Norchester clinches first in East

BUCKTOWN » Norchester claimed first place in the Berks County Legion League East Division and two home games in next week’s playoffs with a 4-0 win over Boyertown last Thursday night at Owen J. Roberts High School.

Austin Odell pitched into the seventh inning and shortstop Ryan Sayers led a strong defensive effort by the Bulldogs (12-5 Berks, 23-11 overall). Sean Sutterby had two hits for the Bears (11-6, 21-10) in the Berks regular season finale for both teams.

“I thought we played a pretty clean game tonight,” said Norchester manager Rick Harrison. “Sayers did a great job at shortstop. He made some great decisions. Odell got stronger as the game went along. Ethan (Andresen) did a great job. It was a pretty well-rounded game for us.”

Sayers lined a hit through the middle with one out in the second and advanced to third on a single by Andresen. A run scored on a grounder to second and another on an infield hit by Casey McGinley. Then Ryan Glenn scored on the front end of a double steal with Jack McLaughlin with two out to make it 3-0.

Odell and the defense thwarted the Bears, who stranded nine runners, the rest of the way.

Boyertown drew backto-back walks to start the fourth, but the Bulldogs put on a rotation play on a bunt, with Odell coming off the mound to his left and firing to Sayers at third for a force.

Then Sayers fielded a grounder at short, stepped on second and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

Earlier, Sayers made a tumbling catch of a ball in shallow left-center in the third and then went a long way to snag a grounder and threw to third for a force in the fifth.

That helped Odell pitch into the seventh until he reached the Legion pitch limit of 105 with one out and a man on first. Andresen retired two in a row with two on to wrap up the win.

Odell (5-0 Berks) finished with seven strikeouts, four of them after the fourth inning.

Odell, who will play at Bucknell University, has allowed only one earned run in league play this season.