No. 1 seed Norchester beats Bears twice for Berks championship
Ryan Glenn really enjoys the games between the Boyertown and Owen J. Roberts or Norchester programs.
The two teams meet up at least twice in the Pioneer Athletic Conference during the school season and at least three more times for their respective American Legion teams in the Berks County League.
Glenn, a Norchester right-hander, hadn’t had the opportunity to pitch against the Bears yet this summer before Sunday’s Berks County League championship. He embraced the opportunity, tossing seven strong innings before jumping into the arms of catcher Jordan Siket to celebrate a 2-1 win and a Berks County League championship Sunday at West Lawn.
It’s Norchester’s first title since 2017 and third title in four years.
“It feels amazing to be champions,” Glenn said. “I got to the seventh inning, and I didn’t even know it was the seventh inning. I was kind of just zoned in. Then the final out happened, and I let all the emotions out after that.”
Boyertown and Owen J. Roberts split their season series during the school season this spring with both teams coming away with one-run victories. Norchester (made up mostly of Owen J. Roberts players) took a close one to start the summer, and Boyertown bounced back with another one-run victory in the two teams’ second legion meeting.
However, the Bulldogs have got the better end of the rivalry as of late. After defeating the Bears, 7-0, in their last Berks County regular season meeting, Norchester topped Boyertown, 10-5, on Saturday night to advance to Sunday’s championship game.
Sunday’s victory (after Boyertown defeated Twin Valley earlier in the day) made it three in a row for the Bulldogs against their Berks County rivals.
“They’re really fun to play in,” Glenn of the matchups. “They’re always a great team. They’re always fun to go up against, but I’ll always pick our guys over them.”
“They play a good game over there,” Boyertown shortstop Chris Davis said. “They play defense. They pitch pretty well. It’s always a dog fight, and we always want to battle until the end.”
Sunday’s game did not look like the pitcher’s duel it turned out to be in the early going. Glenn walked Boyertown leadoff hitter Broc Babb to start the game. After advancing to third on an errant pickoff attempt, Babb scored on a single by Chase Mercon to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.
A double by Austin Boaman off Boyertown starter Jared Waldman followed by a single by Sam Morris tied the game, 1-1, for Norchester in the bottom of the inning. Neither team scored again until Bulldogs’ catcher Jordan Siket led off the bottom of the fourth with a single and later came around to score on an error.
“We have a lot of contact hitters at the top of the lineup,” said Boaman, who went 2-for-3. “The 3-4-5 hitters is where the timely hitting comes up. Me and Jake (Iyoob) at the top of the order, we need to get on in order for the best hitters, the three and four hitters, to come up and hit us in.
“That’s what was important today. Sam, our threehole, came up and hit me in to score one of the most important runs of the game.”
Waldman started Saturday night’s loss to Norchester, giving up three unearned run on two hits in two innings. On Sunday, Waldman allowed two runs on six hits in six innings for Boyertown. He struck out seven batters without allowing a walk.
He was the second Boyertown pitcher of the day to throw a complete game with no walks after Nolan Kline accomplished the feat in the win against Twin Valley earlier in the day.
“Jared always comes out and gives us a good game,” Davis said. “If we play defense behind him, we know he’ll give us a good game. Today, he threw a great game, and we just didn’t come out on top.”
Glenn allowed one run on three hits in seven innings of work. He struck out eight hitters and also had good control, walking just two Boyertown batters. Glenn cruised through the final five innings, allowing just one base runner, a leadoff single by Billy Coleman in the fifth inning.
“I’d rather have a pitching duel every time,” Glenn said. “The defense is more into it. Runs are hard to come by, especially in the playoffs. (Waldman’s) a great pitcher. He’s been amazing all year.”
Both teams will play in next week’s Region 2 tournament as Boyertown is hosting the event, which starts Friday. After having played each other five times already this summer, that leaves the opportunity for yet another meeting between the two teams.
