Offense carrying Valley Forge
Generals making charge up standings
Don’t look now, but Valley Forge is creeping up the Greater Norristown American Legion Baseball League standings.
The Generals are winners of three of their last four games entering Friday night and are in third place with a 7-5 record, a half-game behind league-leading JP Mascaro.
The Upper Merion-based squad is getting it done with its offense. The team as a whole is hitting .305 and posting a .428 on base percentage while scoring 6.33 runs per game, which is more than a full run better than the second highest-scoring offense.
“More BP,” Valley Forge shortstop Luke Hutchinson said of the offensive success. “Everyone is getting the barrel out. I noticed nobody is swinging at pitches they don’t like. We’re hitting offspeed pitches really well. Everybody is not letting themselves get too deep in counts. They’re getting 2-1, 3-1 counts and they’re really squaring the ball up. It’s nice.”
It’s been even better during the recent four-game stretch. Despite only producing one run in the loss, the Generals are averaging 10 runs over their last four games. They’ve been getting it done in a variety of ways and against some of the league’s top teams.
“We have fun winning,” out
fielder Jack Kelly said. “As long as we keep the bats going — that’s a good thing for us.
“We have fun hitting and we have a lot of confidence at the plate. That’s good going into the postseason and the end of the season.”
Last Saturday against Whitemarsh, who’s sitting in second place at 6-4, Valley Forge won 17-6 in five innings. Kelly, Dale Clayton, Johnathan Eyer and Brad Zielinski each had two hits. Kelly scored three runs and knocked in five while Zielinski scored twice and plated three.
On Monday they used two big innings to trounce Mount Carmel, 12-4. They scored seven runs in the second inning and five in the fifth. Kelly was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a run, Clayton 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run and Matt Zielinski went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two runs.
After the 12-1 loss to Chadwicks Tuesday, Valley Forge got back to its offensive ways against leagueleading JP Mascaro. This time the Generals used patience to pick up a 10-3 win. They worked seven walks in the game and got hit by six pitches. Six of the walks and five of the hit-by-pitches came in the fourth and fifth innings, where they totalled eight runs. Kelly was 2-for-3 in the game with two RBIs and a run scored.
The Generals have seven batters hitting over .300. Kelly leads the way at .533, Mike Hutchinson follows at .417, Marc Clayton .379, Eyer .343, Matt Zielinski .333, Zach Hooven .324 and Dale Clayton .312.
Defensively, Hooven is leading the Valley Forge pitching staff. The righthander is 2-2 this season with a save. He has a 1.00 ERA in 28 innings of work. He’s allowed 30 hits while striking out 15 batters to eight walks. Ben Eyer also has two wins. He’s 2-0 with a 2.27 ERA in 12 1/3 innings. He has nine strikeouts to five walks while allowing nine hits.
The recent four-game stretch has taken the Generals from a 4-4 team trying to avoid the sixth place vs. seventh place play-in game to being 7-5 and less than a game out of first place. The playoff structure is still being decided as the league has many games to make up after weather and senior trip postponements, but being the top seed would guarantee homefield advantage and the ideal matchups to set up pitching.
“It’s so exciting,” Luke Hutchinson said after the 10-3 win over JP Mascaro. “Obviously we dropped the last game to Chadwicks, which is unfortunate, but to beat the first place team like this, we’re really excited going (forward).”
The regular season ends July 4.