Sports

 “Go ahead out and do your worst – lose.”

                It was anything but a typical boost of confidence before the start of a game from a manager to his team, but this year has been anything but commonplace for Perkiomen Post 184.

                Though the encouragement from Ernie Quatrani may have been a bit unconventional, this season has not followed a standard script.

                Perkiomen started out the season with a solid squad but found itself with a 2-7 record in the early goings of the Bux-Mont League. But the team started to turn things around in a rally that just fell short in a loss to Doyles-town in which Perk notched eight unanswered runs.

                From there, the team has won seven of its past eight games, the latest in an 8-1 victory Monday night at Bonekemper Field over Souderton.

                “It’s been a reverse psychology kind of year,” Quatrani said, smiling. “Nothing else seemed to be working, so if we tell them to lose, it might work. They haven’t listened to me all year, so I figured I’d try something different.”

                Perkiomen certainly seemed to get the message against Soud-erton. The win clinched at least a tie for a spot in the upcoming eight-team league playoffs, and more than likely eliminated Souderton.

                Perk rode the arm of Millers-ville-bound Tim Mayza, who went 5 2/3 innings. The lefty yielded just one run, five hits and struck out 10 along the way before his pitch count went over 100 in the sixth. Kyle Saylor took over from there, providing 1 1/3 frames of spotless relief and just one hit.

                “Our pitching has been borderline great, but we’ve finally started to hit the ball,” Quatrani said. “Against Doylestown, all of a sudden the bench came alive and we found out we can hit.

                “(Dylan) Umstead has been sizzling at the plate, and Mayza and (Mike) Paul have been consistent for us all year.”

                Perk (9-8) struck first in the bottom of the fourth inning as Mayza led off with a double to left center. Three pitches later, Paul smashed a double to plate Mayza and Andrew Farris’ subsequent sac fly scored another.

                Umstead brought in Colin Weiss, who singled in the fifth inning, on a double to left before Perk busted the game wide open in the sixth inning. In that five-run sixth frame, Perk’s first three batters drew walks. Jarrett Tornetta brought in two on a roller past first base and Weiss knocked in a pair on a triple to center. Steven Grover put the finishing touches on the rout with an RBI ground-rule double over the left-field fence.

                Perk also claimed a 22-3 win over Silver Creek last Thursday before falling to Pottstown, 3-0, a day later. The team rallied from a 4-0 deficit Monday against Hatfield to win 13-4.  

                “This is what we’ve expected all year,” Quatrani said. “The big thing is to have solid pitching going into the playoffs and everything can feed off of that. Early on we had the feeling that we couldn’t win, now we feel like we can’t lose.”