Christopher Dock

Christopher Dock's run to the state softball championship was halted Monday when the Pioneers fell to Brandywine Heights, 2-0, in the Class AA semifinals at Spring-Ford High School. Dock's Keli Krause pitched a complete game and allowed just five hits, but she was outdueled by the Bullets' Sara Fronheiser. A junior, Fronheiser shut out a Pioneers team that had plated six runs in its quarterfinal win on Thursday. Dock was playing in its first PIAA Class AA semifinal. The Pioneers improved on a quarterfinal appearance from a year ago, when they tied a school record with 18 wins.

Springfield (Montco) beat Christopher Dock by a goal in their only regular-season meeting this year in field hockey. So, naturally, Spartans coach Linda Nixon was expecting another tight game when the two Bicentennial League foes met Tuesday in the opening round of the District 1 Class AA playoffs at Springfield. The first half Tuesday ended in a scoreless tie. But the Spartans, who won the BAL championship this season before they move back to the Suburban One League American Conference next year, struck for three goals in a five-minute stretch early in the second half and went on to a 4-0 victory.

A stretch of games earlier this month provided a perfect illustration of why Christopher Dock is poised to claim its third Bicentennial League title in four seasons. On Oct. 7, the Pioneers beat Jenkintown, 1-0, as senior left wing Jenny Woodcock tallied the team's only goal. On Oct. 10, Dock topped Archbishop Kennedy, 2-0, behind a pair of goals by senior right wing Lori Fox. On Oct. 12, the Pioneers blanked Bristol, 2-0, on 2 goals by senior right inner Selina Loop.

Christopher Dock set a program record for wins in a season while capturing its second consecutive PIAA district softball title, as the top-seeded Pioneers trounced No. 2 seed Springfield (Montco), 13-1, on Thursday in the District 1 Class AA championship at Upper Dublin. Christopher Dock, which won the District 1 Class A crown last season, improved to 19-4. Keli Krause lost her shutout bid in the fifth inning, but the junior righthander scattered four hits and fanned six batters to boost her career total to 405 strikeouts.

All components were clicking when Christopher Dock won its own boys' volleyball tournament Saturday. The Pioneers hope the success continues in this Saturday's Quakertown Tournament, which includes Pennsylvania's top-ranked team, Bethlehem Freedom, and District 1 powers Pennsbury, Souderton and Lower Merion. "That should be a great tournament and really sort out who the best teams in the area are," Pennsbury coach Tim Paulson said. "Whoever wins that will have to go through a couple of battles.

Last year, Daryl Gross was playing college volleyball for Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, Va. Now he is the girls' volleyball coach at Christopher Dock. And it seems to be a perfect fit for him and the team. "I like to share my enthusiasm for the game," said Gross. "I just enjoy it so much, I wanted to bring the aspects of fun and hard work in. " The Pioneers improved to 4-5 with a hard-fought three-game win over Plymouth-Whitemarsh Friday, 10-15, 16-14, 15-10.

Christopher Dock suffered a first-round knockout in the Class AA state volleyball tournament Saturday at Exeter High in Berks County, but the Pioneers felt good about competing in the Southeast regionals. It was the first time Dock had advanced to the state volleyball playoffs in the three-year history of the varsity program. "It was a nice experience," senior tricaptain Charity Nyce said after District 1 champion Dock was eliminated in three straight matches. "It was a big step for our team.

Christopher Dock, aiming for its third PIAA Class A state baseball championship in six years, will battle Serra Catholic for the title at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Altoona's Blair County Ballpark. Dock, guided by first-year coach Ed Molnar, won state championships in 2005 and 2006. The Pioneers (19-3) have averaged nearly 10 runs per game in the playoffs. Serra, a District 7 school from McKeesport, about 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, is back after losing to District 3's Camp Hill, 7-3, in last year's final.

