Neumann-Goretti beats Carroll in baseball clash

Shortstop Marty Venafro's two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning helped Neumann-Goretti turn away host Archbishop Carroll, 7-4, in Monday afternoon's matchup of the two top baseball teams in the Catholic League Blue Division.

Joey Gorman struck out six for the complete-game win, and Jim Kerrigan and Joe Kinee added home runs. Venafro finished 2 for 4 with 3 RBI.

Neumann-Goretti improved to 7-0 in the division, and Carroll dropped to 6-1. The teams meet again on Wednesday.

Suburban One. In the sixth inning, junior leftfielder Jimmy Benedict drove in the tying run and scored the winning run as Plymouth Whitemarsh topped visiting Cheltenham, 5-4. He finished 3 for 3.

Ches-Mont. Jeff Damon stroked a one-out single to score Joe Murray from second in the seventh inning and host Sun Valley rallied to top Avon Grove, 6-5. Bill Vandergrift posted the win with seven innings and eight strikeouts.

Central. Brian Vendetta escaped a rundown to score the walk-off run as Strath Haven edged visiting Lower Merion, 5-4. Vendetta scored after he was hit in the back by the throw as he ran between third and home. Kevin Bosco posted the win with four shutout innings of relief.

Ches-Mont. Nick Evangelista's two-out single in the bottom of the 11th lifted Great Valley over visiting Bishop Shanahan, 2-1. Christian Barrett, the winning pitcher, scored on the single for the winning run.

Chazz Wilks bettered his own meet record in the discus as he helped Cardinal O'Hara capture first place at the boys' Catholic League South Division championship at La Salle.

Wilks finished first in the discus with a mark of 165-9, his previous record was 161-7. He also won the shot put with a distance of 50-11.

Todd Townsend of West Catholic set the meet record in the 110 hurdles (14.3 seconds) and the 300 hurdles (38.8). West Catholic's Tristen Freeman captured the javelin title with a mark of 167-2.

Myia Bonifacino scored from first base on a double by Brittany Skodzinski in the seventh inning and visiting Kennett held on to top Downingtown West, 1-0, in a Ches-Mont League game.

In other Ches-Mont action, Miranda Mikelson's two-run single lifted host West Chester Henderson over West Chester Rustin, 4-3.

Kristen Owens reached on a walk and came around to score the winning run in the bottom of the sixth as host Downingtown East downed Unionville, 2-1. Paige Giunta drove in the run on a sacrifice fly.

Central. Christy VonPusch struck out 19 batters to help Radnor top host Upper Darby, 4-3.

Pioneer. Brianna Kofer went 3 for 3 with an RBI and host Spring-Ford downed Perkiomen Valley, 6-2.

Suburban One. Rebecca Marinucci scored Rachel Philbin on an RBI groundout to Wissahickon a 7-5 win over visiting Norristown. Philbin reached on a double and drove in Kelly Gilman for the go-ahead run.

Allison Hawkins scored three times and recorded her 100th career goal as Cheltenham rolled at Plymouth Whitemarsh, 16-6, in a Suburban One game. The junior reached the milestone with her first goal of the game midway through the first half. Emily Leibovitz added four assists and Jack Dudo made nine saves.

Nonleague. Kara Shields scored with 48 seconds left to lift Sacred Heart over host Lansdale Catholic, 12-11. Maggie Reilly made 11 saves to secure the win.

St. Joseph's Prep eased past Father Judge, 5-0, in the Catholic League semifinals. The Hawks will meet defending champion La Salle on Tuesday at LaSalle University in a rematch of last season's title game.