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By Scott Huff
HARLEYSVILLE – His first name isn’t Babe, but North Penn pitcher Eric Ruth dominated the game on the mound much the same way the legendary Bambino dominated at the plate.Ruth fired a four-hit shutout as the Knights rolled to a 7-0 victory over Souderton in a Suburban One Continental Conference contest. The flame-throwing right-hander struck out 14 overmatched Indian hitters.
“I felt great the entire game,” said Ruth. “I had a good fast ball, and a good curve, and I was able to hit my spots.
“This was a big game for us and a big game for Souderton,” added Ruth. “Plus it was nice to get some runs.”
Ruth was matched against Souderton ace Keith Moyer. And for the first four innings, the two diminutive hurlers hung nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard.
“It really looked like the first team to score was going to win the game,” said North Penn first baseman Scott Christy who collected three hits and three RBI. “I knew that if we could put any runs on the board that Eric would be able to hold the lead.”
The Knights blew the game open with a six-run fifth inning.
The key hits in the inning were an RBI single by Justin Davey that scored pinch runner Jake Leidy, a two-run single by Christy that plated both Robbie Zinsmeister and Davey and an RBI single by Christian Radick that scored Christy. Mix in a couple of Souderton errors and a few walks, and the damage was done.
“It looked like a real pitcher’s dual early on,” said North Penn head coach Bob McCreary. “But our hitters stayed patient, and we got some pitches to hit as the game went on.
“Eric had great control – used both sides of the plate,” continued McCreary. “And Scott Christy came up with some clutch two-out hits.”North Penn tacked on a solo run in the sixth inning to conclude the scoring. Zinsmeister walked – stole second base – and scored on Christy’s RBI single up the middle.
“Most of the hits I got today were off fastballs,” said Christy. “I just tried to get ahead in the count and then look for the fast ball.”
Moyer – who struck out 14 hitters in a 2-1 win over Hatboro-Horsham in the conference opener – did not survive the fifth inning.
“Keith threw the game with a blister on his pitching foot,” said Souderton head coach Michael Childs. “He really wanted to pitch in this game, but he was really hurting when we took him out.
“Ruth is their number one, and that shows that teams still think we’re respected,” added Childs. “I knew that we might take our lumps this year with the inexperience we had coming back, and most game are going to be a challenge.
“This is a good baseball league,” continued Childs. “Anybody really can beat anybody. It depends on what teams shows up on what day.”“It really is nice having Souderton in our league this year,” said McCreary. “We always played them in a non-league game, but you don’t always run your best players out there in a non-league game.
“Our players know who the good teams are,” added McCreary. “And they know that Souderton has been one of those good teams.”
And Souderton knows who the good pitchers are. And Eric Ruth is one of those pitchers.
Even if his name isn’t Babe.
North Penn 0 0 0 0 6 1 0 - 7
Souderton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0
North Penn: Robbie Zinsmeister ss 3 2 0 0; Justin Davey cf 4 1 1 1; Matt Albaugh c 3 1 0 0; Scott Christy 1b 4 1 3 3; Christian Radick rf 3 1 1 1; Jimmy Smith dh 4 0 1 0; Craig LePre 3b 4 0 2 0; Jake Leidy 0 1 0 0; Jake Dunn lf 1 0 0 0; Mark Grassie 2b 3 0 0 0; TJ Harrington 1 0 0 0. Totals 30 7 8 5
Souderton: Sean Leo cf 2 0 1 0; Dylan Derstine dh 2 0 0 0; Jeff Casperson c 3 0 1 0; Tim Maloney rf 3 0 0 0; Brett Moyer 2b 1 0 0 0; Connor Brokenshire ph 1 0 0 0; Cory Capaldi ss 2 0 0 0; Matt Mortka ph 1 0 1 0; Brandon Barnes 1b 2 0 0 0; Clinton Yoder ph 0 0 0 0; Erik Schmidt 3b 3 0 1 0; Brian Falencki lf 2 0 0 0; Alex Sharpardson ph 1 0 0 0. Totals 23 0 4 0.
INN R ER BB K
North Penn
Ruth (W) 7 0 0 2 14
Souderton
Moyer (L) 4.2 6 3 4 4
Gumper 2.1 1 1 2 1
2B – (NP) – Lepre (2) SB – (NP) – Zinsmeister, Albaugh, Dunn E- (NP) – 0, (S) – 3. LOB (NP) – 9 (S) – 6.
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