Norchester hammers host team Ephrata

EPHRATA >> Norchester batters have been concentrating on putting the ball in play with two strikes and that approach paid off in Sunday night’s Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament winners’ bracket contest.

No Bulldogs struck out and they accumulated 13 hits, two walks and four hit batters in an 11-1 win over host Ephrata Post 429 at War Memorial Field. Austin Boaman doubled, tripled, scored twice and knocked in two for the Bulldogs (25-12-2) and Jarred Berish earned the win with 5 1/3 strong innings on the mound.

Norchester advances to the winners’ bracket final Monday against Paxton. The game ended after this edition’s deadline.

The winner of that one earned a spot in Wednesday’s finals and a berth in the Mid-Atlantic Regional.

“That’s our thing, with two strikes, put the ball in play,” said Bulldog manager Alex Condello. “Most of our guys can run really well. They’ve bought into the two-strike putting the ball in play.”

“We’re good contact hitters,” said Boaman. “A few people have a tremendous amount of power. We don’t strike out. Our coach preaches put the ball on the ground and good things will happen.”

Norchester scored two in the first when Ethan Sabatino grounded a single past third on the second pitch of the game, Sam Cerimele was hit by a pitch, Sam Morris popped a single to right to load the bases, Sean Granahan was hit by a pitch and Boaman grounded out to first with one out to bring home a run.

Ephrata (8-5-1), which won the state title as host in 2017, came back with one in its half on a leadoff single by starting pitcher Gerald DeBalko and a one-out double to deep left-center by Caleb Stertevant.

Then the hosts had a chance for more in the second when J.T. Weaver lead off with a single and a walk and a hitter batter loaded the bases with two away. But Berish got a bouncer to third baseman Mario Billetta, who stepped on third base to retire the side.

Berish allowed no more hits the rest of the way and finished with four walks and six strikeouts before reaching the 105-pitch limit.

“He did a great job,” said Condello. “He got us into the sixth inning. We had some timely hitting and got some bunts down.”

Shay Geib got the final two outs in the sixth inning and tossed a 1-2-3 seventh to wrap up the win.

“Shay threw really well,” said Condello.

“Hats off to all our pitchers,” said Boaman. “We wouldn’t be here without the pitching staff we have.”

The Bulldogs scored two in the third on a hit batter, Boaman’s triple and a grounder to second by Billetta. They made it 5-1 in the fourth when Sabatino singled to start the inning and eventually scored on a grounder by Sam Morris. Then they broke it open with seven hits and six runs in the seventh, including a three-run double by Granahan.

Sabatino, Cerimele, and Billetta each had two hits in addition to Boaman and everybody in the lineup had at least one.

“Top to bottom, a lot of guys had good games today,” said Condello. “Some had rough days yesterday, but bounced back. People have picked each other up and that’s what you need to do at this point of the season.”

The Bulldogs will now try for their first national regional berth since making it to the Great Lakes Regional in both 2006 and 2007 as state runner-up.