Bears wake up late to crush Tigers

by Don Seeley, Pottstown Mercury Sports Editor

Posted on July 15, 2006

BOYERTOWN -- It wasn’t exactly Berks County American Legion baseball’s version of the "Good, Bad and the Ugly" ..but it was awfully darn close.

Five innings into second round of the league’s playoffs Friday night, it was as good as anyone could’ve expected with Boyertown holding a narrow 1-0 lead on fourth-seeded and unsung Fleetwood. Then it got a little bad, that is for those who happened to be sitting on the Boyertown side of Bear Stadium, when the Tigers went in front 3-1.

But did it ever get ugly after that.

First, the Bears answered Fleetwood’s rally with a four-run rally of their own to go in front 5-3. Then, an inning later, they punched up a pair of basehits in between seven walks, a pair of errors, seven wild pitches and a passed ball -- forget the partridge in the pear tree -- and blew out their guests, 15-3, when the 12-run rule was invoked with two down in the seventh.

The romp pushed Boyertown (31-4) into tonight’s winners’ bracket final against West Lawn (18-10) as the playoffs move to Muhlenberg High School.

"I can’t explain it," said Boyertown right-fielder Mike Schwager, who may have awoken the Bears from their offensive hibernation in the sixth with an RBI triple.

"For some reason, we just don’t have enough intensity. I think everyone’s coming out here and thinking (the other team) is going to fall over for us. But this is a different season now..

"We’re leaving with a win, but we’re not happy with it. We got the job done. We’re living for another day to play."

Throughout the early going, Fleetwood starter Ryan Kemmerer took the bounce out of the Bears’ offensive step, limiting them to a fourth-inning, hit-and-run single by Dan Wolfgang, which set up the lone run through five innings of play.

Fleetwood (14-9) didn’t any better against Boyertown ace Matt Kelly, who went into the game having allowed just two earned runs the entire season and owning an ERA of under 1.00. However, with two down in the top of the sixth, the Tigers used a single and two walks to load the bases. Then Shawn Walbert sent a 2-2 fastball to the base of the fence in left-center to score all three and give the Tigers that 3-1 advantage.

It didn’t last long ..nor did the Tigers.

Schwager’s triple scored Shayne Houck (single), and Garrett Crable’s bunt single brought Schwager across with the tying run. Nole Saylor’s single then brought Crable in with the go-ahead run and finished off the gutsy Kemmerer.

Four runs hardly qualifies as a quiet rally, but it was the calm before the storm.

The oh so ugly seventh began with three walks and Cody Kulp’s three-run double and, except for Saylor’s single, that was the extent of the damage coming off the Boyertown bats. The walks, errors, wild pitches and passed ball took care of the rest -- and ended, mercifully, the evening.

"I’m actually leaving with a better feeling than what I came in here with," said Boyertown manager Rick Moatz. "We’ve been going through the motions lately. But I think getting down, being in a tight game, kind of woke us up tonight.

"The guys showed what they can do when they put their minds to it. They realized they have to step it up from here on in."

NOTES

The lopsided affair overshadowed a strong game by Fleetwood catcher Jo Jo Fischer, who was 2-for-3 at the plate, threw out a Boyertown runner on an attempted steal of second, and came up with a pair of superb plays in front of the plate to deny the hosts a pair of basehits. ..Saylor had two of the Bears’ eight hits. ..Kelly allowed five hits, walked three and fanned seven to remain unbeaten (7-0) on the season.

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