Perkiomen Valley reaches PAC-10 final with 10-0 win over Boyertown

ROYERSFORD >> No 11-inning thrillers in this year’s semifinals for Perkiomen Valley.

No, the Vikings spared the drama in getting back into the PAC-10 final, utilizing an eight-run fourth inning to run away with a 10-0 five-inning victory over fourth-seeded Boyertown in the semifinal nightcap Tuesday night at Ram Park.

Kelsey Impink and Abby Wild finished with two hits while Noelle McCullough and Ashley Bangert each provided a two-RBI night to supplement the solid pitching performance from senior ace Emily Oltman, who tossed five innings of two-hit ball to lead the Vikings back into the title game for a second consecutive year.

This year’s semifinal marked a night-and-day contrast of last year’s appearance as PV needed 11 innings to overcome Pottsgrove, 4-3, en route to the PAC-10 title. The Vikings will face a familiar foe in Spring-Ford — 4-2 winners over Owen J. Roberts in the earlier semifinal — in the conference final Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Spring-Ford’s Ram Park.

“We’re hungry,” Oltman said. “We’re going to play our butts off and leave everything out on the field.”

“We’re going to continue to feed off this energy,” Impink added. “We want to carry the energy we had today into the game against Spring-Ford.”

Boyertown’s PAC-10 slate, and perhaps their season, came to an end Tuesday. Maddie Cotellese and Kody Streeter registered the only hits for the Bears, which sit No. 25 in the latest District 1-AAAA power rankings, two spots away from a district playoff berth.

The Bears advanced a runner past first only once in the contest, that coming in the first inning as team had runners on first and second with one out.

That threat came to an abrupt end with an inning-ending double play. The rest was all Oltman as the right-hander retired the side in order in three of the next four innings.

“I just had a positive attitude, that was really it,” Oltman said. “I haven’t been that positive all year so my goal was to stay positive. I know my team always has my back.”

The second inning demonstrated that.

With a 2-0 lead already in hand courtesy of Impink and Wild RBI singles, Gillian Barrie — who had missed the previous two weeks of PAC-10 play — produced the defensive gem of the day, tracking back an absolute blast from Boyertown’s Alyssa Acker before making a sensational leaping grab to rob the Boyertown hitter of at least two bases.

“It was definitely a wake up call for me,” Barrie said. “Last game against Upper Merion I had nothing hit to me so it was definitely an eye opener. It felt good, especially to help Emily. It wasn’t fun watching everyone on my team have a good time while I was on the bench, so it feels really good to play a part in getting us to the Final Four.”

“I mean, I had confidence in her making that catch,” Oltman added. “It was just a good hit. The second she (Acker) hit it, I was just like ‘crap’ but she tracked it really well. She came up big when I needed her to.”

The rest of the team did as well in the eight-run fourth to provide enough cushion — or “pillows” as Wild refers to it — for Oltman the rest of the way.

“We got a lot of runners on base so we just wanted to get them in and get Emily more comfortable on the mound, give her some pillows.”

Jordan Sell led off the inning by legging out an infield single before Barrie worked a nine-pitch walk and Taylor Hamm a seven-pitch walk to load the bases for Ana Bruni (two runs, one hit, one RBI). Bruni then reached base on an error to score Sell from third before Rachel Helverson grounded to second, another error allowing Barrie to score to make it 4-0. Impink then ripped a single to left to plate Hamm and Bruni to make it 6-0 before Noelle McCullough laced a liner to the right-center gap to score Helverson and Impink and effectively chase out Boyertown starter Emily Bradley.

Wild kept the rally going by beating out an infield single and Bangert came through with two outs, looping a single to shallow left to score Fiona Warren (courtesy runner for McCullough) and Wild to provide the final runs.

Oltman closed it out with a 1-2-3 fifth to seal it.

NOTES >> Impink finished with three RBI and a stolen base. … Bruni finished with two runs scored. … Boyertown had four errors in the loss.