NOR-GWYN WINS LEAGUE TITLE
Harris leads Packers to first championship since 1990
UPPER GWYNEDD » From Tony “Pep” Di-Bricida, who had managed the club to four finals appearances since taking over in 2005, to slugger Daryl Clark, who had never won a championship at any level, to hard-throwing Joe Harris, who was in his second stint with Nor-Gwyn, still pounding away in hopes of a title, this was a long time coming.
“We’ve been so close,” said Harris after twirling a complete-game gem Wednesday evening, “so it’s nice to get over the hump.”
Harris went the distance — limiting Norristown to one run off of three hits while striking out six and walking one — to help the Packers to a 2-1 victory and a three-game sweep that earned Nor-Gwyn its first Perkiomen Valley Twilight League crown since 1990.
“We just kind of had a chip on our shoulder after last year,” Harris said of the 2016 Finals loss to Ambler. “We had a sour taste in our mouth with how the finals ended. We felt like we let that get away from us.
“A lot of guys came back and said ‘hey, this is our year.’”
Fittingly, it would be Ambler that would be Nor-Gwyn’s biggest obstacle again this season. The Packers battled back from a
2-0 deficit in the semifinals and never lost again, reeling off six consecutive victories.
“That home run by (MVP) Jason Mills with two strikes in (Game Three) against Ambler,” Harris said, “really changed the momentum of the season. We were confident as soon as that happened.”
Nor-Gwyn jumped in front in its first at-bat Wednesday night.
Dave Tatioan drew a walk and — later with two outs — Clark stepped to the plate and smacked a double to the gap in left center, scoring Tatioan for a 1-0 lead.
Lefty Rich Cavazza quickly settled down, striking out Matt Blazynski to end the inning.
The third-seeded Diamonds threatened in the bottom half, with Matt Altieri legging out an infield single and Lenny DelGrippo drawing a walk to put runners at first and second with one out.
But Harris buckled down, getting Sean Phelan to line out to center fielder Greg McDonough, who then covered a lot of ground to get to a hard-hit ball by Bryan Mulhern, drifting left to make the grab for the third out.
Cavazza went right back to work, retiring the fourthseeded Packers in order in the second and third.
But in the fourth, Mills drew a lead-off walk and Michael Knipe drilled a two-out single to right, scoring Mills from second and doubling the Packer lead to 2-0.
Harris, meanwhile, was in the midst of retiring nine in a row.
“That’s probably the best I’ve felt all year,” the lefty said. “I had been dealing with a shoulder issue that had really prohibited me from being the pitcher that I was in years past.”
Harris played his high school ball at Daniel Boone, threw in college at Wilmington University, and then played six years professionally — five with the Fargo Moorhead Redhawks, one with the York Revolution along with a winter down in Venezuela.
“The fastball’s been down so I kind of had to change my philosophy. (Tonight) was kind of the first time all year I could let things go. It was a little bit different.
“Blaze (catcher Matt Blazynski) and I, we got in a groove,” Harris said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’ve never had a catcher that I’m that in sync with.”
Harris blanked the Diamonds all the way to the fourth, when Phelan’s sudden, swift stroke to right cut the deficit in half, the solo homer making it 2-1.
But after Matt Sperling’s single later that inning, Harris — amazingly — retired the final 10 batters he faced to close it out and get the championship ceremony underway.
Cavazza threw seven strong innings for Norristown, league champions in 2013 and 2015.
“You have to congratulate Nor-Gwyn. They played a heck of a series,” said Diamonds DH Lenny DelGrippo. “We made too many mistakes (in the series). Tonight was a great game, a great pitching duel. They came out on top.
“We had a tough year. We had to piece a lot of things together. But towards the end there, we came up big. We played good baseball, and then these last three games — not the smartest baseball.”
Harris retired the side in the fifth, sixth and seventh, with Jon McGlone catching a fly in right for the final out of the contest.
Everyone in green swarmed Harris on the mound, soon after water flying everywhere in celebration. The trophy, for the first time in a long time, went to Nor-Gwyn.
“We finally got it,” DiBricida said. “These guys are tremendous. They do anything you ask them to do. They play hurt. Anything you want them to do, they do it. It only takes one thing to spark us, and Jason got it started for us (against Ambler) and it snowballed from there.
“The guy we really gotta give credit to is (general manager) Rob Velivis. He put this roster together, one through 25, each one carefully, and without his efforts we never would have been here.”
Now the only thing left is an encore.
Asked about being in good position for next year, Harris said: “You always wanna repeat. You always wanna repeat. If everybody comes back, I like our chances.”
Perky Finals, Game 3 Nor-Gwyn 2, Norristown 1
#4 Nor-Gwyn 1001001—220 #3 Norristown 0001000—131
WP: Joe Harris (7IP, 1R, 1ER, 3H, 6K, 1BB). LP: Rich Cavazza (7IP, 2R, 2ER, 2H, 9K, 3BB). HR: N-Sean Phelan. 2B: NG-Daryl Clark.