“I know they’re hosting so there’s a chance we can play them,” Glenn said. “That’s always fun. It’s like a rivalry.”
BOYERTOWN 8, TWIN VALLEY1>> With the number of quality arms on the Boyertown American Legion staff, Bears pitchers have had to be ready to throw in a number of different roles this summer.
Nolan Kline was the latest Bear to show his versatility Sunday in a Berks County League elimination game against Twin Valley.
After closing out a win against the Raiders Friday night, Kline took the ball to start the game Sunday. The Bears’ right-hander tossed a complete game as Boyertown picked up an 8-1 win and advanced to the Berks County championship game against Norchester later Sunday afternoon.
“We have some solid guys, and our starting pitchers aren’t just starting pitchers,” Kline said. “They can come out the bullpen too. Like two nights ago, I came out of the pen against them. It’s good that we have those kind of guys who can come in and do the job.”
Kline and Twin Valley starter Blake Greenley kept the bats quiet through the first two innings before Boyertown third baseman Ethan Martin tripled home Chris Davis and later came around to score in the bottom of the third to put the Bears up, 2-0.
A throwing error by Twin Valley in the bottom of the fourth gave the Bears a 3-1 lead. With Greenley out of the game, Boyertown broke things open in the fifth.
Chase Mercon started the scoring with a two-out single to plate Pat Wieand. Davis drove in Broc Babb to continue the inning. Martin drove in two more runs with a single to left field, and Jared Waldman finished off the scoring with a single to center.
Mercon, Davis and Martin combined to go 6-for-12 with six runs scored and five RBI in the 2-3-4 spots, respectively.
NORCHESTER 10, BOYERTOWN 5 >> The No. 1 seed Bulldogs (26-6) scored five times in the bottom of the fifth inning of the winners’ bracket final contest Saturday night after the secondseeded Bears (21-8) had tied it with four in the top half.
Both teams committed five errors and all of Norchester’s runs were unearned. But both sides also got some clutch plays, including a momentumchanging diving catch and key two-run double by Bulldog outfielder Jake Iyoob and a score-tying two-run triple by the Bears’ Ethan Martin.
“It certainly wasn’t the cleanest game,” said Norchester manager Rick Harrison. “It was a tough game for both teams. We did get guys on base. We had some timely hitting and our bunting game was effective and opened some things up for us.”
“We did a good job of hitting the ball and base running,” said Boyertown manager Rick Moatz. “Offensively, we did things right. You can’t do that (give up 10 unearned runs) against a team like Norchester, which is fundamentally sound.”
The Bears’ fielding problems began after Iyoob led off the first with a single through the middle and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. An infield throwing error and a dropped fly ball followed and a double by Ryan Sayers quickly made it 3-0.
Austin Boaman doubled in two in the fourth after a two-out error to make it 5-1. Then Sam Legerton began the Boyertown comeback with a one-out single, Broc Babb (3-for-4) doubled, Chase Mercon singled and beat a throw to second on a grounder to third and Martin lofted one over the center fielder’s head for the tying two-run triple.
But Bulldog starter Sam Morris (10 strikeouts) fanned the next batter and left fielder Iyoob made a diving, tumbling catch of a liner down the line by Caleb Harrison to retire the side.
Stephen Cisik and Nolan Kline combined on a threehitter to lead Boyertown to a 4-1 win over Twin Valley in a Berks Legion League winners bracket game at Bear Stadium on July 12.
Twin Valley scored a run in the first when Dominick Kennedy, who led off with a walk, scored on a groundout by Blake Greenly.
Boyertown took the lead with three runs in the second. Pat Wieand singled with one out. One out later, Broc Babb walked and Chase Mercon singled to load the bases. Chris Davis’ walk drove in the first run and Ethan Martin followed with a two-run single.
The Bears added an insurance run in the sixth.
Cisik allowed three hits and walked seven in six innings. He struck out six. Kline pitched a perfect seventh, with two strikeouts, to earn the save.