Christopher Dock has chugged to the top of the hill in the Bicentennial League standings behind an offense that has battered opposing pitchers for a .373 team batting average and 11 runs a game. "Last year, we were not a good hitting team, and to be honest, I didn't know what to expect this year," Christopher Dock coach Roger Mast said. "Two years ago we had a terrific team that went 14-6, but we graduated 10 seniors from that 1988 team and went 3-14 last year. "One of my goals for this team was to improve our hitting.

The feeling at Holy Ghost Prep this season is that rival Lower Moreland finally is vulnerable enough to be knocked from the perch that it has occupied atop the Bicentennial League boys' tennis standings the last four years. But another obstacle has emerged in the Firebirds' quest for a league title: Christopher Dock. Indeed, if the balance of power finally does shift this season, the Pioneers figure to be in control by the time the smoke has cleared, especially after pulling out a 4-3 victory over Holy Ghost on Wednesday.

Highlights of Thursday's contests can be found at: www.philly.com/rally Here are the pairings for the PIAA District 1 Class AAA boys' volleyball tournament, which begins Tuesday. Seeded position in parentheses. Tuesday: Cheltenham (16) at Pennridge (1); William Tennent (9) at North Penn (8); Abington (13) at Council Rock North (4); Quakertown (12) at Christopher Dock (5); Avon Grove (15) at Pennsbury (2); Central Bucks East (10) at Neshaminy (7); Haverford High (14)

Sean Correlli and Brandon Musselman lined key run-scoring singles and Radnor took sole possession of first place in the Central League's small-school-division baseball standings with a 4-2 win over visiting Marple Newtown on Thursday. The Red Raiders (12-3), who opened the season with a 10-0 loss to Marple (13-3), took a 2-0 lead on Correlli's two-run, two-out single in the second inning. Radnor added two runs in the fourth on Musselman's RBI single and a wild pitch. Marple loaded the bases in the seventh with two walks and a hit before pitcher Kevin Connor ended the threat by inducing a groundout.

Josh Ockimey launched a home run in the sixth inning Friday to give Neumann-Goretti a 2-1 triumph at Haverford School in a feature nonleague meeting of top baseball teams. Each team scored a run in the third inning, including Marty Venafro's RBI single to score Saints teammate Anthony Adams. After Ockimey's bases-empty blast, winning pitcher Joe Jaep secured the outcome of his two-hitter by getting a strikeout with a runner on second base in the seventh inning. In other nonleague action, St. Joseph's Prep coach Chris Rupertus posted his 150th career win in 11 years, 3-1, over visiting Garnet Valley.

Archbishop Wood has played three baseball games this season and all three were comeback wins from deficits of at least six runs, including Thursday's 10-9 Catholic League interdivision thriller over visiting Father Judge in eight innings. Down by 9-3 after three innings, the Vikings tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on Rich Rosenbaum's two-run single with one out. In the eighth, Tim Greenfield singled and advanced on a sacrifice, and scored the game-ending run when Kevin Sullivan singled deep to left field.

The young Delco Christian basketball team found out on Saturday how much the squad has matured during the season. The Knights (15-12) captured their third straight District 1 Class A championship with a 39-32 victory at Haverford College against a Morrisville (25-3) team that had beaten Delco twice in the regular season. Junior Anna Evans scored all of her 10 points in the first half, and 5-foot-10 sophomore Jamie Barr collected seven rebounds and 10 blocked shots. On defense, Knights junior Jocelyn Chavous played effectively against Morrisville standout Kievanna Lacey, who scored seven points after scoring a combined 36 points against Delco in two previous meetings this winter.

Lower Moreland's three-pointer at the buzzer hit the rim and fell astray on Wednesday night as New Hope-Solebury won, 29-28, at Upper Moreland in a District 1 Class AA girls' basketball semifinal. The Lions relied on balanced scoring highlighted by eight points from both Elise Kalinovich and Grace Massimino. In the other semifinal at Upper Moreland, Olivia Bradford led Christopher Dock to an easy 61-29 win over Bristol. The senior guard scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the first half as Dock took a 27-13 lead.