Local schools host regional tourneys
Strong local presence as Boyertown’s Bear Stadium, Spring City’s Ram Stadium host American Legion regional tournaments
American Legion baseball descends on the area beginning Friday with the Region 2 and 3 tournaments at Boyertown’s Bear Stadium, above, and Spring City’s Ram Stadium, respectively. Jack Rinehimer, below left, and Norchester will compete at Region 2 as the Berks County League champions while Kevin Hynes, below right, is one of a short list of carryovers from last year’s Pa. champion Spring CIty. Read the previews for the tournaments beginning on page
BOYERTOWN » Norchester and Boyertown will be among the familiar faces in the eight-team field when the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 2 Tournament begins today at Bear Stadium.
Norchester, a 2-1 winner over Boyertown in Sunday’s Berks County League championship game, will be making its third regional appearance in the last four years and fourth in the last six. The host Bears have not participated in a regional since finishing second to Twin Valley in 2013, but have won a record 22 titles since the format began in 1975.
Also returning are the champions from the last three years: Souderton (2018), South Parkland (2017) and Quakertown (2016). They’ll be joined by Muhlenberg – making its sixth straight appearance – Fleetwood Post 625 and the Wanderers.
Norchester (27-6) has made it to the final four teams three times in the past five seasons and has no reason to believe that it can’t do the same or better this time around. The Bulldogs advanced to the final day in 2017, losing 13-7 to South Parkland. They went 2-2 in 2016, losing to Quakertown 13-10 in the winners’ bracket final after leading 9-2 after five innings. In 2014, they made it to the championship game and lost 12-7 to North Parkland.
“I feel we’ve got a nice group of veteran guys who have done it before and some new guys who are hungry,” said Norchester manager Rick Harrison. “There are some really strong teams in there, teams who have won their leagues are tough. Souderton is the PIAA champion. The Lehigh and Northampton Leagues are always strong in baseball. If a team can get a little hot, it can make a run. It’s the guys who can stay locked in and focused who will do the best.”
Dan Stofko, a 19-yearold returning from a season of pitching at Albright College, likes the Bulldogs’ chances.
“The records don’t really mean anything,” he said. “I think talent-wise, we could be the best team there. All of our pitchers can get outs and every one of our hitters is dangerous. Pitching is probably the most important thing and the key is the pitch counts. It’s not really as much about strikeouts as getting 10-12 pitch innings. Our pitching has to be solid and in order to do that, our fielding has to be top-notch. If we’re good enough, we’re going to win.”
Bulldog 18-year-old shortstop Jack Rinehimer, who will play baseball at Penn State-Harrisburg next year, thinks the team just has to keep doing what it has been doing throughout the season to be successful.
“All of the teams are going to be really good,” he said. “We have to make our plays, get our bunts down and play the kind of baseball we played to get here. We have to have a couple guys step up. We’ll be fine. The biggest thing is doing your job.”
Though Norchester has not won a regional title since joining the Berks League and Region 2, they did win four straight Region 3 titles from 2006-09 while playing in the Chester County League.
“You want to keep the Norchester tradition going,” Rinehimer added. “Obviously, it’s one of the reasons I played here. Our coaches over the years have given us a lot of insight. Hearing their stories, it makes you want to continue it.”
The Bulldogs won the Berks regular season title with a 15-3 record and defeated West Lawn 6-3 and Boyertown 10-5 to reach the playoff final.
“I was really happy for them,” said Harrison. “They put in the time and commitment and were able to reap the rewards of their dedication the last two years.”
Boyertown (22-9) will also rely on pitching and defense, areas that have been strong for most of the season. The Bears finished second in Berks during the regular season at 14-4 and defeated Twin Valley 4-1 in the first round and again by an 8-1 score on Sunday after their 10-5 loss to Norchester.
“We played pretty well,” said Boyertown manager Rick Moatz. “We made some mistakes that we hopefully don’t make again.”
The Bears made an uncharacteristic five errors (as did Norchester) in the 10-5 playoff loss.
“I think we’ll play better defense than that and will cut down on our errors and be competitive,” said Moatz.
