Judge’s Kreider
hits hard in both sports

By Joe Mason
For the Times

Ryan Kreider has had his share of long days this spring.
Kreider is a senior at Father Judge High School. He’s also a first baseman and pitcher for the Crusaders’ baseball team, and he’s on the Non-Public roster for Saturday night’s 33rd annual Daily News-Eagles City All-Stars football game at Northeast High School.
It means that, after school, he joins his baseball mates for games, then heads over to football practice. The days are full and sometimes draining.
But this is much better than last year, Kreider insists, when he was "just a hitter."
Kreider was battling a tired right arm last year, so pitching was off-limits. This year he’s healthy and has won three of his four decisions.
"Yeah, I like hitting, but I like pitching too," he said. "Last year was tough because when you’re not getting a chance to pitch, it kind of throws everything off. My elbow was messed up, so they didn’t want to risk having me throw at all.
"I didn’t mind because they were doing it to help me, but I really wanted to pitch," he said. "This year, I have no pain and I’m having a good time pitching. It’s feeling great, actually."
Although pitching brings Kreider joy, he is known primarily for his hitting — on both the baseball field and the football field.
Kreider bats near the top of the Crusaders’ lineup and has been one of Judge coach Tim Ginter’s top RBI guys all season.
During the fall, Kreider, who stands 6-feet-2 and weighs roughly 220 pounds, lined up at defensive end for Tom Coyle’s football team. The Bensalem resident earned second-team All-Catholic honors for his ability to get to the quarterback.
"I love to hit in both sports," Kreider said with a laugh. "I think I’m more of a baseball player who plays football. Before, I thought of myself as a football player, but I’m leaning toward playing baseball in college. I’m not sure where I’m going to go, but if I had to decide right now, I’d say I’m playing baseball next year."
At the moment, he’s preoccupied with the Crusaders’ efforts to reach the baseball playoffs. Heading into the final week of the Catholic League Northern Division schedule, the Crusaders were tied with Archbishop Wood for the fourth and final playoff spot. Both teams had 10-8 records.
The good news: The Crusaders will match up with Bishop McDevitt, a team that has just three wins, during the final three games of the year, while Wood must play three games with second-place La Salle.
The bad news: The Crusaders are struggling right now.
Last week, Judge dropped three straight games to Archbishop Ryan, a team that currently sits atop the Northern Division.
Judge won its first five games of the Northern Division schedule. The Crusaders have since gone 5-8, and have now lost six of its past eight games.
This week will determine whether the playoffs are in the Crusaders’ future.
Last year they limped into the postseason but advanced to the second round after upsetting Ryan.
So Kreider knows that anything can happen.
"We still have a shot — if everyone plays well for the rest of the way — to have a really good season," said Kreider, who helped lead the Judge football team to the playoffs in November. "We’re going through a tough part of the schedule, but we still have a shot at the playoffs, and if you make it there you can still win the championship.
"This is a good team. I think we have a lot of good young players, and we have a lot of older guys who need to win this year," he continued. "This is it for me, so I really want to see how far we can go this year, see if we can win a title." ••
Joe Mason can be reached at joemason70@hotmail.com