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ROYERSFORD >> The Perkiomen Valley softball team knew that there would not be too many ways to beat Boyertown and its ace pitcher on Thursday afternoon. But midway through the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship game, the Vikings figured one out.
Four straight PV batters put down squeeze bunts in the bottom of the fourth inning, successfully bringing home a run each time and breaking open a scoreless pitching duel. After that, the Vikings cruised on to a 7-1 win at Ram Park for their fourth PAC title and first since 2017.
Perk Valley junior Maci Strechay threw a three-hitter for the win and Sammy Petersen knocked a two-run homer to give the Vikings (13-3 PAC, 19-3 overall) some insurance in the fifth. Boyertown senior left-handed pitcher Ella Hurter allowed only one hit and struck out seven through the first three innings for the Bears (12-4, 15-6) prior to the nightmarish fourth that saw PV score five runs with the help of just two infield hits.
“Against a good team, there’s only one way around them,” said Viking junior right-hander Strechay. “Capitalize on their mistakes.”
“It kept working,” PV first-year head coach Mickey Marsilio said concerning the bunting strategy. “Situational bunting. It kept working and we kept going with it.”
The Viking fourth began innocently enough as the leadoff batter grounded out to first. Then Ashley Carosi hit a popup halfway to third that just plopped into the dirt and stuck there for an infield hit. An error by the shortstop on the next batter put runners on the corners with one out, and then the PV base-running merry-go-round began.
Peyton Mears bunted and a throw home was late. Ashley Powers bunted and the ball was dropped for an error. Denise Hurd put down another bunt with another late throw to the plate. And Gianna Corropolese popped a bunt over the charging third baseman for a hit.
A run scored on each play and each of the Vikings who reached base helped the cause by taking second base uncontested. A grounder to second by Strechay brought in another run to make it 5-0.
“They figured out they weren’t going to hit Ella,” said Bear coach Kim Musselman. “So they had to do that. We didn’t respond. We haven’t played clean defense the whole season. We had the same number of hits (three) as errors. You can’t win a game when you do that.”
Strechay retired the first 10 Bears, four of them on strikes, before allowing her only walk with one away in the fourth. Hailey Schildt grounded a single through the left side for the first Boyertown hit with one down in the fifth.
“Their pitcher threw a great game,” said Musselman. “We didn’t make adjustments until the sixth inning.”
The Bears scored in the sixth on a leadoff single to right-center by Rielynn Carey, an outfield error and a wild pitch. Schildt picked up the only other hit for Boyertown, a line drive single to left in the seventh.
Strechay finished with six strikeouts as she depended on her fielders to make the plays after the Vikings opened up their comfortable lead.
“I was trusting my team more,” she said. “I’m not usually a strikeout pitcher. I let them make plays when we have a big lead. I have the mentality to keep myself positive.”
“She did phenomenal today,” said Viking senior catcher Erin Carosi, who called the pitches.
Hurter allowed a single to Erin Carosi and a walk with two out in the first, but got the next batter on a grounder to short. Then she struck out the side on 10 pitches in the second inning and fanned two more in a 1-2-3 third.
“We knew she was an excellent pitcher,” said Marsilio. “The last time we played them, it took us until late in the game to score.”
Afterwards, Strechay was at a loss for words concerning her team’s championship win.
“I can’t really comprehend it right now,” she said. “It may take me a few days.”
That may be because the Vikings came out of nowhere after going just 6-10 in the PAC and 9-12 overall last season.
“This year, we’re more together,” said Erin Carosi. “We want to win for each other.”
“A change in mindset,” Strechay added. “We had to be loud. We had to take pride in what we do.”
Both teams will return to action next week in the District 1-6A playoffs, with the currently 12th-ranked Bears hosting a first-round game on Monday and the currently eighth-ranked Vikings likely to receive a first-round bye and then host a second-round contest on Wednesday.
Perkiomen Valley 7, Boyertown 1
Boyertown 000 000 1 – 1 3 3
Perkiomen Valley 000 520 x – 7 5 2
Boyertown ab r h rbi
Fox rf 3 0 0 0
Mathias 1b 2 1 0 0
Hurter p 3 0 0 0
Gilbert cr 0 0 0 0
Neiswender c 3 0 0 0
Sobek dp 3 0 0 0
Homa ss 3 0 0 0
Schildt lf 3 0 2 0
Laboy 3b 3 0 0 0
Carey 2b 2 0 1 0
So cf 0 0 0 0
Totals 25 1 3 0
Perk Valley ab r h rbi
Strechay p 4 0 1 1
A Corropolese cr 0 0 0 0
Reedy 2b 4 0 0 0
E Carosi c 4 0 1 0
Sharkey cr 0 0 0 0
A Carosi 3b 2 1 1 0
L Corropolese pr 0 1 0 0
Peterson dp 3 1 1 2
Miceli pr 0 1 0 0
Mears ss 2 1 0 1
Powers cf 2 1 0 0
Hurd lf 2 1 0 1
G Corropolese rf 3 0 1 1
Petaccio 1b 0 0 0 0
Totals 26 7 5 6
E-Homa, Mathias, Laboy, Power, G Corropolese. DP-Perkiomen Valley. LOB-Boyertown 4, Perkiomen Valley 5. HR-Peterson. S-Mears, Hurd.
Boyertown
IP H R ER BB SO
Hurter (L) 5 4 7 1 2 8
Neiswender 1 1 0 0 0 0
Perkiomen Valley
Strechay (W) 7 3 1 0 1 6
WP-Strechay.
T-1:34
