PHILADELPHIA -- La Salle College High School spent most of the spring proving it was the best team in the Philadelphia Catholic League. On Friday, the Explorers finally had the championship trophy to match it.
Now, they will try to add another title.
Fresh off a 7-6 victory over Conwell-Egan in the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game, La Salle will face Central High School today at FDR Park for the Philadelphia High School City Title. The two teams met earlier this month in a non-conference matchup, with La Salle earning an 8-5 victory.
But if the Catholic League title game proved anything, it is that La Salle understands how quickly momentum can shift in late May baseball.
After Conwell-Egan scored runs in each of the first two innings to grab an early lead, La Salle responded with seven unanswered runs, including a pivotal three-run home run from senior first baseman Brycen Clarke that appeared to put the game away.
For Clarke, the swing represented more than just a big moment.
“I've had a dormant couple of games here,” Clarke said afterward. “It's felt like a long time coming, but these guys, they never lost faith.”
The game, however, was far from over.
Conwell-Egan stormed back with four runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by a two-run homer from Brady Guzzie, suddenly turning what looked like a comfortable La Salle victory into a tense final few outs.
That is where La Salle’s experience surfaced.
“They scored four runs in the seventh, they weren't giving up easy,” Clarke said. “I think just through all the winter and all the hard practices, it's led to that moment right there. It wasn't gonna be easy, and we knew it.”
The championship marked the 13th Catholic League title in program history and the second in the last three seasons for the Explorers, who entered the postseason as the league’s top seed after a dominant regular season.
Head coach Kyle Werman pointed to the maturity and consistency of his roster as the biggest reason the Explorers were able to navigate both the regular season grind and the pressure of the postseason.
“These kids have to go out and perform every day,” Werman said. “It's a really mature, consistent group that's given us a chance to win every day. That's what you need to win a regular season and win one game at a time here in a playoff setting.”
The title also carried emotional significance for a veteran group that fell short in last year’s playoffs, losing in the semifinals despite entering with championship expectations.
“Last year we came up a little short, and it's really been since that game we've been working towards this moment right here,” Clarke said.
Junior Alexander Hishem delivered one of the game’s biggest swings with a go-ahead double in the fourth inning that gave La Salle a lead it would never fully relinquish. Hishem later took the mound in the seventh inning to secure the final outs despite Conwell-Egan’s rally.
“The last out was always the hardest out,” Hishem said. “They got a few lucky hits, but I stayed on my mindset and just executed every pitch that I had.”
Werman said one of the biggest challenges in playoff baseball is managing emotional swings, particularly in games where momentum changes rapidly.
“We talk all the time about how you deal with emotion, how you stay within yourself,” Werman said. “I thought our guys did an excellent job with the emotional swings you had in today's game.”
That composure will be tested again today against a strong Central club with another championship on the line.
And if La Salle’s Catholic League title run revealed anything, it is that the Explorers are comfortable playing meaningful baseball deep into May — even if they rarely make it easy on themselves.
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