21 and done: Boyertown breaks two-decade drought with 3D approach

It couldn’t be true.

Upon opening reporter Tom Nash’s game story recapping Boyertown’s 18-0 demolition of Olney on Monday for editing, it read: ‘The win serves as Boyertown’s first PIAA win since the 1995 season — a 4-3 win over Coatesville in Class AAA play.’

“There’s no way that’s true,” burst from the editor’s mouth, incredulous at such an absurd statement.

Except it was true.

Unfathomable to at least one local media member, 21 years – longer than the lifespan of any current Bears’ player – had passed since the Boyertown baseball team had advanced beyond the first round of the PIAA Championships.

Considering Boyertown is synonymous with baseball, it wasn’t due to a lack of quality teams. In fact, the Bears have won eight Pioneer Athletic Conference championships in 12 seasons (since 2004), this season’s title following back-to-backs in 2012 and 2013.

Yet the wider stage has not been as kind – since the Bears’ PIAA championship in 1991 (this season marks the 25th anniversary of the then-District 3 champion’s title in AAA), Boyertown managed to make the state tournament on four occasions (1992, 1995, 2003 and 2014) prior to this season.

Only two trips since the 1995 quarterfinal run, both one-and-done. All while watching league rivals like Spring-Ford (finalist 2008, 2011; semifinals 2014) and Owen J. Roberts (finalist 2010) excel on the state stage in the past decade.

This spring, one wasn’t enough for Boyertown.

After Thursday’s comprehensive 4-2 victory over District 2 champion and defending state runner-up Wyoming Valley West to back up the rout of Olney, the 2016 Bears (22-6) have two PIAA wins to their name and counting. They’ll go for three on Monday against Cumberland Valley at Ephrata’s War Memorial Field (4 p.m.).

“It’s funny. I didn’t realize it had been so long since Boyertown had won a game in states. I found out on the bus ride home from the (Olney) game. I couldn’t believe it,” said senior catcher Ryan Weller, who sparked the Bears with a home run Thursday.

“I thought about it all day (before Thursday’s game): we got that first game. Now we have to keep moving forward and keep going on to make more history.”

So it begs the question: why these Bears?

The answer appears in 3D: drive, detail and demeanor.

“Someone said to me early (in the season), ‘You have a lot of good ballplayers.’ I said, ‘Right now, until you prove that you can win you’re average ballplayers with a lot of potential.’ Now they’re proving it and they’ve earned it,” head coach Todd Moyer said.

“There’s no superstar. They act the same, they talk the same, they’re a nice, close-knit bunch even though last summer they played on five different teams.”

Jokes that the varsity Bears were just trying to get the season over with to get on to the summer baseball season need not apply this year.

Shaking off two straight shutout losses in the District 1 semifinals (3-0 to eventual champ Pennridge) and third-place game (1-0 to Downingtown West) takes a certain mentality and belief in their development.

“We could feel ourselves coming together,” Weller said. “Coming through having the best record in the PAC-10 pushed us harder to get there. When we won the PAC-10, that was a huge relief. That was the best moment in my baseball career up until (Thursday). We all have a passion for the game and we’ve figured out how to turn that passion into getting things done.”

The Bears feature leadership that has impressed Moyer.

“Coming into this year, between Ryan Weller, Andrew (Bauer) and Ben (Longacre), whose a big kid yet real quiet, they just work on it all,” the 23rd year manager said. “They focus on what they need to do. They worry about the little things in practice. They sweat the details and they work at it. And they don’t just do a couple of them, they do all of them. It’s fun to watch.”

Also worth watching has been the calm under pressure exhibited by the dual-ace combination – almost a prerequisite of a team trying to make a deep postseason run – of senior right-hander Andrew Bauer and junior righty Pat Hohlfeld, who was unflappable while ousting Wyoming Valley West, and battery mate Weller.

“They’re a great pair. They do everything perfectly,” Weller said of the team’s top two pitchers. “They go out there, know their job and know how to get it done. And they know we’re behind them to back them up in any way we can and for the most part we’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

“Ryan has been hurt a couple different times during the season and he’s a big bat in our lineup. He’d been on and off, had his struggles, but he’s a tough out all the time, a tough kid and the other guys feed off of that,” Moyer said of Weller. “He doesn’t yell, he talks firmly and when he says something the other guys listen.”

Any given game, the rest of the Bears are able to follow the lead of the poised pairs handling the pitching and catching duties.

With double-digit seniors, including Weller, first baseman Longacre, second baseman Mitch Pinder and outfielders Ryan Jacobs and Jordan Shustack, its a group that has played a lot of baseball together over the years and isn’t giving up their opportunity easily.

“We’re all together, we love each other, we play hard and we don’t take anything for granted. All that together adds up to being a good team,” Pinder said. “This is where we wanted to be from the start so it’s really rewarding.”

As sophomores in 2014, Pinder, Weller and the other current seniors may have taken their past visit to the state tournament – a first-round exit to eventual state champ La Salle after finishing as District 1 runner-up – for granted. But it’s unquestionably shaped the motivation of their final go-around.

“Losing the first state game my sophomore year, that hurt,” Weller said. “For me and the other 11 seniors, it’s been our goal to get to states again and get past that first game. Luckily we have.”

Luck? No, that’s not one of the reasons.