Conestoga’s Kiki Liebezeit had scored nine seconds before the third quarter ended to break the second tie of the second half. Radnor’s Taylor Murphy was determined that her team would not go into the final 12 minutes trailing. Grace Gordon, who earned the draw control following Liebezeit’s goal, moved the ball ahead to Murphy, who dashed through the Pioneers’ defense and got off a shot that slipped by goalkeeper Alex Lepore just before the horn sounded.

Murphy came back with a goal – her fifth of the game – in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, and Grayson Buono added on less than four minutes later as second-seeded Radnor earned a 9-7 decision over No. 4 Conestoga to claim the district title.

“This is a tribute to the way everyone played,” Radnor head coach Lis Zuern said. “We certainly didn’t want to be down like we were after the first period (5-2). But they all came back, offensively and defensively. We started getting some draws and took advantage of that. And we had key stops when we needed them.”

Senior goalie Arden Jansen turned away eight Conestoga scoring attempts. Senior Kate Gallagher, who chipped in a pair of goals, came up with the interception that spoiled the Pioneers’ last scoring chance in the final minute.

“I was so upset with myself because I had just lost the ball,” said Gallagher, who soon will be packing her lacrosse gear for the trip to United States Military Academy at West Point. “I told myself I had to get the ball back.

“I was guarding Kiki. I thought they would be trying to get the ball to her, so I went for it. It wouldn’t have been such a good play if I hadn’t come up with the ball.”

Because she did, her teammates on the sideline and the Raptors fans could count down the seconds as they ticked off the scoreboard clock before the celebration began.

Murphy wasn’t surprised that she was involved in the excitement of the final nine seconds of the third quarter.

“Grace Gordon was so good on the draws,” Murphy said. “She got the ball and just threw me a dime. I ran up there and shot it and was so glad that it went in. I wound up on the ground, but I did see the ball get through.

“This team has worked so hard for so long, and our seniors have been there to pick us up when we needed them. I was glad I got that goal, and now we can start thinking about what we need to do for states.”

Buono’s goal came with 7:51 to play and set the final score. It was the 100th career goal for the University of Delaware commit.

“The best thing was that it started with the defense before the ball came down to me,” Buono, a freshman when Radnor won the 2021 state championship, said. “I was just happy to be able to score then.”

Ellie Wisch, who came up with nine draw controls, and Keating Hopkins each had two goals and one assist for Conestoga in addition to two scores by Liebezeit. Chloe Brown had one goal and three draw controls.

“We started off so well with the draws and the goals,” said Conestoga coach Amy Orcutt, whose team did not score in the second and fourth periods.  “Then we let up some and started turning the ball over and weren’t taking advantage of our opportunities. We’ll bounce back. There’s still two weeks of the season to go, and we want to be there at the end.”

If someone would have told Renie Shields that her host Archbishop Carroll squad would not commit a turnover in the first half of its PIAA Class 6A opener against Neshaminy Friday night, then would hold the Redskins without a field goal in the fourth period, the veteran coach probably would have brushed such a suggestion off as nothing more than an exaggeration.

“That’s what we would like it to be about,” Shields said after the Patriots (13-13), District 12’s third seed, had no turnovers in the first 16 minutes of play and held Neshaminy (21-8) without a basket in the last eight minutes in claiming a 50-37 decision and advancing to the tournament’s second round.

The teams met in the first round of the state tournament for the second consecutive year. With its Friday night success, Carroll, which also won the 2022 contest against Neshaminy, will be matched with District 1 champion Perkiomen Valley in the Class 6A round of 16 Tuesday night.

Junior Brooke Wilson, who got nine of the Patriots’ 15 points in the opening period, led the winners with 15 points, chipped in with a team-high seven rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. Senior Taylor Wilson, who dropped in three shots from behind the arc, had 13 points, four assists and one blocked shot and freshman Alexis Eberz contributed 12 points in her state tournament debut.

Carroll’s other starters, Courtland Schumacher (six points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal) and Meg Sheridan also did their share to make sure that their season would not come to an end on the home court.

