Sports

Perk Girls Take Third Tri-County League Title

Written by Heather Gery Wednesday, 26 May 2010 11:54

Perk Softball

Perkiomen catcher Haley Schultz prepares to put the tag on a Barrack player racing towards her only to have her reach home safely in the championship game for the Tri-County League title on Tuesday at Perkiomen.

For the third straight year, Perkiomen School secured its place in the record books by capturing the Tri-County League softball championship. Perkiomen bested Barrack Academy 8-6 at home Tuesday night in a hard-fought contest.

After several postponements due to the weather, the game got underway and Barrack scored first on a couple of singles and a passed ball. Perkiomen’s bats were slow to respond until the third inning when Anya Schultz got things going by beating out a ground ball that was fumbled by the Barrack first baseman.

After Schultz’s hit came a barrage of eight consecutive hits including doubles by Abbi Kiel, Lindsey Manferdini and Laura Glogovsky. In the inning, Perkiomen posted six runs on the board.

Barrack fought back, scoring a run in the fourth and tying the score in the fifth with four runs. The bottom of the inning saw Perkiomen take the lead again when Dorita Deveney stroked a double into left field, scoring Alexa Turner from second.

Perkiomen took the final lead of the night in the bottom of the sixth when catcher Hayley Schultz hit a single and scored on an Anna Corrado single.

Lindsey Manferdini, who pitched a complete game for Perkiomen, shut down Barrack’s offense in the end, striking out three of the last six batters she faced. She allowed only four hits and struck out 12, while walking two.

Offensive contributors for the win included Chloe Lennon (2 for 4), Hayley Schultz (2 for 2), Alexa Turner (2 for 3), Anna Corrado (2 for 2) and Laura Glogovsky (2 for 4, double).

The win completes Perkio-men’s season with an 11-1 league record and a 13-6 record overall.

Late Game Rally Not Enough for Tribe in Playoffs

Written by Ernie Quatrani, Correspondent Wednesday, 26 May 2010 11:51

Upper Perkiomen’s wild seventh inning rally could not overcome wildness on the mound as the Tribe dropped a 7-5 District 1 AAA playoff game to Holy Ghost Prep on Monday.

Walks and hit batters led to a six-run deficit that the Tribe almost, but not quite, overcame. Tribe ace Tim Mayza absorbed the loss after running into an atypical bout with control problems in the fifth and sixth innings.

In the fifth, with the Tribe trailing 2-1, pinch hitter Louis Buscio and John Salvatore drew one-out walks. After striking out Nick Conway for the second out of the inning, Mayza hit Greg Olenski, who had stroked a two-run homer to give the Firebirds the lead in the fourth, with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. The next hitter, Tim Lazor, was hit with an 0-1 fastball to force in a run.

Steve Berardi then dribbled a weak groundball that barely eluded the grasp of second baseman Ben Brannick and two more runs scored on the hit.

Down 5-1 with two out and a man on second in the sixth, Salvatore was intentionally walked, but Mayza then unintentionally walked Conway and then hit Olenski to force in the sixth run.

Alex Moll came on in relief and issued another walk to the next hitter, Lazor, before getting out of the inning.

Now trailing 7-1, the Tribe did not go gently into the good night of its season. With one out, Chase Fleming reached on an infield hit and Dylan Umstead was safe on a throwing error by third baseman Don Bradley.

Mayza then singled to load the bases.

Mikey Paul and Colin Weiss followed with RBI singles and the bases were still loaded with one out.

Andrew Farris doubled into the left center gap and the Tribe, all of a sudden, had the tying run at second base.

Ryan Filipowicz was called in to relieve Berardi, who had taken over for starter Jim McDade in the fifth. Filipowicz struck out Steven Grover swinging for the second out.

Justin Minder, pinch hitting for Jarrett Tornetta, smashed a line drive toward third but Bradley leapt and reached across his body to spear the ball in the tip of his glove, extinguishing Upper Perk’s season.

The Indians had jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first when Paul doubled in designated runner Derek Stoneback, but Olenski’s homer to center in the fourth gave the Firebirds a lead they never relinquished.

The Tribe outhit Holy Ghost 12-6 as Fleming, Umstead, Mayza, Paul and Weiss had two hits apiece.

McDade got the win while Mayza ended the season with a 4-3 record.

Mayza (pitcher), Fleming (outfield) and Farris (infield) will play one more game in an Upper Perk uniform. They will participate in an All-Star game for the PAC-10 on June 12 at the home of the Reading Phillies. Mayza and Fleming were selected First Team All PAC-10 while Farris was Honorable Mention.

Paul was an All-League Second Team selection at designated hitter.