Boyertown tops Pennridge, 17-15, for Legion Region 2 title

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Oscar Mikols and Stefan Swaintek were standing outside the Pennridge visitors' dugout waiting to receive their runner-up medals at the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 2 Tournament when Swaintek put his arm around Mikols' shoulder.

Mikols said softly to Swaintek: "I'm so beat."

The starting catcher was tired after 43 innings of baseball in five days, through the heat and humidity of the July summertime. He had just played a three-hour, 16-minute championship game that included 32 runs and 39 hits.

Boyertown outlasted Pennridge 17-15 to capture the Region 2 title and advance to the state playoffs.

Mikols was not the only player or coach (or fan) to walk off sun-splashed Hostelly Field in Montgomery County's Upper Gwynedd Township on Wednesday suffering from exhaustion.

"I'm exhausted," said Pennridge's Jared Schaffer, whose roller-coaster day included three hits and the loss in relief. "Not just physically but mentally."

Pennridge, which led 5-0 in the third but trailed 17-12 entering the top of the ninth, came within a foot or two of tying the score and possibly sending it to extra innings. The Bux-Mont champions were behind by four runs with the bases loaded and two outs when Peter Leatherman's long liner to straightaway left field clanged high off the chain-link fence.

Instead of the tying grand slam, Leatherman settled for the less satisfying two-run double. Boyertown reliever Steve Price then retired Dylan Moore on a fly ball to right field for the final out.

If Pennridge prevailed, another game would have been necessary to decide the regional champion. (Boyertown entered 4-0 in the double-elimination tournament. Pennridge was 3-1.)

"[Pennridge's] Dylan Tice was on third base," Boyertown third baseman Paul Mills said, "and he looked at me and said, 'This grand slam right here is going to tie it.' Then the kid hits a rocket. I felt my heart drop. That was way too close for comfort."

"We're tied, that's what I thought when it was hit," Pennridge manager Rocky Wright said. "The wind might have beat that one down a little bit."

The 14th game of the tournament at Hostelley Field was quite an offensive affair.

Pennridge outhit Boyertown 23-16 and opened leads of 5-0 and 12-10, but manager Rick Moatz's Bears took advantage of 10 walks and two errors. Boyertown scored nine runs in the third to open a five-run advantage and four times in the sixth to reclaim a 15-12 working margin.

Mills contributed three doubles, two runs and two RBIs to the Bears' attack. Chris Werner was 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs.

A day after pounding out 25 hits in a 19-8 rout of Nazareth, five Pennridge players finished with at least three hits. Alex Stear went 5-for-6. Mike Kessler, Schaffer, Tice and Leatherman all contributed three.

Schaffer, who was the losing pitcher to Boyertown twice in the tournament, scored four runs and connected for a two-run homer.

"We've had three or four weeks now with a ballgame almost every day," Schaffer said. "We hang in there and we don't ever give up. I'm real proud of this team."

Not only did Pennridge rally from seven runs down to defeat Nazareth on Tuesday, it rallied from a disastrous start to the season and won 13 straight before Sunday's Round 2 setback to Boyertown.

"I can't say enough about my guys," Wright said. "Not a lot of people thought we'd even qualify for our league playoffs when we started out 3-8. We lost two games in July — both to Boyertown. My hat's off to them. That's a good team and a good program.

"We ran out of outs before we retook the lead. That's the way I look at it."

Wednesday's championship game was a long, hot and wild affair. Mills was one player on the field who couldn't imagine if Pennridge forced another.

"After the final out I kept thinking if we'd have had to play another one we'd all die," Mills said. "And I'm sure they feel the same way. But wow, that team just wouldn't go away."

Pennridge 005 025 003 – 15 23 2

Boyertown 001 904 03x – 17 16 1

2B – P: Tice, Uaungst, Leatherman; B: Mills 3. 3B – P: Tice. HR – P: Schaffer.

DeCew, Schaffer (4), Tice (8) and Mikols. Hartman, Hallman (5), Stong (7), Price (9) and Schnell. WP: Hallman. LP: Schaffer.

Michael Blouse is a freelance writer.

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