“You know what to expect that you will get from Taylor and Brooke,” Shields said. “Courtland and Meg do their parts. And Alexis has been something special the way she has been playing.

“We tell them about taking care of the ball and not trying to rush things. And in the second half, it’s everybody has to defend.”

Brooke Wilson did all she could to give Carroll the advantage in the opening period. Neshaminy kept the score at 15-15 at the first break behind five points from Lola Ibarrondo, who finished with a team-high 12, and a 3-point basket and seven rebounds by Reese Zemitis, who led both teams by claiming 14 missed shots.

Neither team had a turnover in the opening period. Neshaminy was charged with the only misplay of the first half 2:19 before halftime.

“We knew their three best players from last year,” Taylor Wilson said. “We worked on what we expected them to do on offense. The big thing for us was not to try to force the ball inside and work on the things we wanted to do.

“Turnovers have hurt us on offense, so to go that long without a turnover helped make a difference.”

Taylor Wilson hit a pair of 3-point shots in the second period to help Carroll to a 29-24 halftime lead. Eberz had six points in the third period, and the Pats’ defense held the Redskins without a field goal in the last period.

Taylor Wilson said of Eberz, “She’s done such a great job of adjusting this year.” Eberz gives her teammates credit for what they have done for her.

“High school ball is so different,” said the product of Sacred Heart School of Manoa. “I was a big in CYO, but now I’m playing guard. Everyone on this team has been so good to work with.

“Once I got my first two points, I could just calm down and play. And I knew I had to keep working when we were on defense.”

No turnovers in the first half, holding the opponent without a field goal in the third period and having a freshman play like a veteran in her first state tournament game. What more could a coach ask for?

She added another to that list on Feb. 3 when she was inducted into the Penncrest Ring of Honor along with Dave Tarr and the late Larry Simmons.

It was the first time in three years that the Rose Tree Media School District held the ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Florio graduated in 1981 and was a standout field hockey, basketball and lacrosse player for the Lions. She was part of the Penncrest lacrosse team that won the district/state championship in 1979 and then went on to a record-setting career at Penn State.

She was a three-year starter for the Nittany Lions in field hockey and a four-year All-American in lacrosse. She still holds the program record for goals in a season (79) and a career (271), and points in a season (109) and a career (380).

Florio also still holds the NCAA Division I record for points in a game (17). She had nine goals and eight assists against Princeton in 1985. She also ranks sixth in career goals and 10th in career points. Florio also played lacrosse for the United States Under-21 team.

“There were so many great opportunities for girls and boys athletes at Penncrest,” said Florio, who resides in Massachusetts and serves as the executive director of athletic consortium for the America East Conference. “I had exceptional coaches and so many talented teammates. We learned so many lessons about loyalty and determination. I am so honored to be a part of this ceremony.”

Tarr graduated in 1961 after earning All-Delco honors twice. He was the first 1,000-point scorer in program history (1,028 career points). He averaged 19.2 points as a junior and 20.4 as a senior, according to former coach and athletic director Bill Kaufman.

Tarr, a 6-6 center, went on to play at Brown University, where he averaged 9.9 points and 7.9 rebounds in 73 career games for the Bears. He credited his high school coaches for his success.

“Mr. (Lou) Scott and Mr. Kaufman taught me to play basketball,” Tarr said. “I couldn’t have done what I did without them.”

Simmons, who died in 2004, was one of the most successful track and cross country coaches in county history. During his career he coached 72 outdoor state medalists, seven outdoor track state champions and two indoor track state champions. His cross country teams won five Delaware County championships and he had two district champion outdoor track teams.

“I know one of his proudest moments was when he was named honorary high school referee at the Penn Relays,” said former Penncrest coach Mike Clark, who replaced Simmons. “(The Ring of Honor) would have been another of his proudest moments. When (former Penncrest girls coach) John Lohn compiled a list of school records and the top 10 performers in every event, so many of those on the lists were from Larry’s teams.”

• • •

It took a Delaware County guy to keep ninth-ranked Swarthmore from winning the Centennial Conference regular-season title and earning the top seed in the Centennial Conference tournament.

