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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Boyertown Takes Berks Legion Title
Greater Reading, PA
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By: David Conard
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Photo(s) By: Dave Conard
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The Bears take Shillington 13 to 4 to win their 1st title since 2005
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With the Region Two tournament fast approaching, it would have been easy to look ahead, right past the task at hand going into Monday night's Berks County League finale at Rulon Griffith Field. It had been weeks since Boyertown played a "meaningful" game, since wrapping up the regular season crown with a perfect 21-0 league record.
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In a classic clash of Berks County League titans, Boyertown utilized the trinity of baseball necessities - timely hitting, solid defense and quality pitching - to post a 13-4 win over Shillington. The Bears advance to the Region Two tournament as the Berks champions.
With the Region Two tournament fast approaching, it would have been easy to look ahead, right past the task at hand going into Monday night's Berks County League finale at Rulon Griffith Field. It had been weeks since Boyertown played a "meaningful" game, since wrapping up the regular season crown with a perfect 21-0 league record. The Bears (43-1) know how important it is to have Mr. Momentum traveling on the team bus in any big game situation. "We wanted to win badly," said starting hurler Shayne Houck. "We have been hitting the ball really well and knew we needed to keep it up against these guys. This was the first step for us. It's huge to go to the regional next week on a roll."
The Red Sox (23-7) have been on a roll of their own. Until their two losses at the hands of the Bears this weekend, it had been weeks since Shillington had tasted defeat. "We knew when we dropped Saturday night's game to them that we had our work cut out for us," said Red Sox coach Chris Hole. "Our priority shifted then to do everything we needed to do to make certain we got to this point and at least finished second, locking up a spot in the regional."
The Red Sox Skipper seemed to be optimistic and happy to be heading into next Saturday's Region Two tournament with a healthy, confident squad. "We wanted to get off to a good start tonight," said Hole, "When they got that early lead on us, it really took us out of game a little. When you try to get out of the hole, you can't risk losing base runners and one of our strengths all season has been our speed. We had more than 90 stolen bases this year, so we really wanted to run on them.”
True to form of recent weeks Boyertown blasted out of the gate by posting three runs in the first, as Chris Speilman and Cody Kulp who had walked and singled, respectively, scored when starting pitcher Shayne Houck drilled a 2-2 pitch into the gap in left center.
Houck was later plated as catcher Ryan Zkszeski stroked a two–out single just past the outstretched glove of second basemen Robert Cala.
Houck, who boosted his season record to 8-0, seemed to have the Sox hitters’ numbers in the early going, allowing the Bears the opportunity to build a 6-0 lead by adding two runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth.
Shillington broke "the Schneid" in top half of the sixth as Mark Yost led off with a double and was quickly plated when Rich Schlamowitz dropped a triple down the right field line. The Sox cut the lead to 6-2 when Robert Cala lined the ball deep in the hole, forcing the Bear’s second basemen Bret Ruminski to throw to first, allowing Schlamowitz (1-for-4, 2 RBI) to score.
"He really had us off balanced early," said Hole of Houck. "It's hard to dictate the play when the count is 0-2,1-2 for every hitter. We needed to swing the bats earlier in the counts and take advantage of the fact that he was around the plate with the first pitch."
Offensively, Shayne Houck and Ryan Zakszeski went 3-for-5 at the plate, driving in three runs each with Houck scoring three runs to pace the Bears.
The Bears have won two state titles and played in an American Legion World Series since they last garnered the honor of Berks County League champs. So the questions of importance of winning the league tourney came as no surprise to Boyertown coach Rick Moatz.
"It's been a few years since we went into the regional as the league champ," said Moatz. "It seems like when you go to a regional as the runner up they look at the team differently, almost like you don't deserve to be there. We know that this is just one step and that next week we have to step it up again "
If one thing is certain after this week’s Berks County league tourney, the Bears and the Red Sox both "deserve" to have a ticket punched for the regional which starts Saturday in Coplay, Pa. The Bears’ first game will match them up with the Lehigh Valley champ at 4PM. Shillington will square off against the Bux Mont league champion at 1PM.
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