By Scott Huff
FORT WASHINGTON –Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Norristown?
Norristown who?
The Norristown baseball team.
No joke – the Eagles can win or share the Suburban One League American Conference title tomorrow (Thursday) with a win over visiting Wissahickon.
“Not only could we win or share a championship, we
could get an automatic berth in the District One playoffs – and maybe even a home game,” said Norristown head coach Jim Teeter after his Eagles flew to a 13-1 victory over host Upper Dublin. “We’ve had a tough time getting games in with all the rain, but these kids have done a great job of staying ready with all the off days.”
Norristown – a Class AAAA team - is now 9-4 in the American Conference and is tied with Upper Moreland for first place in the conference. The Golden Bears - a Class AAA team - has a district playoff slot locked up and will play at Springfield tomorrow.
Plymouth Whitemarsh – another Class AAAA - finished its conference schedule with a 9-5 mark but would gain the automatic berth if Norristown were to lose to Wissahickon. The Colonials – who split their games with Norristown - would win a tiebreaker as PW has beaten Upper Moreland twice this season while Norristown split with the Bears.
The season would not come down to the Wissahickon game if the Eagles had not taken care of business in the Upper Dublin contest. And the CEO of this win for Norristown was David Lovecchio who hurled a complete game four hitter and also collected three hits and drove home three runs to support himself.
“It’s been a few weeks since I have thrown a game,” said Lovecchio – the starting catcher for the Eagles. “I’ll go home – ice my arm – eat some dinner - and get ready to catch tomorrow.
“My arm felt great today, I had a good fast ball and a decent curve,” added Lovecchio who struck out nine Flying Cardinal hitters. “During all the time off, I just rested my arm. I guess it was a good thing.”
Another good thing was the hitting of the Eagles who pounded out 12 hits – all singles. Plus Norristown took advantage of five UD errors.
“We have been hitting the ball well lately,” said Teeter as the Eagles were coming off a 13-12 win over PW yesterday. “And our starting pitching has kept us in games.”
Norristown took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Matt Martello – who was hit by a pitch – scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Stephen Parker.
The Eagles added three runs in the second inning Anthony DiNolfi, Ian Hammer, and Martello all drove home runs. Norristown added three more runs in the fourth inning as Lovecchio highlighted the rally with a two-run single.
Upper Dublin scored its lone run in the third inning when Nick Bonnitatibus singled home Jake Kohler who had doubled with two outs.
Norristown scored six times in the top of the seventh inning to conclude the scoring. Mark Pinchok stroked a two-run single, while Hammer, Martello, Lovecchio, and Parker also collected RBI singles.
Upper Dublin finished its season with a 6-8 conference record and will play a non-league game tomorrow against Abington.
“It’s a disappointing 6-8,” said Upper Dublin head coach Ed Wall. “You can ask anyone of our guys, and they would tell you that we didn’t have the season we were expecting.
“We didn’t execute in the field today,” added Wall. “And the way we swung the bats today, it made it tough for us.”
Norristown has made it tough for most teams in the SOL American this season as the Eagles hope to add a championship banner tomorrow.
No joke.
Norristown 1 3 0 3 0 0 6 - 13 12 1
Upper Dublin 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 4 5
Norristown: Ian Hammer ss 4 3 1 1; Matt Martello c 1 2 0 2; Dave Lovecchio 4 1 3 3; Mark Pinchok 3b 5 0 2 2; Stephen Parker 5 0 2 2; Luke Stem 1b 4 0 0 0; John Kitt rf 3 1 0 0; Roddy Vaughn rf 1 1 0 0; Brandon Bell 2b 3 3 3 0; Anthony DiNolfi cf 4 2 3 1. Totals 34 13 12 11.
Upper Dublin: Tyler Gregg cf 4 0 1 0; Pat Lavin ss 3 0 0 0; Derek Giannetti lf 2 0 0 0; Zack Messenger ph 1 0 0 0; Bob Swartz dh 3 0 0 0; Eichenlaub ph 1 0 0 0; Jake Kohler 1b 2 1 1 0; Nick Bonnitatibus 3b 4 0 1 1; Tim Troyer c 3 0 0 0; Jeff Wilderman p 2 0 0 0; Dom Matteo rf 2 0 1 0. Totals 27 1 4 1.
2B – {UD-} Kohler.
Norristown INN H R ER K BB
Lovecchio (W) 7.0 4 1 1 9 4
Upper Dublin
Hammond (L) 1.2 4 4 2 0 0
Wilderman 4.1 4 3 2 1 0
Gregg 1.0 4 6 6 0 4
- Log in to post comments
0