Carl Schaller, a two-time All-Delco guard from Garnet Valley, scored a career-high 24 points Saturday as Gettysburg stunned the Garnet, 78-65, to keep Swarthmore from winning the regular-season crown and clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Centennial Conference tournament for the Bullets.

Schaller shot 6-for-13 from the field (1-for-4 from 3-point range) and 11-for-14 from the free throw line to pace the Bullets and set up a home match with Muhlenberg on Tuesday in the Centennial Conference quarterfinals. He also grabbed six rebounds.

The 6-0 sophomore guard leads the Bullets (15-10 overall, 12-6 league) in scoring (13.2 points per game), assists (2.36) and steals (1.04).

If Gettysburg wins that game it will visit Swarthmore in the semifinals Friday night.

• • •

Cardinal O’Hara grad and Drexel guard Maura Hendrixson has been named one of the 10 semifinalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award, giving annually to the nation’s top point guard.

The 5-9 fifth-year senior ranked third in the NCAA in assists per game (7.7) heading into Sunday’s 67-55 victory over Delaware. She also is sixth in total assists (184) and 14th in assist/turnover ratio (2.56).

She had seven more helpers in the win over the Blue Hens to set the single-season record with 191 and move into fifth place in program history with 417 career assists.

Hendrixson was a three-time All-Delco at O’Hara, twice in basketball and once in soccer, and was the Daily Times Player of the Year in girls basketball in 2017-18.

The Lieberman list will be cut down to five finalists later this month.

• • •

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“A few more than I wanted to throw, especially in that seventh inning,” said Menchaca, who gave up a hit and two walks but did not surrender a run with the score tied in the seventh.

In the top of the eighth, Menchaca, who had been retired on fly balls in his first three trips to the plate, lined a single up the middle to drive in a pair of runs. In the bottom of the eighth, he stayed in the dugout and watched Reilly Degan retire the side in order on 10 pitches as defending champion Wayne got the jump in the best-of-5 series by earning a 6-4 decision.

The teams meet again at 3 p.m. Saturday at Narberth, with Degan and Josh Rickards the pitching candidates for Wayne manager Brian Fili, while Narberth player-manager Steve DeBarberie will counter with Toby MacCart.

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“The end result is what matters,” Menchaca said. “We all worked together and I happened to get that hit. But everybody contributed.

“Brad Schneider made a great play at third base and Jim Vankoski made that running catch in right field. It’s great to get the first game in this series.”

Schneider’s play robbed Sean Spratt of a hit and closed out the fourth inning after Narberth had scored twice off Wayne starter John Bernhardt. Vankoski robbed Tommy Toal of what could have been a leadoff triple in the fifth on the first pitch Menchaca threw after replacing Bernhardt.

“Getting plays like that are so big in a game like this,” Fili said. “Then Reilly comes in and just shuts them down after we went ahead.”

DeBarberie was dejected with the way the game turned out, but was looking forward to having the chance to get even Saturday.

“We made a couple of (defensive misplays) that cost us,” he said. “And we had the bases loaded twice and they got out of one inning (the sixth) after we tied the score and we didn’t score in the next inning.

“I’ve been in this league 11 years, and it always seems like Wayne or Aston Valley winds up winning it. We still think we have a chance to do something about that.”

Narberth outhit Wayne, 10-4, but left 10 runners on base. Wayne has only five hits in its last two playoff wins.

Dan Williams walked with two out in the top of the first inning, and Chris Cowell followed with a long home run to left-center field to give Wayne the early advantage.

“I got behind, 0-2, then I put a good swing on the ball and hit it out,” said Cowell, who went to spring training with the Lake Erie team in the Frontier League and didn’t join Wayne until later in the season.

Narberth got a run back in the second on hits by Ryan Tecco, Seamus Finnegan and Brian Meagher before Rich Tecco’s bad throw helped Wayne to a third-inning run.

Hits by DeBarberie, Ryan Tecco, Finnegan and Meagher allowed Narberth to get even in the fourth inning. Wayne scored in the fifth as Brian Giacobetti walked, stole second and took third when the throw went into center field on the play. He came home on a long fly ball by Williams.

