Vikings’ young guns get it done, blank Rams
BOYERTOWN >> It was one of those oft-intimated “both teams could have won” games.
Perkiomen Valley pitcher #14 Brock Helverson fields a sacrifice bunt in the top of the third inning to throw out Spring-Ford’s 21.
That was especially true of Tuesday’s Perkiomen Valley/Spring-Ford matchup in the semifinal of the Pioneer Athletic Conference playoffs. That supposition bore out at Bear Stadium, due in large part to both teams getting solid — and, in several aspects, equal — pitching efforts. In the end, though, it was the Vikings who scored a 2-0 victory over the Rams in the opener of the circuit’s Final Four doubleheader at Bear Stadium.
PV got a combined three-hitter from starter Brock Helverson and reliever Tyler Stretchay to qualify for Thursday’s championship game against either Boyertown or Owen J. Roberts, the nightcap’s playoff pairing. They had five strikeouts between them, and one walk, against a Ram unit with which they split the regular season’s two matchups.
On the other side, Conor Larkin put together a solid complete-game effort. Larkin yielded just three hits and three walks, the safeties factoring in the runs the Vikes plated in the second and third innings.
“The first time I pitched against them,” Stretchay said, “and he (Helverson) the second. We had experience against him (Larkin). He’s very solid.”
Perkiomen Valley’s #11 Matt Szczesny gets the bat on the ball on a sucide squeeze scoring #21 Sean Moriarity in the bottom of the third inning.
Sophomore Helverson and freshman Stretchay shut the Rams down from the fifth inning on, allowing only one batter to reach base down the stretch. But the Vikes turned a double play in the sixth to erase that runner, and PV was on its way to the next round of the league playoffs.
“Pitching was a question mark for us coming into the year,” head coach Ryan Hinkle said. “Our young guys stepped up. They’ve been throwing well, keeping opposing offenses off the board.”
Hinkle opted to have Stretchay come on in relief of Helverson with one out in the fifth, after he plunked the Rams’ Jeremiah Ndjali. Stretchay ended the frame by inducing the 4-6-3 twin-killing, then struck out two in the top of the seventh.
“It was set up right,” he said, “me finishing up for him.”
Stretchay helped the PV cause with his glove. He snared a line drive Owen Gulati hit right to the mound … and pretty much point-blank on his body.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Stretchay said. “I was in the right spot at the right time.”
Larkin’s two-strikeout complete game wasn’t enough, though, to underwrite a better finish for the Ram junior.
“I feel bad for him,” Spring-Ford head coach Bruce Brobst said. “Perk Valley did what it had to. I thought we could put some runs on the board, but we came up one hit short in multiple innings.”
Perkiomen Valley’s #11Matt Szezesny turns a double play in the top of the sixth inning as Spring-Ford’s 16 Selwyn Simpson slides into the bag.
The Vikings got themselves on the board after Matt Szczesny doubled to right-center field to start the second inning. Dylan Boyd, coming on as courtesy runner for Szczesny, got to third when Trent Tyson’s hit to third was misplayed, and he came home off Joe Gorla’s ground out.
In the third, Sean Moriarity led off with a single. One out later, he moved to third on Nate Yoder’s single to right, then scored off a Szczesny sacrifice bunt.
“Our pitchers were pounding the zone,” Hinkle said, “and with our good defense, scoring those runs was huge.”
The Rams, in the meantime, had seven runners get into scoring position through the first four innings … to include Drew Skrocki and Ndjali both reaching third in that span. But the Vikings were able to get out of those jams unscathed.
“If we had some balls fall in, it would have been a different game,” Brobst said. “We could have had the leadoff runner in the seventh. That’s a credit to them.”
Bowing out in the first round of the league playoffs was a downer for the Rams, who were the PAC champions one year ago. Now, they will await the outcome of the District 1 playoff seeding meeting Thursday.
“It’s a disappointment,” Brobst admitted, “but at the beginning of the year we were young. The team got better … we played good today, but not enough to win.”
NOTES >> The game was completed in a workmanlike 1:47. … Gulati, going 2-for-3, was the game’s lone player with multiple hits. Larkin had Spring-Ford’s other safety. Hinkle credited Larkin’s mound performance, saying he “threw a heck of a game and kept our hitters off balance.” … Helverson had a close play of his own, a ball hit at him. “I’m all right,” he said after the game.
