed an exceptional spring season to go along with the rest of their year for 20008-09.
Owen J. Roberts captured Pioneer Athletic Conference championships in baseball, softball, boys track and boys lacrosse to highlight the spring season.
The Wildcats snapped Boyertown's streak in baseball under head coach Greg Gilbert and Phoenixville's streak in boys track with head coach Eric Wentzel.
The softball and boys lacrosse teams repeated their championships. Jeff Neese is the boys lacrosse coach and Kevin Kirby is the softball coach.

Great Valley senior wrestling standout Myles Tornetta has decided to continue his education and wrestling at nearby Ursinus College in Collegeville.
Tornetta picked Ursinus over King’s and Millersville. He will wrestle in the 184-pound weight class after a 30-plus win season with the Patriots, where he wrestled for his father, Joe Tornetta, a former standout at Phoenixville Area High School who announced his retirement from wrestling coaching at the end of the campaign. Tornetta advanced to the Southeastern Regional level in Class AAA. The Tornetta family resides in Kimberton.
Ursinus has one of the top Division III wrestling programs in the country under head coach Bill Racich, a teacher at Spring-Ford Area High School. Tornetta will join Owen J. Roberts product Connor McCormick on the Bears’ roster.
Myles Tornetta also starred in football as a nose guard on defense for Great Valley, which qualified for the District 1 Class AAA playoffs under coach Gary Phillips.
Racich is among the college coaches who try to attract top local talent to their athletic programs. They seek out the best student-athletes and they have found one in Myles Tornetta.

Phoenixville Area High School celebrated its Senior Night for softball following a 1-0 loss to Upper Perkiomen Wednesday afternoon.
The three Phoenixville seniors are Miranda Peto, Ruth Jasienski and Kacie Nemeth. Peto is a leadoff batter and second baseman who has lots of speed. Jasienski is a third baseman and catcher who has been batting second during the second half of the season. Nemeth is a left-handed catcher and pitcher who bats cleanup in the order. She is bound for Clarion University on a softball scholarship and is projected to play first base in college.
The Phantoms are now 8-8 in the PAC-10 (9-8 overall) with two league games remaining against Spring-Ford (home) and Methacton (away). Phoenixville is hoping to land a berth in the District 1 Class AAA playoffs, but the Phantoms have not scored a run in the last 22 innings of action.
Phoenixville is coached by Joe Bogus and Dave Devlin.

Spring-Ford defeated Phoenixville, 8-3, in a physical Pioneer Athletic Conference boys lacrosse game Thursday night at Coach McNelly Stadium in Royersford. The Rams finished the regular season at 9-3 to earn the second seed for the PAC-10 playoffs. Phoenixville wound up at 2-10 in the circuit (2-12 overall) despite an inspired effort against the rival Rams.

Phoenixville junior goalkeeper Josh Frey played a spectacular game with 26 saves while Spring-Ford senior keeper Jesse Ercole was also solid with 13 saves.

Spring-Ford coach Kevin Donnelly said the Phantoms always seem to play well against his Rams. Carl Santoro, Drew Thomas and Tyler Novotny each scored two goals for S-F while Mark Consolo and Colton Szostek each netted one goal.

Phoenixville got goals from Shawn Wassel (two) and Matt Talarico while AJ Ryan posted two assists. Freshman Joe McErlean was also active offensively for coach Jim O'Brien, who was quite pleased with the Phantoms' effort.