In the sixth, Ryan Tecco (3 for 3 with a walk) got his third hit, then after Menchaca issued a pair of one-out walks, Rich Tecco singled to tie the score.

In the bottom of the seventh, Mike White singled and Menchaca gave up another pair of one-out walks before grabbing Finnegan’s grounder to the mound to force White at the plate and then struck out Meagher.

“I tried to get on top of the hitters,” Menchaca said. “I was having better luck with a two-seam fastball in that last inning.”

Fili knows his hitters have to find a way to contribute more this weekend.

“This was a pretty good way to start this series,” he said.

Bryan Rubin has started to compile his own list of stops in his career, which hasn’t lasted nearly as long as that of Rickards.

Rickards got the job done on the pitcher’s mound and Rubin came up with the key hit as Wayne defeated the Concord Canes, 2-0, at Radnor High in the deciding game of a Delco Baseball League semifinal series Tuesday night.

Defending champion Wayne will face Narberth, which finished in first place in the regular-season standings, in the opener of the best-of-5 championship series at Narberth Playground Thursday night.

Game Two will be at Narberth Saturday afternoon, then Game Three takes place at Radnor High Sunday afternoon. Wayne has won a Delco League record 15 playoff championships.

Since graduating from Cardinal O’Hara High, Rickards, who works at All-Star Baseball Academy in Broomall, has played at Marist College (2006-09) as well as in Italy, Ireland, Australia and the Frontier League.

He spent time in the Delco League with the Collingdale Colts and Aston Valley Knights before joining Wayne this spring. He earned the decision in a win over Concord in the opening game of the semifinals.

“I know a little bit about their hitters,” he said. “And (catcher Chris) Cowell and I were on the same page tonight. He sees things that I might not see, and that really helps me.”

Rickards finished with eight strikeouts and gave up only three hits before John Bernhardt came out of the bullpen with two runners on and one out in the top of the seventh inning to nail down the win for Wayne.

Concord’s Connor Tom got the first of his two hits leading off the top of the third before Rickards got a pair of strikeouts. Nate Sides singled with two out before Rickards got Kyle Davis to end the biggest Canes threat in the game.

A half inning earlier, Rubin came through with a booming double to left field off Concord’s Matt Greskoff. Cowell walked, then LJ Biernbaum hit a smash off Greskoff on which Davis fielded the ball at second base but lost it trying to tag out courtesy runner Dave Splain.

Brandon Menchaca bunted the runners over, and Rubin fell behind in the count, 0-2, before taking three balls then driving a shot to deep left field to score Splain and Biernbaum.

“With two runners on I have to put something in play,” said Rubin, a Friends’ Central School product who played at Emory (Georgia) University for two years but will be transferring to Vassar College this fall. “I took those pitches instead of chasing them, then he hung a curveball and I went and got it.

“Rickards was really on today and threw a great game. He hit his spots and had great control.”

Sides, who threw Saturday, replaced Greskoff after a pair of walks to open the bottom of the third and did not allow a hit while fanning five in four innings.

Right fielder Jim Vankoski made a tough running catch in foul territory and center fielder Biernbaum ran down a couple of line drives to make things easier for Rickards.

“They made the plays behind him and he got his second win of the series,” Wayne manager Brian Fili said. “That team was all over us Sunday (when Wayne lost, 12-2), and we were sloppy in the field in that game.

“I guess the day off did us good. But we’re sure going to need more than one hit in the games against Narberth.”

“I want to throw when we continue (Thursday),” Raines said, after surrendering one hit and striking out one as Wayne and Middletown completed seven innings tied, 8-8.

The game resumes with Wayne batting in the top of the eighth inning at 5:45 Thursday at Radnor High. A Middletown victory would give the Lions their first Delco League title, while a Wayne win would force Game 5.

Raines, who also pitched for Nether Providence Legion and the South Jersey Young Guns this summer, would like to see Wayne score in the top of the eighth and hold the lead, giving him his first Delco League win.

