Nor-Gwyn tops Norristown in Game 1
Game 2 to resume Monday night
UPPER GWYNEDD » Dave Gibson was supposed to pitch Thursday when Nor-Gwyn faced elimination against Ambler in the Perkiomen Valley Twilight League playoff semifinals.
He didn’t get to the game on time, and Jason Mills wound up pitching a gem to push the Packers into the Perky finals.
Friday night, in the opening game of the league’s championship series, Gibson got his turn, and turned in a gem as Nor-Gwyn used a three-run seventh to top Norristown, 5-2, and give Nor-Gwyn a 1-0 advantage in the championship
series.
Game Two is slated for Hostelley Field (8 p.m.) on Monday.
Gibson hurled a seven-hit gem, allowing just two thirdinning runs via a two-run double by Sean Phelan, and then the Packers won it with a three-run seventh, keyed by Matt Blazynski’s two-run single and a Norristown passed ball.
“That was just a misunderstanding,”’ Gibson said of the mix-up that turned out to work
in the Packers’ favor. “I’ve pitched against Norristown before and I know they can hit.
“But I was hitting my spots for most of the night. I got a pitch up in the (third inning) and it hurt me, but I made some adjustments and I was able to pitch the game I wanted to pitch.”
The Packers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Blazynski doubled and scored an out later on Jon McGlone’s single.
But the Diamonds took their own lead in the home third when Ben Lippincott singled, moved to second on Matt Altieri’s two-out single and both scored on Phelan’s double to right.
That lead stood until the Nor-Gwyn fifth, when the Packers loaded the bases with nobody out and got a sacrifice fly from Mills to tie it.
Norristown missed out on a glorious chance to take the lead in the home sixth when Lenny DelGrippo doubled to right, moved to third when Matt Sperling’s sacrifice attempt turned into a single to put runners at the corners with nobody out.
But Gibson fanned both Dan Hull and Brandon Cotton and got Mulhern on a fly ball to end the inning.
“We didn’t put the ball in play in the sixth and that really hurt us,” said Norristown manager Vince Elsier. “Sometimes you have to have to hit the ball the other way and just move the baserunners and we didn’t do that.
“I would have felt pretty good going into the seventh, up 3-2.”
Instead, the Packers took the lead for good when Dave Tatoian reached on an error, took second on a walk, third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball.
Blazynski followed with a two-run single to left, and the Packers had first blood.
“It was a typical NorGwyn game,” said Packers manager Tony DiBricida. “We were missing three regulars, and everybody filled in and did a good job.
“Pitching-wise, we’ve just about cut walks out altogether.”
With Game Two set for Monday, DiBricida knows the Diamonds will not be an easy out.
“We have to keep battling,” he said.
Meanwhile, Elsier said his team has to play smarter baseball.
“Our two pitchers shut them down tonight,” Elsier said. “But we have to make the plays behind them.
“We gave them four runs tonight, and we didn’t play smart offensively.”
PERKNOTZ » Should NorGwyn take the series, it would be the franchise’s first Perky title since 1990.
“And yes,” DiBricida quipped, “Al (Warner) was on that team.”