PAC softball championship preview: Boyertown vs. Perkiomen Valley (records, matchup, prediction)

The Boyertown and Perkiomen Valley softball teams meet for the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship on Wednesday, 7 p.m., at Spring-Ford.

The No. 4 seed Bears are back in the final after winning the PAC title in 2022. Boyertown was favored to go back-to-back in 2023 after ruling the regular season, but an injury to ace pitcher Ella Hurter derailed the repeat bid.

Boyertown is back in championship position after Monday’s 1-0 semifinal shutdown of No. 1 seed Spring-Ford, in which Hurter struck out a career-high 17 in the 8-inning battle.

Upstart Perkiomen Valley is into the final for the first time since 2017 after a nine-inning, 3-1 defeat of Frontier Division champion Upper Merion in the semis. Junior Maci Strechay struck out nine and allowed only five hits and no earned runs over nine innings.

A closer look at the matchup:

Boyertown (4) vs. Perkiomen Valley (3)

Records: Boyertown – 7-3 PAC Liberty, 12-4 PAC, 15-5 overall, No. 13 in District 1-6A rankings … Perkiomen Valley – 7-3 PAC Liberty, 13-3 PAC, 18-3 overall, No. 8 in District 1-6A rankings

Road to the championship: Boyertown bested Spring-Ford 1-0 in eight innings on May 13 when Kyra Neiswender’s two-out RBI single drove in Lindsay Mathias before Hurter struck out the side in the eighth to advance … PV strung together three hits – Erin Carosi double, Ashley Carosi double and Sammi Petersen single – for two runs in the top of the ninth and Strechay continued her dominance of Upper Merion over the past week (16 IP, 0 ER).

PAC championship history: Boyertown has won four PAC titles in program history, dating back to 2003. The Bears’ 2022 title was the program’s first since 2011. … Perkiomen Valley has won three PAC crowns (2012, 2015, 2017) and also made the final in 2016.

Head-to-head: The Bears and Vikings split in the regular season. On April 15, Boyertown slipped by 2-1, managing only three hits but got a solo homer from Neiswender and RBI single from Jenna Fox in support of Hurter (7 IP, 5H, 1ER, 7K). PV won its home game 4-2 on May 2 when the Vikings scored three sixth-inning runs courtesy an error and four walks. Strechay allowed two runs on six hits with seven Ks in that outing.

Bears at a glance: The PAC championship isn’t unknown territory for many of the Bears, with four starters – Hurter, Neiswender, Lauren Homa and Alexis Laboy – who played in the 2022 final expected to be in coach Kim Musselman’s lineup Wednesday. Boyertown may be rounding into form just in time for a strong postseason. The Bears are on a three-game winning streak after losing three straight to Spring-Ford, Upper Merion and Perk Valley, coinciding with missed time from Hurter. She’s allowed two earned runs over 22 innings in the last three wins. The Boyertown lineup includes outfielders Jenna Fox and Sam Sobeck, first baseman Lindsay Mathias, utility fielder Neiswender, Hurter, third baseman Laboy, catcher/outfielder Hailey Schildt, shortstop Homa, and second baseman Rielynn Carey.

Vikings at a glance: Perk Valley, in its first year with Mickey Marsilio as head coach, has been the upwardly mobile squad of the PAC spring season across all sports. The Vikings were 2-8 in the Liberty and 9-12 overall a year ago; now they’re a top 8 seed in District 1 and vying for a PAC title for the first time in seven years.

PV’s emergence has coincided with the elevation of junior Strechay as a staff ace. She hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in an outing since April 5 and has wins over PAC playoff qualifiers Boyertown, Spring-Ford and Upper Merion (twice) in her last four appearances. The Vikings’ lineup also features second baseman Bella Reedy, catcher Erin Carosi, third baseman Ashley Carosi, sophomore Peyton Mears, center fielder Audrey Powers, left fielder Denise Hurd and first baseman Lily Petaccio.

Matchup and prediction: A postseason softball game is generally as good as its pitching matchup, which means Boyertown versus Perkiomen Valley fits the bill. The Bears’ Hurter is reigning Mercury All-Area Player of the Year and would have been the architect of a deep postseason run a year ago had a tailbone injury suffered in a car accident not derailed things last spring. Hurter has missed games this season but has been a fixture in the past two weeks and is operating near her own lofty levels. Meanwhile Strechay has emerged atop Perk Valley’s presumed rotation and has limited the PAC’s best in recent weeks. Both lineups have to rely on timely and situational hitting against front-end pitchers versus being able to simply outslug good teams.

It’s hard not to appreciate what Perkiomen Valley has done this season while already doubling its win total from 2023 and earning a first-round bye in the District 1 tournament. But a year ago there was a distinct feeling that Boyertown was being robbed by Hurter’s absence when it was a big favorite to go back-to-back in PACs. Wednesday night, Hurter and the Bears make up for that missed opportunity by seizing another … Boyertown 3, Perkiomen Valley 1