Kevin Mulvey, who threw the third through sixth innings, and Raines blanked Middletown on two hits after the Lions had banged out seven hits and scored eight runs off Wayne starter John Bernhardt, the winner in Game 1 of the series.

“I thought (Mulvey) was going to come out after the fifth,” said Raines, who is about to begin his senior year at Strath Haven High, where he plays for coach Brian Fili, who is Wayne’s manager.

“When he said he would go back for the sixth, I knew I had to get ready to go in there for the seventh.”

Mulvey, an All-Big East pitcher at Villanova University who was drafted by the New York Mets in 2006 and pitched two major league games for the Minnesota Twins and eight for the Arizona Diamondbacks, gave up only a fourth-inning single to Andrew Abrams, struck out seven and hit one batter in his four innings.

After he set the Lions down in the sixth inning, his teammates scored twice in the top of the seventh on a pair of walks, a hit batter and two sacrifice flies.

“He just knows how to use his pitches,” said Wayne catcher Ted Seiler, who had a two-run single in the fifth inning and was one of the Wayne batters who walked in the seventh. “He really mixes his pitches as well as anyone.”

Mulvey just completed his second spring as the pitching coach at Villanova. The 29-year-old native of Central Jersey, whose last major-league game was in 2010, joined the Wayne team last year.

“(General manager) Chuck Freeman asked me to play, and I owe a lot to him,” Mulvey said. “We’ve had sort of a pipeline with Villanova sending players to this team. I can’t say enough good things about Chuck and hope he’s doing well.”

Freeman hasn’t been with the team this season after the passing of his wife.

“We’re always thinking about him,” said Mulvey, who had a lot of good things to say about his teammates and the way they recovered from their early 8-2 deficit.

“Their backs were against the wall, but I have to take my hat off to them for the way they fought back. I just go out there to throw and try to have fun playing.”

Raines missed Game 2 of the series Saturday to take part with Strath Haven teammate Corey Ziring in the Big 26 Keystone Klash at Penn State University. Fili was their coach in the Klash.

“He really gave us a (gutsy) effort tonight,” Fili said. “Then as soon as (the game was suspended) he’s telling me he wants to pitch again (Thursday). You’ve got to like someone who does something like that.”

Wayne, which won its first Delco Baseball League playoff title in 1987 – before many of the Middletown Lions players were born – will have to make another comeback if it is to claim the 2014 postseason crown.

Manager Brian Fili’s squad got only three hits – including a single and double by Kyle Gillen, who reached base in each of his three trips to the plate – in dropping a 5-0 decision to Middletown in Game 3 of the best-of-5 finals at Penncrest High Sunday.

Wayne must win Game 4 Tuesday to send the series back to Radnor High Wednesday if it is to have another chance to hoist the Charlie Kress Memorial Trophy, which goes to the Delco League playoff champion each summer.

“Three hits, and one guy gets two of them,” said Fili, who played for Wayne’s championship teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “I guess you can look at it as that we have to remember our last series.”

In the semifinal round, the Upper Darby Blue Sox took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 5 before Wayne rallied to score four times and take the deciding game of the series. Gillen delivered the winning hit in that game.

“We were hitting too many balls in the air,” Fili said of his players, who were retired on 11 fly ball outs by Lions pitcher Andrew Abrams. “We hit a ball or two that might have been out of here if they hadn’t taken their (outfield) fence down this week. But that’s no excuse. We needed five runs, not one or two.

“We have to win two games in a row. We’ve done that before. We have John Bernhardt going Tuesday, and he’ll have four days rest.”

Bernhardt tossed a two-hitter at Middletown in the opening game of the championship series.

Jeff Courter opened the second inning with a single for Wayne, and Gillen doubled with one out before Abrams got a pair of infield outs to retire the side. Gillen’s one-out single in the top of the seventh inning was the only other hit off Abrams.

“He’s a good pitcher,” Wayne coach Jim Vankoski said of Abrams. “He beat (defending champion) Aston twice (in the semifinals).”

Vankoski’s son, Jim, started in right field, then gave up two hits and one run in getting four outs in relief for Wayne.

