Sports

Blue Devils End Perkiomen's Season

Written by Dave Teufel, Correspondent Wednesday, 02 June 2010 12:35

baseball

Perkiomen's Juan Sierra scores the first run of the game during play in quarterfinal game of the Independent Schools Tournament against Chestnut Hill on Friday. The game was played over a two-day period because of a thunderstorm which ended the game in the fifth inning on Thursday.

Thanks to inclement weather, the quarterfinal game of the Independent Schools Tournament that started Thursday afternoon didn’t end until Friday. But when it did, Chestnut Hill had eliminated Perkiomen by a score of 8-2.

For Perkiomen it was only their fourth loss of the season. Chestnut Hill proved to be the one hurdle the Indians couldn’t get past this year as it was the third time they had fallen to the Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils had swept a double header earlier in the year, defeating Perkiomen by a single run in both those games. Their only other loss was to Germantown Academy.

“I don’t know why but for some reason we just couldn’t beat these guys this year," said Perkiomen Head Coach Ken Baker.

Despite the loss, the Indians had a season they can be proud of as the 24 wins they collected along the way is a single season record for the club.

Senior second baseman Julian Gentile, who will be heading to Moravian this fall, said, “It’s the best year. We won more games than any other [Perkiomen] team and we had a lot of fun doing it. It was great. I’m leaving here a better player and a better person. I have Coach Baker to thank for that.”

In the game, Chestnut Hill wasted no time getting the upper hand as they posted three first-inning runs off Perkiomen starter Jose Colon. The big blow was a homerun off the bat of the Blue Devils cleanup hitter Matt Primavera.

Colon settled down, striking out five of the next nine batters he faced.

Perkiomen had their best chance to get to opposing pitcher Dan Rosenbaum in their half of the first inning. Gentile, who was perfect out of the leadoff spot (2-2, 2BB), opened the inning with a walk. With one out, Ian Vazquez and Rich Mejia singled to load the bases. Rosenbaum, though, got a pair of infield pop ups to get out of the jam.

Colon also settled down and when the fourth inning ended, the score was still 3-0.

In the top of the fifth, though, Perkiomen dug themselves a hole that would prove too big to recover from. A pair of errors and a walk set the stage for Erik Hubbard who tripled and the Indians trailed 6-0.

Perkiomen scored single runs in both the fifth and seventh innings.

Juan Sierra, who had doubled, was brought home on a sacrifice fly by Sawyer Hetrick in the fifth. In the seventh, Hetrick collected his second RBI of the game when a ground ball plated Jeff Harder.

Mejia and Gentile were the only two Indians with multiple hits on the day.

Perkiomen will say goodbye to seniors Jeff Harder, Sawyer Hetrick, Rich Mejia and the double-play combination of shortstop Ian Vazquez and Julian Gentile.

"It will be tough to see these guys go," said Coach Baker of his seniors. "They won a lot of games together. They made a commitment and stuck to it. They’re a great bunch of young men. They will be missed."

Perkiomen finished the season with a record of 24-4, claimed the Keystone Cup and repeated as Tri-County League champions.

Howard and Schultz Get First Wins of the Season at Grandview

Written by Heather Gery Wednesday, 02 June 2010 12:14

Duane Howard came from the 24th starting spot in the 30-lap NASCAR Whelen All American Series 358 Modified feature race on Saturday night at Grandview Speedway and took the BPG Racing/Troyer Race Cars No. 4 to his first win of the season at the Berks County clay oval. The 20-lap main event for the Late Models was won by Chuck Schutz, driving the BPG Racing No. 1, for his first win of the season.

Early Modified race action had Jeff Sechrist surviving a few early race cautions to lead for the first four laps. At the fifth circuit Todd Marburger went to the front looking to grab his first career feature victory. On the 12th lap eight time champion Jeff Strunk went to the pits done for the night and Duane Howard charged to the front of the field. Just a lap later Jon Kellner Sr. was in front and a side by side battle developed between Kellner and Howard. At the 23 lap marker Howard was back in front to stay and went on to grab the $2200 first place money and increase his lead in the chase for the NASCAR 358 Modified title. Kellner Sr. held on for second followed by Ryan Godown, Ray Swinehart and Meme DeSantis.

T.J. Mayberry, a rookie competitor, led the 25 car Late Model feature starting field for just the first lap before Mike Kellner charged to the front.. Kellner looked like he was going to be able to take home the top prize until Chuck Schutz moved into a challenging position with half the race completed. At 14 laps Schutz went to the front and stayed for the balance of the 20-lap event. Second spot went to Mike Kellner followed by Danny Snyder, Randall Paxton and Ron Kline.

The United States Auto Club Wingless Sprints are in action at Grandview on Tuesday, June 1st starting at 7:30 p.m. The ARDC Wingless Midgets will be the second part of the show.

Then on Saturday, June 5th the NASCAR 358 Modifieds and Late Models will be featured in a doubleheader show sponsored by Rastelli Direct with a 7:30 p.m. starting time.

30-LAP NASCAR 358 Modified feature finish: 1. Duane Howard 2. Jon Kellner Sr. 3. Ryan Godown 4. Ray Swinehart 5. Meme DeSantis 6. John Willman 7. Doug Manmiller 8. Brad Missimer 9. Jeff Sechrist 10. Carrol Hine III 11. Mike Gular 12. Ryan Grim 13. Billy Pauch Jr. 14. Terry Mietzler 15. Jarrod Miller 16. Bob Lilick Jr. 17. Sean Merkel (Balance of field did not finish) 18. Ron Seltman 19. Glenn Owens 20. Todd Marburger 21. Jeff Strunk 22. Jason Hamilton 23. Sanny Erb 24. Troy Wink 25. Chris Esposito 26. Kevin Hirthler 27. Jordan Umbenhauer 28. Craig Von Dohren

20 - LAP LATE MODEL feature finish: 1. Chuck Schutz 2. Mike Kellner 3. Danny Snyder 4. Randall Paxton 5. Ron Kline 6. Brian Shuey 7. Nate Christman 8. John Giesler 9. Randy Stoudt 10. Wayne Pfeil Jr. 11. Kurt Spotts 12. Bill Henning 13. Kory Fleming 14. T.J. Mayberry 15. Rick Todorow 16. Dirk Rimrott 17. John Landis 18. John Favinger 19. D.D. Keely 20. Drew Weisser 21. George Marrero Jr. (Balance of field did not finish) 22. Doug Walton 23. Greg Hoffmaster 24. Jim Stoudt 25. Ron Coverly.