Middle infielders Broc Babb at second base and Chris Davis at shortstop have anchored the defense and also sparked the offense.
“Broc’s been our spark plug all year,” Moatz said following the playoff-opening win against Twin Valley. “We dropped him in the 1-hole early in the season and he never gave it up. He likes the pressure. He’s aggressive on the bases. Defensively, he and Chris have been the cornerstones. We’ve had as many double plays as we have in a long time. He and Chris have solidified the defense.”
The Bear pitching staff did well in the playoffs, with all of the runs in the 10-5 loss being unearned.
“Our pitching staff, on the whole, has done a really good job for the most part,” said Moatz. “There’s games where we’ve thrown really well. We can shut teams down. And we faced some pretty good pitching and hopefully got better because of that.”
Moatz believes that the Bears’ deep staff will be an advantage, even though Jared Waldman and Nolan Kline will only be available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before leaving for college commitments.
“We’re pretty deep with pitchers,” Moatz added. “If we get to Monday, that might be a situation where our numbers come into play.”
And being the tournament host might also be an advantage.
“It will be nice not to have to travel, especially in the heat,” said Moatz. We’ve been looking forward to this all season.”
The double-elimination tournament continues through Tuesday, with the champion advancing to the Pennsylvania State Tournament, set for July 27-31 in DuBois.
A look at the Region 2 teams:
BOYERTOWN (22-9) » Berks runner-up to Norchester. … Four players named to the league All-Star team include Broc Babb (2B, .383 league average), Chris Davis (SS, .370 league average), Jared Waldman (winner of league’s Outstanding Pitcher Award with a 4-0 record and 0.28 ERA) and Stephen Cisik (5-2 league mark with a 2.70 ERA). … Last regional appearance came as host in 2013, losing final 5-3 to Twin Valley. … String of four, six and seven straight titles with 22 overall (one of them a co-championship with Nor-Gwyn), the most recent coming in 2011.
FLEETWOOD POST 625 (197-1) » Finished second in Schuylkill-Berks regular season with 13-5 record. … Wildcats defeated Wyomissing MUHLENBERG (17-15-2) » Won third straight Schuylkill-Berks title, winning five straight playoff games, including 8-4 over Hamburg in final. … Came into playoffs as fifth seed with 9-8-1 league regular season mark. … Matt Barton led team with .458 regular season average and Alex Krick hit .375. … Sixth straight regional appearance, going a combined 7-10. … Highest finish was last season, going 3-2 and losing 3-1 to Souderton in final.
NORCHESTER (27-6) » Berks County champions. … Andy Blum (1B), Sam Morris (P/ OF), Jordan Siket (C) and Dan Stofko (P) selected to league All-Star team, with Morris named the Most Valuable Player. … Three regional appearance in past five years, going 8-6 overall with two thirdplace Bux-Mont League regular season and playoff runnerup to Souderton. … Came back with three wins in a row after 6-4 loss to Lansdale in playoff opener and lost 3-0 in final. … Handed Souderton its only two losses, both by 10-2 scores in double header on July 2. … Adam Ritter (2B), Dennis Pierce (3B) and Mason Hicks (C) named to league All-Star team. … Defeated Oley-Topton Post 217 8-5 in final in 2016 for first regional title since 1984.
SOUDERTON (18-2) » BuxMont League regular season and tournament champion. … Won five straight playoff games, including 3-0 over Quakertown in Tuesday final with three pitchers combining on two-hitter. … Many of same players as Souderton High School’s PIAA Class 6A championship team. … Aaron Groller (OF) was Bux-Mont MVP and Luke Taylor (P), David Gulibon (1B) and Nolan Bolton (SS) also named to All-Star team. … Went 5-0 in last year’s regional, including 3-1 win over Muhlenberg in final.
SOUTH PARKLAND (20-0) » 2-0 in playoff final on Monday behind five-hitter by Adam Smith. … Leading pitchers also include Josh Miller (6-0) and A.J. Palumbo (3-0). … Defeated Norchester 13-7 and then West Lawn 3-1 on final day of 2017 regional to win title.
WANDERERS (20-3) » Northampton County champions. … Defeated