“(Abrams) mixed things up and was hitting his spots,” the younger Vankoski said. “I guess not having the fence up out there hurt us a couple of times, but we needed to hit the ball better.

“You have think that we have the right guy on the mound for us (Tuesday) and come back here to win the next game.”

Senior Nina Voith took her turn with the scissors, then looked around.

“It was something special,” said the Centennial Conference’s most valuable player, who missed a season while recovering from a knee operation.

Voith tossed in 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds as she helped the Fords to their first Centennial title.

Cara Wyant, another senior who sat out a season to concentrate on her studies, came off the bench to get 13 of her 15 points in the second half. She hit a big 3-point shot and was 6-for-7 from the line as the Fords (23-3), who saw their 14-point halftime advantage trimmed to six several times in the last 20 minutes, stayed strong down the stretch.

“At halftime, we just tell ourselves the score is 0-0 and we have to play hard no matter what,” said Wyant, who helped Villa Maria Academy of Erie to a pair of PIAA Class AA state titles.

One of Wyant’s field goals came with 13 minutes to play, after Hopkins (18-8) got to within six points. She missed a foul shot on the play, but during the last four minutes, she was 6-for-6 at the line.

“She’s a pre-med major, and she took a year off to focus on her grades,” Haverford coach Bobbi Morgan said. “She’s really made a difference since she came back.”

Voith got 12 of her points in the opening half.

“Playing a second game in two nights is a tough turnaround,” she said. “We just knew we had to keep pushing in the second half. Everything stayed positive and energizing.

“We got off to such a great start, then (Johns Hopkins) came at us strong and beat us when we played them down on their court. That wasn’t really such a bad thing. It gave us the desire to do well because we hoped to see them again.”

Rachel Baskin chipped in with 12 points for the Fords, hitting both of her 3-point attempts. “She never shoots 3s,” Morgan said.

Morgan knew her seniors had motivation from the way their last two seasons ended.

“(Hopkins) knocked us out of the playoffs both times,” she said. “And they made their run in the second half tonight. But we were just so determined. From the beginning of this season they have been so focused.”

The next point of focus will be the first-round opponent in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

“We can start thinking about that at our next practice,” Voith said. “And’s it’s nice to say that we do have practice again.”

Sunday afternoon, when the third game of the Delco Baseball League semifinal series between top-seeded Chester and No. 5 Narberth began at Narberth Playground, Galetta was playing third base for the home team.

As the last two batters of the seventh inning came to the plate, Galetta had moved 60 feet, 6 inches from home and was asked to save the game for Narberth. After walking Matt Scherer to force in a run, Galetta got Pat Warrington to fly out to right field and Narberth believed it had claimed a 7-5 decision and a three-game sweep of the series.

Narberth could have qualified for the finals for the first time since being swept by Wayne in 2008, but Sunday’s contest was played under protest when Chester thought the umpires misinterpreted a ground rule and did not allow a three-run homer by Justin Lamborn in the top of the fifth inning.

Narberth scored four runs in the bottom of the first and got double plays to help starter Kevin Giffin out of trouble in the first two innings.

With Chester trailing 6-0 after four innings, manager Dan McShane’s visitors thought they got back in the game in the top of the fifth. Scherer belted a one-out double – his second two-base hit of the game – before Giffin retired Warrington for the second out of the inning. After Chip Scherer walked, Lamborn smoked a liner to right field that set off the fireworks.

Narberth right fielder Steve DeBarberie went after the ball, which disappeared in some bushes near a small building that sits right off the foul line. DeBarberie put his hands up in the air as if he couldn’t see the ball, but the Chester runners kept on going until each had touched home plate. First base umpire Jake Egan also raised his hands and ruled the hit a ground-rule double.

After a lot of shouting, a meeting of the umpires, and Lamborn’s ejection, the play was ruled a double, only one run scored, and Giffin fanned Lou Baldini for the third out of the inning. When Narberth’s “win” was complete, McShane officially filed his protest to Delco League president Frank Agovino.

Agovino poured over McShane’s protest, Narberth manager Lou Petrellis’ report on the game, and messages from umpires’ commissioner Dennis Keegan and decided that the situation required additional consultation among the league officers before a final ruling on the protest could be issued.

