Aaron Nola has manager’s confidence
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 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, 2311 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 An-
dresen. 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.
Sayers admitted that the rotation doesn’t work a lot of the time,
“Not often,” he said. “That’s a momentum killer, up 4-0. And then we get a 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.
“That’s usually how it goes with me,” said Odell, who pitched for Bishop Shanahan during the high school season. “I guess it’s kind of getting in the groove a little bit and the team getting some runs. Coach stresses that we just throw strikes because we’ve got the team behind us to field it and I pitch to contact.”
Odell, who will play at Bucknell University, has allowed only one earned run in league play this season.
“It’s really nothing out of the ordinary for him,” said Sayers. “He’s played incredible baseball.”
Brian Siket doubled in the other run in the third against Bear starter Nolan Kline. Chase Mercon finished up with two scoreless innings.
“We, by no means, brought our ‘A’ game tonight,” said Boyertown manager Rick Moatz. “And then we didn’t execute.”
Norchester will host Shillington and Boyertown will host Exeter when the playoffs begin on Wednesday.
“We’ll take a few days off,” said Harrison. “We’ve had a long and aggressive season.”