The teams will take tonight off and await the verdict. If McShane’s protest is upheld, the game will resume at Narberth Playground Tuesday with Narberth ahead, 6-3, with two outs in the top of the fifth inning.

“Narberth has been playing well and doing everything they could to get to the finals,” McShane said. “We just didn’t want to see our season finish this way. Our understanding was that if the ball went down there, it was all you could get.”

Narberth’s Lou DeRosa got two triples and a single in four trips to the plate and knocked in a pair of runs, and Galetta, his former Haverford College teammate, had two singles, a double and a walk and drove in one run.

DeRosa missed Narberth’s quarterfinal series win over Wayne.

“A friend of mine and I usually travel for a couple of weeks each summer, and we just got back from Columbia (South America),” said DeRosa, who grew up in San Francisco before settling in this area after completing his studies at Haverford.

“Whenever I miss some time like that, I just try to shorten up my swing and make sure I hit the ball.”

Galetta was pitching for the first time since throwing two innings against Wayne in the middle of the season.

“I threw four pitches before I had to go up to bat (in the bottom of the sixth),” the 2007 Daily Times Baseball Player of the Year said. “I love situations like that. I knew even if I walked the first guy, I still could go after the next guy.

“And if they (tied the score), I had confidence my teammates would pick me up.”

Chester got 13 hits off Giffin and reliever Rich Young, with Bob Williams going 3-for-4 and Matt Scherer, Baldini and Billy Ford (two-run triple, infield single) each adding a pair.

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“Having a lead like that in the first inning was really helpful,” Petrellis said after fifth-seeded Narberth claimed a 6-4 decision at Radnor High Tuesday night and qualified for the playoff semifinals against either pennant winner Chester or runner-up Aston Valley.

Before Petrellis had to throw a pitch, his teammates had scored four runs and gotten five hits off Walker, who has played a role in Wayne’s history of Delco League playoff success, which includes 13 championships, including those from 2007-09 as well as the 2011 crown and finals appearances in 2006 and 2012.

Wayne got even with two runs in the second and two in the third, but Narberth got the runs it needed to earn the victory by scoring twice in the fourth on a pair of hits and two Wayne throwing errors.

“I just tried to get ahead of their hitters,” Petrellis said. “Location was so important for me, and I trusted the guys behind me.”

Narberth had only one error, which helped Wayne to the first of its two runs in the third. Petrellis gave up seven hits, but he retired nine in a row until Jim Vankoski (3-for-4) singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Ted Seiler hit Petrellis’ next pitch to second baseman Mike Coleman, who started a double play that ended with the Narberth players rushing the mound to congratulate Petrellis.

“Marco (Menna) did a great job calling the game,” Petrellis said after accepting congratulations from Narberth manager Lou Petrellis, his father.

Menna had a part in the winners’ first inning rally. Coleman, Rich Young , Steve DeBarberie and Mike Galetta opened the game with hits off Walker, who gave up only three hits in the last six innings, to get the first two runs home. After a pair of outs, Menna hit a blooper behind second base that fell in as two more runs scored.

“I’ll take it,” Menna said. “You put the ball in play and things happen. Sometimes you get lucky like that.”

Menna claimed that Petrellis wasn’t lucky with the pitches he was making.

“He was getting two strikes consistently,” the catcher said. “And he got comfortable coming in on the batters.”

Petrellis had trouble finding the strike zone in the third inning, when he issued consecutive walks to Ted Seiler, Dalton Mayberry and Jonh Shelsy after hits by Kyle George and Vankoski, who had a run-scoring single before Seiler walked with the bases loaded in the fourth.

In the sixth inning, Petrellis needed only four pitches to set down Matt Marquis, Dan Williams and Matt Hendrixson, Wayne’s No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters.

“It’s great to get to the semifinals,” Lou Petrellis said. “And to knock Wayne out in the quarterfinals … that’s something that just doesn’t happen the way they always seemed to finish first or second and get a bye into the semifinals.

“It was a very good win.”